Sponsor Dilly and transform a deaf person's life

Black labrador puppy sticking out its tounge sitting in the grass

Sponsor this cute Labrador from just £5 a month and you’ll receive a fantastic welcome pack, printed updates throughout her training journey, and exclusive Pupdates in our Puppy Pen blog. You will also be helping people to live well with hearing loss.

Sponsor Dilly from £5 a month

Black labrador puppy over a womans shoulder in a burgundy hoodie

Black labrador puppy running with dog toy in its mouth across the grass

Black labrador puppy lying on a dog bed with a doughnut dog toy

BLack labrador puppy sitting in a dog bed with a plant wallpaper background

Black labrador puppy running across the grass

Black labrador puppy in a burgundy hearing dogs jacket

Black labrador puppy in a grey dog bed with fluffy blankets

Sponsor Dilly: A curious and cheeky explorer

Dilly’s on a mission of discovery! For this inquisitive puppy, even a routine trip to the vets is filled with excitement. With her best white-dipped paw forwards, Dilly’s a fun-loving Labrador who finds the best in every situation. In the future, her instinctive cheerfulness will help a deaf person to find joy, every day.

When out and about with her Volunteer Dog Trainers, ‘Princess Dilly’ is met by many adoring subjects. One of her favourite hobbies is being cuddled at the end of the driveway by her Volunteer Dog Trainers, Neil and Kate. This cheeky girl loves the waves and attention she gets from passers-by!

Throughout the rest of her routine, Dilly is always full of surprises. “We gave Dilly a slow-feeding bowl for her meals,” shared Neil. “But she worked out if she just bats her paw on it, the kibble will fly out everywhere!” Clever Dilly – seems like it’s one point for the Labrador, zero points for the slow-feeder!

Following a day of exploring, this loveable Lab unwinds with a nap…with all her legs splayed out around her! Dilly is enduringly and endearingly silly. Her wonderful personality will bring her future deaf partner connection, wherever they go together

Sponsor Dilly from £5 a month

A man wearing a shorts and blue tshirt is sitting on porch steps with a white cockapoo dog — Peter and his hearing dog Arya

How your puppy sponsorship will help

You'll help a puppy become a life-changing hearing dog. They'll stop a deaf person feeling isolated and alone, and alert them to sounds they can't hear including the doorbell and the fire alarm.

Start your Puppy Sponsorship

Very small fluffy white Spaniel puppy with light brown ears holding a soft toy duck in her mouth in a room with a dog bed and some other toys in the background

Sponsor for £5 a month

£5 a month could pay for lots of yummy treats and exciting toys to reward your clever puppy during their training.

Young black Labrador looking to the left with a small hurdle and some cones in front of her and a person to the left, only their legs are visible.

Sponsor for £8 a month

£8 a month could pay for fun puppy classes that help your pup on their journey to become a hearing dog.

Woman in Hearing Dogs burgundy jacket in bed in room with a dog on the bed in front of her laying down but looking alertly at the women

Sponsor for £12 a month

£12 a month could teach your puppy how to alert a deaf person to life-saving sounds, such as the smoke alarm.

Training progress: Dilly steps into her training adventure

Being an assistance dog, Dilly will encounter many more environments than a pet dog would. So, to prepare this young pup, her Volunteer Dog Trainers have been gently introducing more unusual sights and sounds at home. These have included hairdryers, umbrellas and brightly coloured t-shirts. What’s more, although she’s still little, Dilly has already grown out of her first training harness! And alongside this, her confidence has been growing, too.

How long will Dilly’s list of loyal subjects become? What other charming cheekiness will she have in store? And which deaf person will she grow up to support? Sponsor Dilly today to find out!

Sponsor Dilly from £5 a month

1. How do I sponsor a puppy?

2. What do sponsors receive? How do they follow puppy’s progress?

All sponsors receive a fantastic welcome pack, which includes a certificate, car sticker and postcards of their puppy. You'll also receive a cuddly puppy toy, notepad and pen.

From then on, we send regular updates on how your puppy is doing, either printed or, if requested, by email. We publish training updates roughly every five to six months, depending on how quickly the puppy goes through training. On average, across the 18-24 months of a puppy’s training, this means four updates.

The updates show, through beautiful photos, how your puppy is getting on, with comments from the people involved with his or her training. The full set of updates goes right the way through training and then introduces you to the deaf person your puppy is helping on a daily basis (if they have given us permission to do so).

In between full updates, we also publish ‘Pupdates’ (see what we did there?) in the online Puppy Pen every two months, showing what a fun life your puppy is having as he or she learns about the world. When we do this, we also email our sponsors to tell them there’s a new Pupdate.

So, you'll see the progress you have made possible. You can also celebrate the outcome, when your puppy is partnered with a deaf person and helps them to live well with hearing loss.

3. Can I sponsor as a gift?

Yes! Sponsorship makes a great gift for both children and adults.

To do this, go to the sponsor page and choose ‘it’s a gift’ under ‘Who is this sponsorship for?’. You can also choose whether to have the welcome pack sent to you, or directly to the gift receiver.

It generally takes around 10 working days for welcome packs to be despatched. If you don’t manage to order in time but you want to be sure you have something on that special day, you can download our print-at-home certificate in one of two ways:

If you sponsored online, you will be emailed a link to download your sponsorship certificate as soon as your sponsorship is set up. If your email doesn’t arrive, then please check your junk/spam folder.

If you have sponsored via a manual form, then please phone us on 01844 340734 or email us at sponsorapuppy@hearingdogs.org.uk and we will email a certificate through.

4. What happens when my puppy graduates?

When the puppy’s training journey ends and he or she is matched with a deaf person, we transfer the sponsorship automatically to a new puppy if you paid by Direct Debit or a monthly PayPal donation. You can of course choose not to follow your new puppy and cancel your regular donation if you wish by contacting us. If you paid as a one-off, we ask if you’d like to sponsor another puppy.

We do this with a letter or email at the same time as your final update, in which you get to see the result of your support. We also show you lovely photos of the new puppy. It’s a very exciting time, as one journey ends and another begins!

5. Why do you have minimum amounts?

As a well-run charity we try to be as efficient and effective as possible in everything we do. However, there are certain limits below which we would simply lose money on each sponsorship. The amounts we ask for mean that, after costs are considered, sufficient money goes towards helping a sponsor puppy through its training and helping a deaf person live well with hearing loss.

Sponsor Dilly and transform a deaf person's life

Sponsor Dilly: A curious and cheeky explorer

How your puppy sponsorship will help

Sponsor for £5 a month

Sponsor for £8 a month

Sponsor for £12 a month

Training progress: Dilly steps into her training adventure

General sponsorship FAQs

1. How do I sponsor a puppy?

2. What do sponsors receive? How do they follow puppy’s progress?

3. Can I sponsor as a gift?

4. What happens when my puppy graduates?

5. Why do you have minimum amounts?