Donate

Episode 3:

Puppy class fun with Piper

Posted by Elizabeth Murphy

Welcome back to Piper’s Puppy Pen! It’s time to catch up with your sponsor pup.

Here she is having a snuggle with her cuddly rabbit toy.

Piper — How cute!

Piper has made a brilliant start to her hearing dog training journey. She has started attending puppy classes with her fluffy friends and is learning all the basic skills she will need to become a confident and calm hearing dog.

Here is Piper demonstrating a lovely ‘sit’ at a puppy class with David, one of her Volunteer Dog Trainers.

Black spaniel practising a sit at puppy class

Knowing how to respond to ‘sit’ is a very important skill, which will provide Piper with a solid foundation for the rest of her hearing dog training. As she gets older, Piper will gradually practise sitting in various situations that she could be in with her future deaf partner, e.g. in a busy supermarket.

Piper has also started learning the basics of how to settle, i.e. how to calmly lie down on her mat.

Black and tan spaniel settling on a rug

This may sound easy, but it is a tricky skill to master, especially when there are potential distractions around, such as other dogs or people. But through gentle reward-based training, Piper is learning that when she gets it right, she is rewarded with tasty treats, cuddles or her giraffe toy!

When she is not at puppy class, Piper loves having fun in the park. Here she is playing a game of ‘fetch’ with Eileen, her other Volunteer Dog Trainer.

This video requires marketing cookies to be viewed. Please accept cookies to view this video content.

We couldn’t agree more – what a good girl! As you can see, Eileen rewards Piper with lots of praise and a treat for returning to her when called. This positive reinforcement will help Piper to associate recall as a fun game!

In other news, little Piper has started teething, which means she has an increased instinct to chew, to help soothe her gums.

Black and tan spaniel laying on grass with teething toy in mouth — Teething toys are great as they encourage Piper to chew the toy, instead of anything she’s not meant to!

We hope you’ve enjoyed catching up with Piper. Keep an eye out for your first official training update, for more exciting news from your gorgeous sponsor pup!

Until then, from everyone at Hearing Dogs, thank you so much for sponsoring Piper.

Click here to go back to Piper's other pupdates.

Catch up with more pups!

About the author

Hello, I’m Elizabeth and I work in the puppy sponsorship team. I am very lucky to get to know lots of the adorable pups who are training to be life-changing hearing dogs – they really are amazing!

Mid shot of a woman smiling leaning on a wooden gate

Registered charity in England and Wales no. 293358 and in Scotland no. SC040486. Royal Patron HRH The Princess Royal.