Rusty visits a care home and experiences a lift!

Rusty continues to learn about the world and his place in it, guided with love, care and professional pride by his Volunteer Dog Trainer Averil!

"He had his first visit to a care home recently," Averil tells us. "He was so well behaved and everyone made a real fuss of him. We were so proud!"

Here's Rusty outside the care home. Notice how he's wearing his 'I'm learning to be a hearing dog' burgundy coat. He looks very smart in it, don't you think?

The burgundy coat is very important. It's how people recognise that our hearing dogs are actually specially trained assistance dogs, and this grants them access to places such as supermarkets and libraries. It also helps people understand that their partner is deaf, which can be very important because deafness is an 'invisible disability'.

Now, inside the home. Rusty is all ears (and with ears like that, how else could he be?). The sign on the wall at the back says 'Welcome' - so Rusty feels at ease already!

Now for the exciting bit - Rusty's first trip on a lift.

Notice how Rusty's focus is on Averil at all time. This is great: we want our hearing dogs to pay attention to their deaf partner and not be distracted by things happening around them. Lifts can be scary places for dogs, but it's not a problem for our Rusty. Even when the floor is announced, again, he's not bothered.

But it's not all about care homes and lifts! Rusty's also visited... the pub!

Here he is examining the fixtures and fittings. Notice how well he suits his 'I'm learning to be a hearing dog' burgundy coat in this photo. Burgundy is a good colour for him!

Back to Averil: "We followed the visit to the care home with a nice pub lunch. Rusty was happy just to settle under the table."

And here he is, demonstrating said settle:

Again, this is perfect. We want our dogs to feel comfortable just 'zoning out' in public places, not bothering anyone and not feeling the need for attention. This is because they know that love and cuddles is coming their way anyway!

So, was he perfectly well behaved? Almost! Averil laughs: "He decided to pull out and chew up all the beer mats we'd meticulously put in place under our wobbly table."

Well, we're sure that some day he'll stop finding beer mats such fun. In the meantime, it's just part of the entertainment Rusty provides along the way. A deaf person might find it wonderful to have a slightly cheeky little Cocker Spaniel in their lives!

Finally, let's just admire Rusty for what he is - a cute, wonderful, amazing hearing puppy in training, who one day will help a deaf person to leave loneliness behind and reconnect with life.

Thank you for sponsoring him!