A PUPPY who was found to be deaf while being trained up as a hearing dog has found a new home.

Cocker spaniel Skye was being trained at national charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People’s centre at Bielby, but at eight weeks old her trainers realised she was not responding normally to sounds and was displaying abnormal behaviour.

When she was taken for a hearing test, vets found Skye has a total deafness in both her ears, which is very uncommon in most dogs.

While it became clear Skye would not be able to become an assistance dog, her caring trainers refused to give up on her and began teaching her obedience commands using sign language instead of voice.

Now 16 weeks old, she has been adopted by her trainer Nicci Cross, from Selby, giving her a loving new home together with Nicci’s other dog Bruno, an eight-year-old springer spaniel.

Nicci said: “Skye has quickly settled into a routine with me and Bruno, and she has definitely made herself at home. It’s like she’s always been here and we wouldn’t change anything about her for the world.

“The main difficulty when training Skye is that she can get worried if she suddenly notices that she’s alone.

“I can’t put the TV or radio on for her as background comfort, so I have to reassure her visually when I leave the room, which is very different to the methods usually used for separation training with a dog that has hearing.

“Skye can’t hear people coming up behind her, so she is likely to become startled or frightened if someone unexpectedly tries to stroke or cuddle her.

Therefore, it is important that we build up her confidence and make sure she has a lot of positive experiences of being handled.”

Although Skye can no longer train to be a hearing dog – to alert deaf people to household sounds and danger signals – she will stay within the Hearing Dogs organisation, where she will adopt the role of an “assessment dog”, which means that when she is older she will be available to meet prospective new hearing dog users and help them to learn about handling dogs.