Sandie at work and play

It's Sandie time again!

Let's start with a look at how cute Sandie is now.

She does everything right - those big puppy eyes, that slight head tilt. All together now: "Awwwwwwww!"

But she's not just a pretty face! She's passed her Puppy One Star award! All together now: "Yaaaayyyy!"

At first Sandie looked very proud, then the excitement got to her and she had to lie down.

She's doing really well with her training. Here's Catherine, one half of 'Team Sandie' with her husband Alec, showing off how well she can do her 'sit' now.

It's pretty much perfect. Notice how the lead is just right, not too tight or loose, and she's absolutely focused on Catherine. This is because she knows that, if she does, she'll get a 'Good girl' and a treat. So, she's learning to make the 'right' decisions from day one, and this results in a happy, well-behaved little dog.

Catherine has also made sure Sandie gets out and about as much as possible now that (hopefully) lockdowns are behind us. This is very important: Sandie needs to have good experiences in as many different scenarios as possible, so that, when she experiences them with her eventual deaf partner, they won't be a surprise for her, or scare her.

So, here she is in what could be a busy builder's yard, looking if not happy as Larry, then happy as Sandie!

She's definitely a cool customer.

Let's hop over to some videos now. Did we mention that her heelwork is coming along very well too?

We showed you her heelwork with Alec in your last Puppy Pen Pupdate, so here she is again, this time showing off with Catherine.

This time, notice how Catherine is constantly rewarding her and telling her what a good girl she is. As a result, even though there are distractions, Sandie's attention is firmly on her. There are occasional lapses, sure, but she's still very young and learning very quickly.

We don't want you to get the impression that it's all work, work, work for Sandie however.

Oh no.

She has plenty of playtime too! How about this video, showing her loving life with Tilly, who is a Hearing Dogs mum?

Tilly isn't Sandie's mum, but she could be couldn't she? 

We breed a lot of our puppies at our National Breeding Centre, so that we're absolutely sure the mums and puppies get the very best care. It also means we can select the very best mums and dads too, who have that certain something that makes for a brilliant hearing dog.

Notice how gentle they are together. They're such fabulous dogs.

Sandie can also entertain herself. She loves the 'crunchy plastic thing'.

She also loves the flower pot game. The rules are quite simple: you run around with a flower pot in your mouth. That's it.

And that's it for this Puppy Pen!

Sandie is so lovely and adorable. We're very proud of her, and you should be too, because you've helped her come this far. So, once again, from all of us at Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, thank you for sponsoring Sandie!