Hearing Dogs celebrated its 25th birthday
In 2007, the Charity was 25 years old. During this eventful quarter of a century, Hearing Dogs has created more than 1,400 life-changing partnerships between trained hearing dogs and deaf people. Click here to read some of their inspiring stories.
The sum total of lives transformed by the Charity is closer to several thousand. We select around 70% of the dogs we train from rescue centres or similar. Not all these dogs have been able to overcome their traumatic past to become valuable companions to deaf people; those that don’t make the hearing dog grade are found a loving home and happy, fulfilling life as a pampered pet thanks to our re-homing team.
Hearing Dogs was launched at Crufts in 1982. The first ever demonstration hearing dog ‘Favour’ was the very first mongrel to enter the famous ring at the world-renowned dog show! You can read more about our history here.
During our 25th anniversary year, we have made even more people aware of these wonderful dogs that change lives. Please help us by telling all your friends, relatives and colleagues! You can subscribe to our free monthly e-newsletter or if you wish to befriend a hearing dog, you can follow his progress through his career as a hearing dog.
How we celebrated our Silver Jubilee
On 9 March we held a media launch at Crufts to celebrate our official birthday. Our new children's project - 'Team Hearing Dogs' - was filmed by the BBC and made the Crufts round-up programme. Then hearing dog Molly was crowned the winner of the BBC / Crufts 'Friends for Life' competition - a fantastic achievement for a rescue mongrel that started life as an unwanted present!
On 10 September we held a fundraising dinner at the Vintners Hall in London. Local businesses were encouraged to buy tickets with a view to fostering longer-term relationships with such companies that could really help Hearing Dogs expand through ongoing support.
In our 25th anniversary year, the National Trust has helped us to commemorate this milestone by giving the public the opportunity to see hearing dog demonstrations and meet some hearing dogs and their owners at selected properties across England and Wales. The National Trust for Scotland has also participated in the birthday celebrations. 
