Tyson's great adventures

Tyson's been on holiday!

Jennifer, his Volunteer Puppy Trainer, tell us (and shows us) what he's been up to...

"We spent two weeks in Beaumaris, Anglesey, centred around the weekend of the Snowdonia Trail Marathon, hiring a fishing cottage. We had family and friends, with pooches, come to stay with us. We are keen runners, and running around Anglesey every day was preparation for the marathon.

"Tyson comes running with us most days - usually 5-10km. He loves it, ears flapping, tongue out, tail waggling. If only we could keep up with him! He has a bright flashing green collar for night running, and does enormous loops around us in the forest or farm fields when he is not on his lead. He also knows where to find water: in the ponds or at the base of certain trees. Sometimes the water is just for drinking; other times he has a mid-run paddle or mud bath. He sure is a mucky pup!"

Mucky pups are happy pups, as we all know!

Back to Jennifer: "Here, Tyson is sitting on the lap of my cousin Paul, as we are going up the Snowdon Mountain Railway in Wales."

"The previous day, Paul, my elder son, Mark, and I did the Snowdonia Trail Marathon, so we wanted to show the rest of the family (and see for ourselves) what we had accomplished. Paul is actually wearing his T-shirt from the race."

We never cease to be astonished at what our volunteers can accomplish. As well as basically making our work in any way possible, they perform feats such as running up one of the highest mountains in the UK!

Now then, who's this...?

Back to Jennifer: "This is my friend Linda, with our dogs, from left to right Izzy, Bo and Alfie, along the Beaumaris coastal walk.

"Izzy is a Welsh collie x Bernese Mountain Dog. We rescued her when she was about 18 months old. Bo is also a rescue dog.

(By the way, we couldn't resist including this story from Jennifer: "I met Linda during our training and racing the 2015-2016 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. Linda was the eldest ‘round the world’ sailor on our boat. We were meant to sail part of the 2017-2018 Clipper RTW Yacht race on the same boat, except our yacht ran aground in Cape Town, so we ended up on separate yachts." Can we just repeat what we said above: our volunteers are amazing!)

Here they are again, all pals together.

Jennifer continues: "After the experience of bringing up rescue dogs, I realise how socialising dogs at a young age is so important, and having a positive training method, such as we use at Hearing Dogs, is much more effective than expecting your dog to behave just because you give them a command or you shout or bark at them.

"I am also aware of how important the gradual introduction of sounds, surrounds and activities is for these sociable animals. Doing it right the first time is so much easier than trying to fix problems later."

We couldn't have put this better. This is why we have our own breeding scheme, a fully fledged volunteer trainer programme, qualified trainers and reward-based training, and we take so long to train our puppies - because it's better for the puppies, volunteers and trainers alike, and ultimately, for the deaf partner. Well said Jennifer!

Time for a video now, showing how Tyson is serene while on a boat during the holiday.

And back to Jennifer!

"This is the view of us trying to get out the tiny door of our rented fisherman’s cottage in Beaumaris with four dogs! I was locking the door while Linda held the dogs."

They are, from left to right, Izzy (just her tail), Bo, Tyson and Alfie. Alfie loves being chased, and Tyson is always happy to oblige. It is a great way of wearing the dogs out! The four dogs are very good friends."

There simply could not be a better way of bringing Tyson up - with so many friends, human and animal, in such a lively setting, having so much fun together. We are so grateful to volunteers like Jennifer, and the way they welcome our dogs into their lives.

Jennifer seems to be enjoying it too: "Cocker spaniels are just so cheerful and waggly, they are smart and eager to learn, they have boundless energy and just love life. We love having him as a part of our family and know he will be an awesome hearing dog when he finally figures out how to differentiate some of the sounds and stops chasing birds!"

We're sure he will, all in good time. That's the next stage of his amazing journey, which you are sponsoring. So, from all of us at Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, thank you for sponsoring Tyson!