About hearing dog puppy Sunny

Sunny's Journal – April 2012

Sunny stands back after alerting his trainer Claire to the telephone.

Sunny and his trainer Claire in the Hearing Dogs shop working on the danger sound alert.

Sunny alerts his trainer Claire Bott to the alarm clock. The alarm clock goes off after 6 seconds of the video.

Sunny's Journal – February 2012

Time for a stroll in the snow.

Sunny's Journal – January 2012

Look who has arrived at the Grange to start their training. It's Sunny!

Sunny's Journal – late November 2011

Sunny and housemate Eden watching Frozen Planet, their favourite programme.

Sunny's Journal – September to November 2011

Sunny is now a year old and still seems to be growing! He’s as lovely as ever.

We’ve had another eventful few weeks. As well as attending his usual puppy classes once a fortnight, in September we took Sunny to The Henley Show. He drew lots of attention to the Hearing Dogs stand!

Sunny has had another official photoshoot. He is very used to having his photo taken and is a real poser. I also took him to a fundraising event held at British Airways Head Office near Heathrow. The staff there absolutely loved him and were very generous.

We’ve been out and about a lot in the lovely autumn weather including swimming in the lake and training and coffee in Princes Risborough and High Wycombe.

Best of all, though, Sunny (and David) passed the Silver Good Citizen’s Award at the beginning of November, and they are now training hard for their Gold Award.

Jilly & David

Sunny's Journal – July/August 2011

Sunny is now 9 months old and still progressing well. We have had quite an eventful month...

He goes to Puppy Class once a fortnight with other pups of a similar age and ability.

Some of these classes are held in the Puppy Hall at The Grange, or sometimes we meet up in Princes Risborough Recreation Ground for training (plenty of distractions ..... other dogs, people and children in the playground).

Then we go into the town, or we go to The Rye in High Wycombe where there are lots of ducks and swans - so far Sunny has left them well alone!

Also, we meet up for a coffee with other Puppy Socialisers at a local Garden Centre once a month. Here, the pups have to learn to sit quietly next to us while we chat!

Sunny has also been to the High Wycombe Half Marathon where many people came to the Hearing Dog stand to see him. He loves meeting people.

We also took him to the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace where the Hearing Dog Demo Team did two demonstrations in the Working Dogs Ring, and Sunny was one of the pups representing the charity so was on his best behaviour.

Sunny loved all the attention, but it was a long day and he certainly slept well on the way home.

He has just passed his town assessment which was a real challenge, walking off-lead through the park past lots of picnics and children playing ball games, also ducks and swans on the river, then on-lead into the busy town on market day.

He was a star!

Regards,

Jilly & David

Sunny's Journal – June 2011

Hi everyone! Sunny has just returned from his week on Dartmoor...

He had a great time exploring the moors with Billy, our Lurcher, and loved his walks up to Kes Tor and Meldon.

He was reluctant to jump over some of the stiles, as you can see from the photo!

He saw plenty of livestock - ponies, sheep & cattle, plus his first introduction to pigs!

One of the days we took Sunny to the beach at Bantham where he loved running around with Billy on the soft sand - he didn't actually swim, but did plenty of paddling and splashing around with Billy.

Sunny also learnt the art of digging which hopefully he won't try out in our garden now he's home!

Jilly & David

Sunny is progressing well. We have had a busy few weeks...

He has accompanied us on a talk we gave at Godstowe School to about 100 small children, telling them all about Hearing Dogs for Deaf People and the work they do, and I was able to show them how he responds to his hand signals. He was very good with all the children and of course they all absolutely adored him!

We’ve attended the various Puppy Classes - some taken in the Puppy Hall at Hearing Dogs, or we go into town for experience. Today, several of us met at a Garden Centre and had coffee and a chat while the dogs lay next to us. Generally, they were all very well behaved and it was excellent training for them as the place was full of toddlers and babies, and many of them wanted to stroke Sunny. He’s very calm and sweet with children.

Yesterday, we were at the Hearing Dogs for Deaf People Summer Show, mostly manning the Sponsorship Tent, and loads of people came to say hello, some of them already sponsors of Sunny so it was great that they actually were able to meet him. It was a long day and he was very tired when we got him home, but again, he was a good boy.

About a week ago, we took him (and our Lurcher, Billy) on holiday with us to Dorset. We stayed in a holiday cottage with about half an acre of orchard garden which was great for the dogs. Also, a few yards up the lane we were able to take them into several fields for a good run. Sunny also went to the seaside, though didn’t go paddling. He’s not a great one for water, thank goodness! Next week, we’re taking him away again - this time for a week on Dartmoor - so he will have plenty of training with regard to livestock - no chasing sheep, ponies or cattle, let alone all the rabbits!! We will probably take him to the seaside again while we’re there and you never know, he may go for his first proper swim.

He’s due for another photo shoot this week - oh what it is to be famous!