So, this morning my lovely dog stole my hearing aid right off my ear and destroyed it. I never felt it. He was nuzzling as he does sometimes and I am usually very careful to keep him away from my ears, but apparently not careful enough. That’s like a $2500 dog toy. I am so glad I have my CI on the other side or I would have been pretty useless at work until I get it replaced. It is the Phonak Link HA that works with my CI.
So— pet owners beware!
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I have 3 that are each less than 30 pounds, a Min Pin, a Sheba Inu, and a Corky. They have all been trained to not mess with my glasses or hearing aids. But i believe the keynhas been that i have always used a solution on my ears to keep them from iching that they can stand the smell of. I use EarGene in my ear canals to help prevent the iching thatni get due to wearimg custom ear molds. They sometimes sniff my ears and you can see the emotion on their faces that they don’t like the smell.
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So sorry! We love 'em, but judgment is not their long suit.
Consider getting one of these:
which will temporarily attach your aids to your eyeglass frames. This will help prevent loss when you’re wearing both aids and glasses. If the dog pulls an aid out of your ear, you’ll feel the tug on your glasses. If an aid falls out of your ear walking around, it’s still attached to the glasses and can’t be grabbed off the floor by the dog before you can react or even realize the aid popped out.
This accessory does, however, make it a little more awkward to insert or remove the aids or remove the glasses during the day for eyeglass cleaning or face-washing. (Attach the aids to the eyeglass frames, then put the eyeglasses on first with the aids attached to the eyeglass frames. Then insert the aids in your ears. Go in reverse to remove aids and glasses.)
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I had a different problem in that one day I took my hearing aids out so I could have a shower and as usual I turned them off as I removed them, by pressing the off switch for 5 seconds.
Except that one of them I didn’t press the switch long enough and so it was still on and it lay on a table squeaking gently as the feedback control tried but failed to stop the whistling.
Fortunately my wife wondered what it was that our cat had picked up and she intercepted him just as he was about to go out into the garden through the cat flap. My hearing aid was recovered unharmed and now I always put them in a drawer when I take them off my ears…
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Ha! When I was looking on ebay, I saw one that looked like a dog had chewed on it. Seller said it worked fine, but… not gonna test that. And it was only one aid being sold, so I wondered if maybe the same dog ate the other one.
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So true- judgement! I just had my cataracts done so k am no longer wearing glasses. Much easier. But yes, a retention device would be helpful.
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When our little rascals were pups, the one on the left (Bella) had a particular taste for my UK NHS “Spice+” hearing aids, and in total devoured 3, including the mo(u)lds! Luckily, I only had to pay 100 UKP for each replacement.
Fortunately, she no longer has any interest in my hearing aids, and I also try not to leave them unattended, especially as I now wear private HAs which are full price. Brian (on the right) is a good boy 
Peter
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You all brought smiles to my face.
Royce is my Springer pup. Combine mags and glasses and Royce I feel I’m in harms way.
Masks. Not mags. Darn iPhone. I’m paranoid my HAs will fall out and be eaten or lost
This is all a pile of …… Surely hearing aid manufacturers should fix this. It’s a design problem.
I used a plastic lock forever. Now I can’t use it with my Paradise P90 S because of the minuscule wax guards.
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little buggers - cute
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Enjoy that springer, I have had two and love them.
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Thank you.
He seems to be a one person dog. I think he figures he is a littermate and alpha
So I’ll each my hearing aids carefully.
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Hi Folks, these where my 3 dogs, the Big Lab, was Jack, I carried him as a puppy, he passed a few years ago, he was 16 years old, he was a gentle giant, and such a placid dog… Archie, (A long Haired Terrier) is cleaning Jacks face, and still very much around, Biscuit, (A Chihuahua Jack Russel) is also still around, he is a fair-weather dog, and likes the heat, and loved to sleep on top of Jack, at every given opportunity 
I believe Jack chewed one of my aids as a puppy, although I didn’t actually catch him, doing the deed, he had that tell tale look about him, when I asked “Who did that” 
Cheers Kev 
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Kev, first Golden was a gentle giant too! 105 pounds. Yours are all beautiful dogs. (Bagging and Bailey, Westies). (Winston, Bentley, Quin, Sir Charlot, Morgan. All Golden Retrievers). All the Goldens were cared for by a wonderful Doctor, Vet. Who was a holistic vet too. She provided wonderful care and was my mentor. Rest in Peace Dr Sharon Kopinak.
I found that early on I treated my first Westfield as human. Perhaps I treat Royce, the Springer as human too. All were fine dogs
Dogs are amazing company. And they have all had amazing noses. I’d best be careful with my hearing aids
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Yes, dogs generally like to sniff at our orifices- so be careful that no expensive electronics gets sucked out or moistened while they attempt to get at the bottom of their activities.
And of course, anything that drops on the floor they get to examine (sniff, lick, taste, chew, swallow, or all of the above) first, long before you can step in.
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I love the mug shot of the suspect above!
Some 15 years my audi warned me about hearing aids and dogs. I suspect he’d seen many incidents like this.
I wonder if the dog was reacting to the high-pitched ringing or feedback the aids tend to produce if trying to amplify sound too much (even with the best fitting)?
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Quickest way to get an ear infection is to let your pet get anywhere near your ear mould or tip, and that includes cats and their so called “cleanliness”!
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I believe we have too much emphasis on hygiene, we humans cannot survive without bacteria, everyone has around 3 1/2lbs of bacteria in their gut (Absolutely Billions) collectively known as the “Microbiome” or Biome for short, some of this is good bacteria, some not so good, this bacteria repairs your digestion system, harmonizes your immune system, it helps to clean your blood, without it, we wouldn’t survive… Unfortunately, antibiotics destroys the Biome, they kill the good bacteria along with the bad, taking a course of antibiotics will leave you with a weaker immune system, it takes approximately 6 months to a year for your Biome to recover…Now I don’t eat meat, I eat fish though (A Pescatarian) I try to avoid farmed Salmon though, they use heavy doses of human antibiotics treatments, for Furunculosis (I worked on a Salmon farm)… Farmed Red Meat is also questionable, farmers found out years ago, if you give your cattle lots of antibiotics, then they gain a lot of weight, so some are inclined to give their cattle cheap antibiotics, I am not saying you should avoid Red Meat, I am saying there is an element of risk… Now, I am a double Sepsis survivor, I try to avoid antibiotics as much as possible, we can’t avoid them completely, it would be nice to think, my immune system helped, perhaps it did, perhaps not? So if I drop a piece of food on the ground (much depends on what & where?) I will normally pick it up and eat it, I want that bacteria to build up some immunity, my dogs will lick my face regularly, I occasionally let them do so, I am aware they are full of bacteria, but again we need some… I shower every morning, sometimes twice a day, if I am doing heavy manual labour, I am just less fussy about what I eat, within reason 
As always, YMMV… Cheers Kev
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Agree! I don’t use hand sanitizer or antibacterial soaps for that reason. Thats about as far as I go. I want me some bacteria!!
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Your pup is SO CUTE. My dog, who never chews anything she is not supposed to, found my bruxing guard (teeth night guard) and had a nice chew on it. They were able to sand it down and clean it, but it messed up my teeth since the fit was then off!
I always tell my patients to make sure their pets don’t get a hold of their aids. I keep a chewed one on display to show them
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Thanks- I am looking at a retention ear cuff on the Deaf metal jewelry site on Etsy. Look like a pain but better than chewed if they work. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1085342626/pearldiamond-hearing-aid-retention-ring?click_key=a02393ef47f3a929a4515277a075c11a8e9cec92%3A1085342626&click_sum=84b7bc02&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=retention+earring&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&frs=1
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