Behind the scenes: Making the viral
People who visit Hearing Dogs’ headquarters in Saunderton, south Buckinghamshire, tend to be amazed at the scale of our operations.
The process of selecting a dog, often from rescue or from a family who can no longer keep him - to supporting his working partnership with a deaf person - is long and involved.
Read about the various stages in a hearing dog’s training here.
The demand for hearing dogs is high - we currently have a two year waiting list. We’re training more dogs than ever (140 new hearing dogs were placed with deaf people last year) and we’ll often have up to 70 dogs on site at any one time. So you can imagine - we need lots of space!
Like all charities, we need to make more people aware of Hearing Dogs, raise more funds and give potential supporters and clients an insight into the work we do.
That’s when the idea of our ‘viral’ marketing campaign or ‘e-film’ was born…
A plan was hatched to show people what we do and where we do it through the eyes of an eager young puppy - so desperate to become a hearing dog that he breaks into our HQ! Click here to read puppy Teddy’s ‘Mission possible’.
An award scheme co-ordinated by AOL called ’Innovation in the Community’ were so impressed with this idea that they gave a grant of £2,000 to Hearing Dogs towards the cost of shooting the footage required, producing the 90 second ‘e-film’ (undertaken by Iota Media) and sending and tracking the ‘viral’.
Teddy’s stunt double - a soft toy (bearing an uncanny resemblance to Teddy) - created ‘Teddy-cam’. Providing a Teddy’s-eye view of life at Hearing Dogs, this camera entertained both dogs and staff alike - and ensured that no dogs were harmed in the making of this film!
Teddy’s early obedience training with his volunteer socialiser stood him in good stead when he had to sit, stay, run on cue and generally look cute! Likewise, Pippa’s status as pet dog to Hearing Dogs’ training team leader Jenny Palser made her perfect for the part of Agent P.
Scout - a demonstration dog used to performing at Crufts and in television studios nationwide - was equally well cast in his cameo with trainer and owner Ben Sargeant. Ben, incidentally, was also the voice of Teddy!
