Linda Lohdefinck
, the founder of Golden Ears, has been training hearing dogs for over 30 years. She grew up with dogs and her family raised and showed German Shepherds. She has owned and trained hearing dogs since 1985.
Linda is late deaf and has a great understanding of the challenges this presents in daily life. She is a graduate of Brigham Young University and works full time as Health Services Consultant with the Washington State Department of Health in addition to serving as the Training Director for the program.
Training Philosophy
Golden Ears operates an owner-training program for qualified individuals and their dog. The program focuses on teaching both the owner and the dog to work together as a team. Training is not a quick process and requires a significant amount of time, commitment, patience and hard work.
Services
Golden Ears Hearing Dog Training Center offers an owner-training program for qualified individuals and their dog. The program includes training in obedience, social etiquette and alerting to vital everyday sounds such as the smoke alarm, oven timer, alarm clock, doorbell, door knock and telephone ring.
Certifications
Linda Lohdefinck has a Bachelor’s Degree in Child Development and Family Relations, a degree in Computer Science and has been a Licensed Practical Nurse since 1977.
Specializations
Hearing dog training
Training Methods
The training methods used by Golden Ears are not explicitly mentioned on the website. However, it is stated that the dogs are trained in obedience, social etiquette and trained to alert their partner to vital everyday sounds.
