(Updated 15/8/01)

Charity takes on Scandinavian Beauty!

Norwegian beauty, Freya, is the latest recruit to join the training scheme run by national charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

Like most Scandinavians she is fair and has long legs - four of them! 14-week-old Freya is, in fact, a Norwegian Buhund that has been kindly donated by a private breeder to the Charity to be trained as a hearing dog for a deaf person. She is currently with one of the Charity’s volunteer socialisers in Buckinghamshire where she will learn basic obedience, be taken round streets and shops, and be introduced to general household noises.

If she passes that stage she will move on to her advanced soundwork training where she will be matched with a deaf recipient and be trained to respond to sounds such as the telephone, alarm clock and doorbell.

Hearing Dogs has trained a few Norwegian Buhunds in the past and found them to be extremely successful, and a spokesperson for the Charity confirms, “We are very grateful to the breeder who donated Freya to us as we are always looking for puppies and dogs with the potential to be trained as hearing dogs. Although we take the majority of our dogs from rescue centres, we do also rely on dogs being offered to us by breeders so that we can keep up the numbers of dogs being trained to help deaf people.”

Freya, however, is not the only new Scandinavian kid on the block. She joins Spud, who is a Swedish Vallhund also donated by a private breeder, and he is currently being socialised in Gloucestershire.

Interestingly, in Norse mythology Freya, from whose name Friday is derived, was the goddess of wealth and love, and she often travelled in a chariot drawn by cats!