Honey helps Katharine run her business

Honey has made it.

With your help, she has graduated – and we are absolutely delighted to tell you that she has been matched with Katharine.

Katharine runs her own soft furnishings business, and needs to interact with people all day, every day. Having been left profoundly deaf after not just one but two infections, she was in despair. With Honey’s help she is back on track, building her business and her confidence.

The partnership begins

As a child Katharine had mumps, and lost the hearing in her right ear. Then, eight years ago, she woke one morning with tinnitus. “It was like a jet engine in my ear”, says Katharine. “Over the next two weeks I lost the hearing in my good ear. We think it was a virus.

“I had no experience of total deafness. My business means I interact with customers every day. Suddenly, I just could not do this. I could only communicate by writing things on paper. I felt helpless, like a child. I didn’t think I could carry on.”

Katharine found the strength to adapt. She learned how to lip read, hired more staff, and communicated a lot via email.

But it was still not easy. “If I was in the office or workshop, and someone came into the showroom, I wouldn’t know unless someone told me. If I was on my own, I was on edge, checking all the time. My husband also worried about me.” Seeing her struggle, her lipreading tutor recommended her to Hearing Dogs.

Today, Honey helps Katharine run her business smoothly. “When a customer enters the shop, the doorbell rings. Honey tells me by nudging me with her nose. I ask 'What is it?' with my palms upward, and Honey nudges a pink post-it. It’s a unique alert that only Honey is trained to do, and it makes me much more relaxed, especially on my own.”

Honey also helps Katharine outside work. “I feel more confident out and about. Honey’s burgundy jacket makes people aware that I am deaf, and they are much more patient with me.”

She’s also slotted into home life wonderfully with Katharine’s six cats! “One cat, called Barah, befriended her with lots of kisses and now they groom each other”, Katharine explains. “The fact that Honey’s tongue covers Barah's whole face hasn't dampened their friendship.”

What’s next?

Katharine feels blessed. “I feel like I have two dogs in one: a sensible, relaxed dog at work, and a fun, loving dog when I take off her burgundy jacket. She is such a genuinely lovely soul with such a big heart, we all love her. I would like to thank Honey’s sponsors for bringing such an amazing dog into my life.”

And so ends Honey’s journey. Katharine and Honey are very happy together (and the cats too of course!). As Honey’s sponsor, you made this possible.

However, there are many more deaf people who need your help. It’s highly likely you know someone whose life has been touched by deafness in some way, so we hope you will consider sponsoring another puppy in future. But for now, from all of us at Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, thank you so very much.