More life and times of Elton

In your last Pupdate, we showed you, via volunteer David's fab photos, what a handsome dog he's becoming. Well, what do you think of him now...?

David is a photographer and he clearly has a great eye, especially when it comes to spotting Elton photo ops. The background here complements his brown colouring wonderfully.

Of course, even though he's growing up, he still has his puppyish moments...

This is fine. We want our puppies to enjoy life! That's part of what makes them so special, and so important to their deaf partners. They amuse and entertain, they love and care.

As well as looking and feeling great, Elton has continued with his training, thanks to David and his wife Sally. Here's David putting Elton through his 'wait' training.

The idea is that David asks Elton to wait, and holds up his finger. He then moves a step back... and another... and another... and the longer Elton waits, the more of a fuss he gets at the end. It looks like Elton might be approaching some sort of record above because if David takes too many more steps back, he's going to end up in the flower bed!

This is a very important part of Elton's training. He'll need to 'wait' for example when his deaf partner is getting out of the car, or waiting to cross the road. With David's help, he's learning that 'waiting' is great, because he gets treats and a fuss. Lucky Elton!

Time for some videos now, again all supplied by Sally and David to help tell Elton's story.

Sally explains what's going on below: "This was at the local railway station getting used to trains. At the end of the video, when we're leaving the platform via the stairs he shows that he still needs a bit more practice at how to climb stairs properly!"

This is such a great video because it really shows how our volunteers help train our puppies. Elton isn't very sure about the train, which is understandable because they're such loud, noisy things. But you can see that all he needs to do is look at Sally, and he's reassured. And when it's all over, he gets an encouraging 'Good boy!' and trots happily alongside Sally. And if he's a bit enthusiastic going up the stairs, well, that's something Sally will practice with him until he gets it right. It's all good.

Next up, a visit to the local bank. David takes up the story: "This was Elton's first visit to the bank, to help him get used to public places. He's wearing his 'on duty' kit - that smart 'I'm learning to be a Hearing Dog' burgundy coat - and he did really well. It was a very new environment for him and, after only a little while, he settled down and waited patiently."

He's such a good boy! And if anything he looks even more handsome in his burgundy coat, as if such a thing were possible.

Finally, just to show it's not all work, work, work...

Finally, a photo the likes of which we've never seen before!

David has used his photographic talents to put a collage together of 'Elton through the ages'. You can quite literally see how he's grown up!

Eltons everywhere!

If only we could have that many Eltons in real life, the world would surely be a better place for it.

Having said which, there really could only ever be one Elton, and very fortunately, he's the one you're sponsoring! So, once again, from all of us, thank you so very much for sponsoring Elton!