Senna: Snuggly beds and Koala bears

Welcome to the latest Senna Pupdate!

Here are some photos from Senna's life and times with Grace, the volunteer who is looking after him during training.

Let's start with a photo that we see often in our Pupdates: a happy dog in bed! "Senna enjoys snuggling in his bed," Grace tells us. "I have recently started a degree and Senna often comes to keep me company whilst I'm studying, taking the opportunity to take a post-walk nap!"

He looks very much alert in that shot - no snoozes quite yet.

Ah - did we say no snoozes...?

Grace has the story here: "Since the day I bought Senna his 'Koala' toy he has loved it. From hiding in the bushes with it to snuggles in the evening, he takes Koala everywhere with him!"

"He really like the honky noise it makes. Squeakers are used in hearing dogs training so they can't have toys that make that noise."

Grace makes a very good point. We train our hearing dogs with squeakers, especially towards the beginning of their soundwork. They learn that, if they hear a squeak, and they nudge the person on the thigh with their nose, they'll get a treat. They think it's a game, one in which they're rewarded time and time again. What's really happening though, is that they're learning that nudging with the nose in response to a sound is a 'good' thing. It's the beginnings of what helps amazing dogs like Senna become fully fledged hearing dogs, able to recognise a wide array of sounds, including the fire alarm. This can save deaf people's lives.

But for now, Senna's quite content with Koala...!

We also thought you'd like to see two shots from the archives that we found recently, from Senna's previous volunteer Ron. This is because they show happier times, before the lockdown, when people could readily get out and about. We all need a bit of cheering up, and we thought these might help.

Ron tells us: "This was our own pet Amber and Senna on a brief holiday trip to Bournemouth."

"We stayed in a hotel, and whereas it was only Senna's second time he behaved really well."

Clever Senna! 

Let's sign off this time with a lovely shot of him looking every inch the proud, handsome dog he is:

As always, thank you for sponsoring Senna!