Little Gordon's big family

Let's meet some of Gordon's volunteer family!

These are the people looking after little Gordon for his first year. They give a lot of their time, for free, to bring up our puppies, introduce them to the world, give them training, and provide a loving, safe, secure household for them to develop. We simply could not function without such amazing people. Gordon's Volunteer Puppy Trainer is called Vicky, and she's shared these fab photos with us.

Before we continue, it's worth bearing in mind that Vicky has seven children! So this is not all of them. Hopefully we can introduce you to everyone else in future. In the meantime, seven children means seven times the amount of fun and love for Gordon.

This is Vicky's daughter Matilda. "This was when Gordon first arrived at our house," Vicky tells us. "We all went outside to welcome him."

Gordon looked thrilled at the welcome!

"This is Daisy, and the green toy is one of Gordon's favourites."

Gordon is definitely quite attached to that toy!

Back to Vicki: "They all live here with Gordon so he is very used to children of all ages and is fantastic with all of them. He lives in a busy house but takes it all in his stride and loves to be with people. There is always someone available for a cuddle (his favourite thing after food), a game or of course to feed him! He actually likes to be fed by one family member, then carry his bowl to someone else and ask them to feed him again!

"Here's Jemima. Gordon loves it when she sits down so he can scramble onto her lap. Jemima is very gentle and quiet with him, and he can often be found lying in her room while she works on college assignments. "

"Nancy is probably Gordon’s favourite."

"She is very involved in his care. She brushes him, feeds him and takes part in his training."

We think it's brilliant when youngsters help with bringing up our puppies. It's a real learning experience for everyone. The parents of some of our deaf children partners tell us that they really learn about responsibility through their hearing dogs, who help them practically and emotionally too.

Vicki continues: "The Jack Russell in these pictures is our dog Sally who is 14 years old. She is still very energetic and enjoys her walks with Gordon and playing with him."

And snoozing with him too! 

Finally, we had to end this Pupdate with this really lovely photo of a little boy sharing a bit of precious time with a little puppy. This is Vicky's youngest son, Humphrey. All together now: "Awwwwww!"

Back to Vicki: "Gordon absolutely loves everyone. He is always overjoyed to see everyone in the mornings or when they arrive home from school or college."

It's wonderful to see that he's having such a great start in life. He'll certainly be used to children after all this! And this is really great training: who knows, he could grow up to have really special qualities that mark him out to be a hearing dog for a deaf child, who right know really needs a constant friend to look out for them, listen out for them, and look after them.

Until your next Pupdate however, thank you so much for sponsoring Gordon!