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Tales of Travel with a Hearing Dog:
Seattle’s Pike Place Market

Rambling With Rosie

by Danielle M. Clarneaux

By now I’m used to the stares, whether I’m shopping in Seattle’s busy Pike Place Market or on a train clacking across country to New Orleans. Eyes are always following me, and for certain it’s not because I resemble any glam movie icon, either past or present.

To be honest, people aren’t even looking at me. Rather, the stares are directed at the imposing 90-pound German shepherd who’s always by my side. I can almost hear their minds trying to figure it out – is she blind or what? But no, it’s not my vision that’s deficient, it’s my hearing, and Rosie is my hearing service dog, working 24/7 to alert me to sounds I can’t hear.

I started losing my hearing when I was about 20, and little by little my ability to hear diminished until the world has become mostly silent. With electronic assistance, some sounds are enhanced, and fortunately I instinctively learned to lip read over the years.

Before the loss became severe, I worked as a newspaper reporter here in the Seattle area, and it was on assignment some 15 years ago that I met my first service dog. This bouncing black cockapoo had transformed the life of an elderly, hearing impaired woman, providing not only much-needed companionship but sound awareness as well, jumping into her lap whenever the doorbell chimed or the telephone rang. Pretty cool, I thought, maybe someday I’d get a hearing dog.

That someday arrived almost four years ago when Rosie came into my life. There was no doubt she was destined to help me hear. Not only was she impossibly adorable, but her ears were bigger than her huge puppy feet and twitched with radar precision at every sound. I located an organization close by that helps people with disabilities train their own service dogs, and Rosie and I spent a solid year learning to work together. Today she faithfully wakes me up with a cold nose when the alarm goes off, alerts me to telephones, microwave buzzes, timers, elevator bells, sirens, smoke alarms and even cash machine bleeps.

In Search of Salmon

Now, after years of our being side by side, all day, every day, Rosie knows when something’s up, and today we’re heading out to Seattle’s Pike Place Market to buy some of the season’s first catch of Copper River salmon. If your palate is happy with farm-raised salmon, it will be doing cartwheels over this rich, wild salmon caught in southeast Alaska.

Pike Place is a Seattle landmark, attracting nine million tourists a year to its nine-acre district bursting with tons of produce, fresh fish tossed right off the boats and quality meat, all provided by 100 local farmers and suppliers. Craftspeople also display their distinctive creations, performers entertain the crowds with everything from puppets to jazz, and restaurants fill the air with ethnic aromas until your stomach gurgles.

The market was founded in 1907 when Seattle citizens revolted over the insane cost of produce. In the year between 1906 and 1907, the retail price for onions alone skyrocketed from 10 cents per pound to $1 per pound, and Seattleites were irate. Encouraged by a city councilman, eight farmers showed up one day on the corner of First and Pike streets with their homegrown produce for sale. They were overwhelmed by 10,000 enthusiastic shoppers. The market then blossomed, providing low cost food for Seattleites, even through the depression. It wasn’t until chain groceries came into vogue during the 1940s that Pike Place began a decline, along with other farmers’ markets throughout the country. However, in the 1960s a determined civic group revitalized Pike Place, and an association is still active today to ensure its continued vitality.

The busy market doesn’t bother Rosie a bit, and she loves the pats she spontaneously receives from passersby, especially from kids. She heels by my side or goes single file ahead of me when the crowd engulfs us. However, I occasionally have to remind her that she’s a hearing dog and not the sheepherder of her ancestry. When those instincts override her training, she tries to herd me.

She must get tired of my continual stopping and starting to admire the tantalizingly fresh produce in each booth, but she doesn’t complain. The best of spring is displayed, from the greens of early pea vines and healthy asparagus to the firey reds of chili peppers and the earthy neutrals of morels. I buy some leeks, shallots, chives and new potatoes to accompany the salmon, and stick them all in Rosie’s roomy orange backpack. (You might want to try one of my favorite salmon recipes found at the end of the article.)

Chefs from Seattle restaurants come early every morning to select the freshest ingredients for the day’s menu, and many of the market tourists will be sampling the end results later as they stop for a bite to eat in one of Seattle’s many fine restaurants.

When I see a salmon sailing overhead, I know we’re approaching the fish stall. A salmon lover herself, Rosie’s nose starts twitching, and she picks up a little speed as she keeps an eye out for another flying fish. The fishmongers are entertainers in their own right, and their dexterous salmon-tossing act is captured on film daily by hundred of tourists.

Amid the din of the crowd, I yell out my order for the salmon, and I think the employee asks me, “What kind of dog is that?” I smile, which is my usual response when I’m not sure what someone has said, and I point to Rosie and simply say that she is my hearing dog. The man nods, smiles and talks louder, more clearly. If Rosie does nothing else, she makes people aware that I have a hearing impairment, and with this understanding they usually make an effort to enhance their communication with me.

With the salmon tucked securely in Rosie’s pack, we make our way to one of the many restaurants in and surrounding the market. The sun is peeking through the thin clouds, so I opt for an al fresco lunch on a second-floor balcony. We climb a steep flight of grated metal stairs, a challenge for Rosie’s feet but one that’s helped along by the smells enticing her from above. The first waitress to greet us frowns when she sees Rose, and I explain that she’s a service dog and is allowed under the law to accompany me. The restaurant is Bolivian, and it appears that English is the young woman’s second language, so she consults another waitress. “Esta bien,” the other says, and we are cordially shown a table facing the market. Rosie settles down with her nose poking through the banister, watching the parade of people below. She’s a well-mannered patron -- no begging for food or picking up scraps from the floor are allowed. Occasionally another diner will come over and ask if they can meet Rose. She especially entrances children and is amazingly delicate with them, particularly with the babies who she sniffs with utmost gentleness if invited.

We head home after lunch. Being around so many people is pretty tiring for us both – me straining to hear, Rosie alert every minute to her duties, but nonetheless we enjoy our adventures and meeting new people at every turn. It often takes us twice as long to do our shopping, as we frequently stop to talk at length with those who are curious about Rose. But I look at our travels as an opportunity to help educate the public on the wonderful service these dogs provide to people with disabilities. And Rosie makes a great poster dog -- even if I suspect her motivating thought throughout the day was to get home and taste some of that salmon!

Copper River Salmon Roasted With Aromatic Vegetables

Don’t let the amount of onions in this succulent, simple one-dish meal scare you off. It’s never failed to garner raves in the 10 years I’ve been serving it.

4 servings

4 ¾-inch King salmon fillets or steaks (or other firm fish such as halibut or tuna)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 pound small unpeeled new potatoes, quartered
4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally ½ inch thick
2 medium leeks, sliced diagonally ¼ inch thick (white and some of light green stalk)
1 medium onion, cut into ½-inch dice
3 ounces shallots, peeled and halved
3 tablespoons light olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ pound asparagus, trimmed and sliced diagonally 2 inches long
4 tablespoons chopped green onion or snipped fresh chives

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Set aside.

Combine potatoes, carrots, leeks, onions and shallots in heavy 9x13 baking dish, preferably enameled cast iron. Drizzle with olive oil; stir to blend. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until potatoes are tender, stirring twice, about 30 minutes. Stir asparagus into vegetables. Bake an additional 10 minutes.

Remove dish from oven. Sprinkle vegetables with remaining two tablespoons lemon juice and two tablespoons chives and stir gently. Arrange fish in pan, pushing veggies to the side and spooning leeks, onion and shallots over. Bake until fish is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons chives and serve.

For more information: http://www.pikeplacemarket.org

Contact: danclar1@msn.com

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