I have decided to keep a diary about all the exciting things that I get up to with my recipient, Claire. Recipient is just a posh word for the person who is lucky to have me as their hearing dog. She isn’t my owner as the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf people still own me so I don’t call her that. I like to think of her as my partner – like a partner in crime, as we get up to all kinds of things together. I work hard for Claire, because she is deaf. It’s my job to alert her when there are different sounds. I really do enjoy every minute. There is nothing I like more than putting on my coat and going out to work. You see, I am a working dog and not just a pet. If you keep reading my diary posts I will show you how I work and the things that I do for Claire.
Monday 25th January
Wow, what a day! I was not happy this morning as Claire had me leaving the house really early in the morning out into the freezing cold. Claire is a trainer for Enhance the UK and was training at Gatwick airport so onto the train we jumped. Luckily she remembered to bring a bed for me as I really don’t like lying on the dirty floor of the train. It wasn’t a bad journey although Claire got cross as a lady asked her to move as she didn’t like dogs. Claire refused so eventually the lady moved. This was good as it gave me more space to relax in. I slept the whole way to Gatwick. This isn’t my first time at an airport; I have even been on an airplane before! The training was good as I got to meet Gibson the Guide dog. He was huge! Sometimes being small can be difficult for me as people cannot read my coat properly and do not realise that I am a hearing dog! They try and tell Claire that I am not allowed in places and then she has to stop and explain that I am an assistance dog. Assistance dogs are dogs which are trained by charities to help people with disabilities. I have a special logo on my coat to show that I am an assistance dog.
Monday 31st January
Claire is working from home today which is great, as I get to spend the day lying in my bed beside her. I tell her when the telephone rings by gently scratching her legs and taking her to the sound. She took me for a lovely walk at lunch time with my new ball which was great as I love playing fetch.
I scratch Claire’s legs to let her know when the telephone is ringing and then take her to the telephone.
Saturday 6th February
I went to Birmingham today to do a photoshoot. Claire’s going to be writing for a new magazine Liability and wanted me to be in the photos with her. She hates her photo taken and was happier because we had our photo taken together. There was lots of waiting around in the studio in the cold so Zoe (another writer) wrapped me up in a blanket to keep me warm and gave me cuddles! I will share the proper photos of me with you when I get them but here’s a picture of me posing for the camera.
That’s all for now but I will tell you some more tails soon!