Grace and her new friends

Hello and welcome back to Grace’s Puppy Pen! Grace is very excited to catch up with you.

Volunteer puppy trainer Jo is helping Grace develop her social skills in a range of different environments. Grace is learning to be comfortable meeting and interacting nicely with new people and animals.

On one recent walk, Grace made friends with a cow…

… a horse…

… a swan…

... and a Pygmy goat!

What a popular pup!

These gentle and friendly introductions are a brilliant way for Grace to learn to feel relaxed and calm around different animals that she might encounter while 'out and about' on walks with her future deaf partner.

It goes without saying that Grace loves interacting with dogs too.

Here she is with Bowie (named after David Bowie!) Dalmatian Bowie is Grace’s fluffy neighbour and they adore playing with each other.

What else has Grace been up to?

Well, she has also been practising visiting more public places. Jo has gradually been introducing Grace to busier environments such as the supermarket…

… and superstar Grace behaved beautifully!

Notice how focused Grace is as she happily walks alongside the trolley. Grace is demonstrating that she can comfortably walk nicely on her lead in an unusual environment. We are so impressed!

Through gradual reward-based training, Grace is learning that these new experiences are fun and enjoyable. Grace will build upon these skills as she moves through her training to become a life-changing hearing dog, where she will be able to confidently accompany her deaf partner in a range of different environments. What a superstar!

So, it’s all going great for Grace! She is doing amazingly well in her training and has a very exciting future ahead of her. We are so grateful for your kind support.

Until next time, from everyone at Hearing Dogs, thank you for sponsoring Grace.