Puppy Four Star

In the final stage of a hearing dog’s training, our expert instructors, and Volunteer Dog Trainers work together to help fine-tune a dog’s training and ensure they are ready for their final assessment.

A labrador laying down calmly next to a certificate that says Willow has successfully completed Puppy 4 Star

Known as the Puppy Four Star, this is also where our hearing dogs learn most of their sound work – practicing to alert their deaf partner to sounds like the doorbell, telephone alerts and the fire alarm.

A spaniel on a bed on top of a volunteer dog trainer who has their arms up in a ‘what is it? gesture

By this stage, we begin to personalise their training as we will have a strong idea of which dog will be the perfect match for one of our deaf partners.

 

What does a puppy learn?

Here are the main activities that happen during the final stage of a hearing dog’s training journey:

 

Perfecting vital soundwork

It is during the Puppy Four Star that a hearing dog develops their soundwork, although they do pick up some of this training throughout their previous Stars levels.

This is the most important training a hearing dog will learn, as it is where they learn all the practical skills that will help a person to live well with their hearing loss.

Hearing dogs learn to alert to sounds like the doorbell, telephone alerts, digital timers, alarm clocks and fire alarms. The dogs will begin to understand which sounds require which reactions and quickly pick up the sounds they are to alert to.

We train our dogs to alert to a sound. They will alert through a gentle ‘nose nudge’ on their partner’s leg.

Close up of a cockapoo using its nose to nudge the leg of a person

Depending on the sound, a hearing dog will either lead the deaf person to the sound after alerting them. Or, if it is a danger signal like a fire alarm, it will lay down to avoid a dog leading someone into an unsafe situation.

Once a hearing dog is confident in alerting his trainer, we then start making it a bit more challenging.

Our trainers might start using the vacuum cleaner and expect the dog to alert to the doorbell or pretend to take a bath and set off a fake fire alarm. All these scenarios are crucial for a hearing dog to understand that they should still tell a deaf person about these sounds.

This essential sound work training has not only transformed deaf people’s lives, but it has also saved some, too.