Sponsor Iggy and transform a deaf person's life

A cocker spaniel pup sticking his tongue out, sitting on grass.

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

Sponsor Iggy from £5 a month

Cocker spaniel Iggy is standing on his back legs, with one of his front paws in a persons hand. A bookcase is in the background.

A close up of a Cocker Spaniel puppy sitting on grass. He is wearing a burgundy hearing dogs uniform jacket that is still too large for him.

Closeup of puppy Iggy with mouth open, sitting on grass.

A cocker spaniel puppy curiously investigating a cardboard box with paw prints on it

Puppy Iggy being cradled in a smiling woman's arms

Close up of Iggy in a grassy field. he is looking off to the right curiously

A close up head shot of Iggy, He has a white body with black and brown patches on his head and ears

Cocker spaniel Iggy is sitting in a dog bed with a yellow and white blanket. His is looking at camera and there is a bookcase in the background.

Sponsor Iggy: A sweet and curious companion

It’s Iggy time! With his bespeckled snout and beautiful brow, this colourful puppy loves learning about the world. Making new pals wherever he goes, a day spent with Iggy is sure to put a smile on your face – let’s learn more about this lovely pup as he begins his journey towards becoming a deaf person’s life-changing companion.

Little Iggy has settled in brilliantly with his new Volunteer Puppy Trainer, Jane. Alongside his natural knack for sniffing out friends, Iggy has a talent for sniffing out treats, which has become his favourite game to play in the garden! Being a good houseguest, he’s also been making time to ‘help’ Jane with chores…

“Iggy likes playing with cardboard boxes that arrive in the post,” explained Jane. “I think he’s trying to help with the recycling! Sometimes, he falls out of a box which makes me laugh – Iggy is lots of fun.” Well, ‘recycling’ isn’t officially in the hearing dogs training handbook… but you certainly seem to be good at it, Iggy!

With a charming cheekiness, we have every confidence that this clever Cocker Spaniel will become a puppy school superstar. One day, we know he’ll bring lots of joy and comfort to his future deaf partner.

Where will Iggy’s super sniffing skills take him? Will his eyebrows become even more magnificent? And which deaf person will he grow up to support? Sponsor Iggy today to find out!

Sponsor Iggy 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.

Iggy is introduced to the world

At this young age, a puppy’s training is focused on safely introducing them to the different sights, sounds and smells in the world around them. To help Iggy with this, his Volunteer Puppy Trainer has been spending short bursts of time with him on his lead, watching passing traffic from the end of the driveway. Our little pup is off to a fantastic start as he’s already beginning to realise that a strange, noisy car passing by is nothing to worry about!

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, magnet 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.