Hebe continues to have fun with Annette!

Here on the Puppy Pen we like to tell you all about how your sponsor pup is coming along. However, sometimes the volunteer puppy socialiser tells us so much, in such a lovely way, that we just tell you what they told us!

You already know Annette, Hebe's socialiser, from previous updates. Well, she has plenty to say about Hebe. Here are some photos she's taken recently, plus commentary, all courtesy of Annette.

"Hebe is now one year old and continues to be a pickle. Her puppy coat has almost gone and her adult coat is a lovely shiny golden colour. She is still beautiful but not a fluffy bear any more."

We love it when our socialisers give our pups funny names. In the past we've had 'hungry bundle of cuddles' and 'squidgy' for other pups. We love 'pickle' and 'fluffy bear' for Hebe!

She continues: "Hebe loves to watch the animal programmes on television and will sit for quite a long time watching the screen. Paul O’Grady programmes are her favourite."

Here you can see Hebe avidly watching her hero...

Over to Annette again: "She still likes learning and her latest exercise is ‘touch me’. She learnt this very quickly as there was the usual tit-bit when done properly."

It's great that Hebe's learning quickly, and that Annette is rewarding her. The two go hand-in-hand (or paw-on-knee in this case!). We call this reward-based training, and it means our pups learn quickly, through being rewarded with treats and praise, which everyone enjoys, pups and people alike.

It's not all plain sailing. "During the winter she continued rolling onto her back in the park, for tickle tums." (Hebe absolutely loves tickle-tums by the way). "We would arrive home with her covered in mud so to solve the problem, she wore a onesie. She loved wearing her onesie as other dog walkers thought it looked cute – which meant more rolling onto her back! She also loved wearing her onesie as it meant walkies."

Cue a cute photo of Hebe in her onesie.

"Now that the weather has improved, her favourite pastime is to collect twigs and branches from the garden, and bring them in through the dog flap. Pity she can't clear up the resulting mess."

We would love to claim that our clever hearing dogs are trained to house-clean but that would be pushing it!

Annette concludes: "Hebe's temperament continues to be perfect – she is so friendly to everyone she meets and has converted many wary, non-doggy children and adults."

What a lovely dog she is! And she's doing so well, thanks to your sponsorship. More soon!