Happy birthday Nutmeg!

Nutmeg recently turned one year old! All together now: "Happy Birthday Nutmeg!"

He's a very special boy, so his volunteer puppy socialiser Wendy made sure he had a very special day.

It started with a bit of a lie-in...

Then, Wendy took Nutmeg round to visit his friends for a party!

The dogs below are actually all living with another volunteer socialiser called Fiona, who invited Wendy and Nutmeg round to celebrate.

Fiona has looked after lots of puppies for us. She's even looking after Hebe, another sponsor pup who has just become a Hearing Dogs mum, and will have puppies for us soon! In the photo below, from left to right, you can see: Ginny, who is another Hearing Dogs mum and Demo Dog which means she shows off her amazing skills at events; Chilli, who is Ginny's son, and is also a Demo Dog; our Nutmeg, looking all expectant because he knows he's the special boy today; and Hebe, sitting pretty at the end.

As you can see, there was a banner, and there were balloons! Wendy explains: "I had a balloon weight but I thought Nutmeg might chew it, so we improvised with a tin of baked beans."

There were also hats (Nutmeg actually loved wearing it)...

... and a cake!

Wendy spent a lot of time and effort preparing special doggy cupcakes. "They're from a recipe I found online using normal ingredients minus sugar – with cream cheese and peanut butter frosting. We all sang him happy birthday and then the dogs had half a cupcake each."

Even kitty wished him happy birthday (at least that's what we think she's saying here, what do you think...?)

It was a very exciting day for Nutmeg, so, having had a lie-in, he then decided to have a snooze and sleep off the half-cupcake...

He's such a wonderful character, and we're so proud of him. You should be too, because you've sponsored him through his training so far. As always, from all of us at Hearing Dogs - thank you.