Arya's first visit to a garden centre

It's one of Arya's many 'firsts' - her first visit to a garden centre!

You might be wondering: "Why on earth would we be taking her to a garden centre if she's going to be a hearing dog?"

The reason is that, for her first year, Arya is learning to be a well-behaved little dog, happy in her own skin, able to visit new places and new faces and enjoy the experience. This is so that, when she does eventually partner a deaf person, she'll happily be able to accompany them wherever they want to go, helping them to reconnect with life. So, she's building a great foundation upon which to become an amazing hearing dog. And it all begins with these 'firsts'!

Talking of firsts, before we continue, let's see a quick video of her visit.

As you can see, garden centres are particularly good for visits because they're fairly quiet, but have plenty of interesting sights, sounds and smells!

We also took photos of her visit so you can see more closely what she got up to. Here's Arya investigating a particularly nice smell.

What do you think of that Arya?

She seems to like it so far!

How about a shelf full of plastic gutter guards?

Or a stack of tomato food?

Yes, it looks like Arya's in her element! We believe that dogs can smile, and Arya is definitely smiling here. You can't often make out her eyes, but when you can, it's because they're twinkling with happiness!

What else helps Arya feel in her element? Untying shoelaces, of course!

This is something another sponsor pup, called Chrissie, specialises in. She can untie them without you noticing!

Another reason to visit a garden centre is to learn practical skills such as settling. This is the way in which our dogs just keep themselves to themselves when the person they're with is having a nice relaxing coffee or bite to eat. Again, it's important that Arya learns this good behaviour so that she's able to accompany a deaf person wherever they want to go. It seems she's really rather good at it.

She's so good in fact, that she can stick her tongue out at the same time.

Another great reason for visiting public spaces is to meet and greet new friends! These two black Labs are also hearing dogs in training. Arya was very happy to meet Vanta.

She also had a good old nose-nudge with Patrick near the Viburnum Tinus.

As you can see, she's doing really well! Full of confidence and charm - that's our Arya. Until your next Pupdate, thank you so much for sponsoring her!