What a bonny Jovi!

© Paul Wilkinson

Jovi is a seven-year-old blue roan and tan cocker spaniel, born into a litter of three in January 2017. He has one sister and one brother. He successfully qualified as a Hearing Dog and went to live with his partner Graham in August 2018.

About Jovi (from his volunteer puppy trainer, Debbie)

Jovi was delivered to our door as a 12-week-old puppy. He was gentle, confident, and very cheeky…he melted our hearts and made us laugh with all his antics. Our young grandchildren absolutely adored him too.

He was very quick to learn the basic sit, down and wait commands, and we were delighted to be asked to do his sound work training. Nudging to alert me for cooker timers and alarms became a daily occurrence, and he learnt very quickly.

© Paul Wilkinson

Jovi loved being able to sleep in our bedroom, often taking himself off to bed if we stayed up too late. In the early days, he often managed to creep into our bed in the dead of night without us knowing. We’d wake up to a very smug looking dog lying in between us!

Jovi was with us for around 18 months, and it really was a joy and a privilege to have played a small part in his life, knowing he would go on to be a life changer for Graham, his deaf partner.

© Paul WilkinsonJovi’s partner

Jovi’s partner is 33-year-old Graham, who lives in Oxfordshire.

Graham began to lose his hearing at around 15 years old, but it wasn’t until he started university that he realised he couldn’t hear what his lecturers were saying, so went to get his hearing properly tested.

“Having hearing loss can be pretty scary. I’ve always had a fear that if the house was being broken into, I wouldn’t hear it. I’d be quite on edge and had to keep checking that the doors were locked,” said Graham.

© Paul Wilkinson

“Looking back now, I can see that I became more introverted. Lip reading in social situations requires a lot of concentration and as social activities tended to happen in an evening, after a long day, it became exhausting and I would end up zoning out.”

“Jovi has helped me to overcome some of my anxieties around interacting with other people.” continued Graham. “He gives me a greater feeling of safety.”

“I work as a Year 5 teacher at an all-boys school and Jovi comes with me every day. When I’m teaching, Jovi helps me by alerting me to a timer I set to give my pupils a specific time to complete work by. He also alerts me to the fire alarm, which is amazing.”

“Deafness shouldn’t have to hold people back if they have the right support. I would say to anyone who has any level of hearing loss and is struggling – try and seek help, even if it’s just talking to someone.”

Audiology News UK helps charity increase awareness of its hearing dogs work

© Paul Wilkinson
Jovi and his deaf partner, Graham

Angie Southcott, Director of Hearing Loss Services at Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, 

said: “Seeing our fabulous hearing dog puppies centre stage in Audiology News magazine each month has been wonderful. The publication is a fantastic platform to increase awareness of why and how we train our hearing dogs, and more importantly the positive impact they have on a deaf person’s life by alerting them to important sounds in their homes and making an invisible condition, visible in the wonderful way. I look forward to reading the stories every month and hope the readers enjoy learning more about our important work they do.”

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People

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