CINDY: A Hearing Ear Dog

Just as Seeing Eye dogs help the blind, Cindy and others like her alert their deaf owners to fire alarms and other sounds. Cindy, picked up on a busy road, is first seen staring soulfully from behind the fence at an animal shelter. Soon she is adopted by a Mr. MacMunn (a real person who directs a New England Hearing Ear Dog program and contributes a foreword to the book). We see Cindy being checked out by a vet and put through her paces at an obedience school. Then come ""the really hard lessons,"" learning ""to think for herself when she heard certain sounds."" By program policy, Cindy is rewarded with praise and hugs and never punished, and ""she seems to love learning."" Soon she can ""tell"" her trainers about ringing alarm clocks and other sounds, and subsequently learns to accept deaf, teenage Jennifer as her owner . . . going off at last to ""a home that really needed and wanted her."" Curtis's account of the process is accompanied by documentary-type photos, and a short postscript tells about the hearing ear program and its dogs, who have proved wise enough to ignore sounds when hearing family members are home but take over when alone with the deaf persons. Among kids who love dogs, the dual mission of saving animals and helping the handicapped might ring some bells.