Have you ever seen a happier dog than Kai?

Well, have you...?

Look at that face! He's absolutely up for it, raring to go!

And here he is, actually raring to go - and then going...!

Is agility essential for our hearing dogs? Actually, no. But what we do want for them, is to have a wonderful, happy, healthy life. Our volunteers have made sure of this throughout his training. They do incredible work for us. They spend so much of their time and energy, giving so much of their love to our dogs - taking them on holiday with them, going for walks, visiting the vets, not to mention training them patiently. That's why Kai is so happy!

Here she is being a bit less agile, but no less content.

Talking of training, here's Kai outside one of our training flats.

We have a row of these at our Southern Training Centre. They're perfect for training our dogs, because they have everything a 'real' house would have, such as doorbells, kitchens and so on. Mostly they're almost like stage sets rather than places actually to live, but they're close enough to the real thing for Kai to learn about how to answer the door, settling nicely, reacting to the smoke alarm or alarm clock, and so on. As you can tell by his tail, he's still up for it! And so glossy too.

Now actually in one of the flats, and Kai is having fun - that's right, work is fun, and fun is work! They're interchangeable.

What's that Kai...?

For me?

Why thank you Kai! That's very kind of you!

What did we say about training and fun...?

Part of Kai's training is about learning to play nicely. It's the best way to create a strong bond with his deaf partner, and all dogs love a nice, chewy tennis ball. So, whereas he's such a nice dog, and playing nicely isn't a problem, he does need to understand that, when asked to 'give', he'll give the ball away voluntarily.

It starts with him having a good old chew of the ball, just to get used to it, and learn that perhaps his 'human' might want it from time to time...

Then, Kai is taught more formally about how to 'give'. Notice how his trainer just cups her hands - she doesn't take it from Kai, he has to give it. And the reward? Not only an exciting ball to retrieve, but a tasty treat! Clever Kai.

And this is the final result - Kai happy to give, time and time again, because it means even more exciting tennis ball adventures. Isn't it clever?

And we end this Pupdate with a superb shot of Kai just loving life in the picturesque Chiltern Hills...

As we said: have you ever seen a happier dog?

Kai's happy, and we're happy that Kai's happy. We hope you're happy that Kai's happy too! As well as being a fantastic dog, we're crossing our fingers because we think we might - we just might - have found an ideal deaf partner for Kai. When we know more, we'll tell you.

Until your next Pupdate... thank you for sponsoring Kai.