Dog trainer Sandra Stevenson set her alarm clock today before slipping between the sheets, writes REG LITTLE. The fact that her bed is in the middle of a bustling Ascot racecourse won't disturb her unduly, nor should the fact that the Princess Royal is one of the observers in the paddock.
For Sandra's early afternoon wake-up call should be quickly at hand, in the shape of a cold-nosed cocker spaniel lurking nearby for her moment of fame.
If most of the punters haven't the faintest clue as to why Ascot is going to the dogs, the Princess Royal certainly has.
For as the Patron of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, she knows well enough that the charity has a big job ahead of it, teaching people that it is not only the blind who need dogs. The charity, based at Lewknor, near Watlington, provides 75 deaf people a year with dogs and it recently selected its 1,000th puppy for training.
The demonstration at Ascot is just part of an on-going campaign to show how dogs can become the ears of deaf people, just as four-legged friends serve as the eyes of the blind. The "hearing dogs" are trained to alert their owners to all manner of sounds - alarm clocks, door bells, telephones, cooker timers and fire alarms.
Today's demonstration involved erecting a mini-home in one of the famous paddocks to chart the progress of a "deaf owner" and dog through a typical day.
But the crowd were left in no doubt that Lewknor-trained dogs are altogether more friendly than some of the flashing light alarms or vibrating devices which are now also available to the deaf. The centre recruits nearly all its dogs from rescue centres. But it costs £2,500 to train each animal over a period of four months. Since its inception in 1982, the charity has placed some 560 hearing dogs in homes across Britain and there is now a waiting list of two years.
The dogs themselves vary from the largest, scruffiest mongrel to the smallest pedigree, but they are all easily recognisable by the distinctive yellow jackets and lead slips which identify their owner's "invisible" disability.
Sandra, 35, is training co-ordinator at the charity's headquarters, close to the M40. With just six trainers, the group has to rely on more than 100 volunteer "puppy socialisers" to teach basic obedience by taking puppies into their homes.
Sandra said: "It is all about touch and tell. The dogs are trained to recognise certain sounds so they can alert their owners and lead them towards it."
Small dogs scramble at their owners' feet while large ones use paws. But while they will take their owners to a whole variety of sounds, from a crying baby to a whistling kettle, they are trained to respond to a fire or smoke alarm by lying on their owners' feet.
Some of them can even respond to basic sign language.
The charity's director general, Tony Blunt, said of the 1,000th puppy: "We are very excited to reach this milestone.
"But we now have an urgent need for puppies and puppy socialisers to take dogs into their homes for a period of two to eight months to teach a little basic obedience and good manners.
"We are now desperate for public and corporate support towards our Touch and Tell Appeal."
The charity is trying to raise £1m to build a second centre at the nearby village of Saunderton by next summer.
At the end of the surprise appearance of dogs at Ascot, nobody at the course should be betting against the Lewknor trainers doing it.
*Anyone wanting to volunteer as a puppy socialiser should telephone 01844 353898.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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