Chudley - Our Sponsored Hearing Dog

Chudley – a new hearing dog for Thelma

Chudleys is proud to announce that it has supported the training of a hearing dog 'Chudley', trained for Thelma, 58, who lives in Wiltshire.

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People is a registered charity that selects and trains dogs to respond to specific sounds. Hearing dogs alert deaf people by touch, using a paw to gain attention and then lead them back to the sound source. For sounds such as the smoke alarm and fire alarm the dogs will lie down to indicate danger. Whenever possible, the dogs are selected from rescue centres, but they are also donated by breeders and member of the public, with the remainder coming from the Charity’s own breeding scheme.

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People provides a national service and no charge is made to recipients. Since its inception in 1982, Hearing Dogs for Deaf People have placed more than 1500 hearing dogs. The Charity has two centres operating in the UK – Buckinghamshire and North Yorkshire.

Thelma's story:

Thelma became profoundly deaf when she was 21, because, as she describes it 'the nerves just died off – no one really knows why'. Deafness can happen to any of us at any time, and sometimes the reason is never known.

Thelma’s first hearing dog was Jack, a mongrel which had been donated to Hearing Dogs by a member of the public, and was trained for Thelma in 1996. She describes how much Jack meant to her:

"Jack was a tremendous help to me and such a gentle character. As my hearing dog, when he was with me wearing his uniform, people actually took time to speak to me properly and look me in the eye. He was with me constantly for 14 years and we only had 3 days apart when I flew to America for my daughter’s wedding."

After a long and faithful working life, Jack was sadly put to sleep in October 2009. Thelma joined the wait for a new hearing dog.

Chudley's story:

Hearing Dogs selects dogs from a variety of sources, including accepting donations from breeders, from rescue centres and from their own breeding scheme – from which Chudley was selected. He is a working cocker cross poodle, bred to minimise shedding hair, combined with a friendly temperament and intelligent trainability.

Chudley was one of a litter born on 17 September 2008. Hearing Dog’s breeding scheme operated through a system of dedicated volunteers rather than being kennels based, so Chudley and his littermates were born and grew up in a family home near Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire. After weaning and when he was ready, Chudley went to live with his volunteer puppy socialiser, Fred, in the West Country. During this phase of Chudley's life he learned basic obedience and house training, and Hearing Dogs could assess his suitability and prepare him for the trained, public and responsible role of a hearing dog – which demands much more than the simple life of a pet dog.

From the outset, Chudley was quite a character! Fred, his volunteer puppy socialiser takes up the story...

"Right from the moment I had him, he accompanied me to work at the vets. When he wasn’t sleeping, he spent much of his time meeting and greeting our clients and their pets. We encouraged him to meet as many as possible – a hearing dog needs to be positive and confident. Regular clients used to love this and would bring him treats.

On walks in the park he had to say hello to everyone. However it didn't help when once pool girl sat on the grass in the middle of the dog walking area doing a lovely drawing – needless to say it soon had a large paw print in the middle of it, but all she could do was roll on the grass laughing as Chudley weaved his usual charm.

In the woods he would try to hide behind a tree or in the bracken and wait for my other dog to walk by and pounce on him, before disappearing into the undergrowth to take up position further along the path for another go."

In September 2009, ten months after going to live with his volunteer socialiser Fred, Chudley was successfully assessed as ready to graduate to the next stage – his intensive soundwork training.

We'll be back soon to learn what happened next in Chudley and Thelma’s story...