Rory is our second Hearing Dog.
Our much loved Kai passed away in May 2008, he was thirteen and had been with us for eleven years. I know he would approve of Rory.
We first met Rory on 5th February 2009. We travelled down to Bielby in Yorkshire to meet him. We were very impressed, and decided before we came home that we would like to have him trained for us. I travelled down on the train again on March 16th and spent a week training with him. We stayed in the accommodation there and we had a very hectic time, on March 20th we travelled back on the train to Montrose where Dad (Gordon) was there to meet us.
After a quiet weekend settling in the Placement Officer from Hearing Dogs came and visited on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. This was to get Rory used to working in the new environment and to answer any questions and just generally give us more confidence in working together. On the Wednesday I took Rory to my lipreading class. The Placement Officer said that Rory behaved perfectly ! 10 out of 10 ! This despite there being another (pet) dog in the class. So that was a good hurdle to get over.
We are practicing our sound work every day. Rory knows, the doorbell, telephone, alarm clock, cooker timer, smoke alarm and fire siren, and he knows recall by whistle. He also knows the "call" command. That is if Gordon needs me he will call Rory by name and by clapping. Rory will go to him and Gordon tells him "off you go" and sweeps his hand away. Rory will come and tell me touching me and he will take me to Gordon. Isn't he smart ?! :)
Unlike Kai, Rory has been trained to "touch" by his nose rather than his paw. It's more of a nudge than a touch as I have to be able to feel it.
It's not all work for him though, we have had lots of time for play. We have been checking out all the parks and discovered Rorys love of balls in all shapes and sizes. He just loves to run and chase the ball. We have wanted to take him to the beach but unfortunately it has just been far too windy recently. We did have him on the Links at the weekend though and he wore himself,. and us, out ! Sunday was a quieter day and we took him with us to the cinema to see Marley and Me :) - He has been to the cinema before with his trainer, so it wasn't a new experience. He was quite happy to lie on the floor - however, when he heard the dogs on screen barking his curiosity got the better of him and he had to sit up and see what was going on. He looked so funny gazing intently at the screen. I just hope he didn't pick up any of the bad habits that Marley had.
So, things are looking good. We are getting to know each other and Rory shows a great interest in anything that is going on.
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