NEW YORK CITY — Ginny Smith, a 40-year-old Deaf woman, takes the subway every weekday to and from work. She’s always accompanied by her hearing dog, Charlie, who has been vital to her great quality of life.
Though the three-year-old yellow labrador is adorable, he’s a man in uniform at work! Charlie has never appreciated all the creepy attention or baby talk from strangers — as if they don’t even recognize he was top of his class at the academy. The signs on his harness often aren’t deterrent enough, nor is just ignoring people and giving them the puppy stink eye. So Charlie has taken matters into his own paws.
On Thursday morning, Smith and Charlie got the early subway to her office. Almost immediately after they sat down, the woman next to them tried to baby talk with Charlie. Smith informed her he was a service dog and told her not to distract him (she deserves a treat for that). The woman insisted that she wasn’t distracting him and continued to coo at him as she bent toward his face.
Charlie stared blankly. The woman said many words he liked and even clapped to get a reaction. But Charlie has a powerful poker face, and he didn’t flinch. She bent down closer to talk, even yelling at one point, but he stared blankly and burped as if nothing was happening.
“Wow, I didn’t realize the dog couldn’t hear either,” the woman muttered before moving away.