Training keeps dogs up to date with new ring tones

Hearing Dogs for Deaf People has been given a range of phones and telecommunications equipment by BT to update its Buckinghamshire training centre.

The new phones will be used to train dogs to recognise and respond to the wider range of modern ring tones and alert their owners.

Hearing dogs can alert their deaf recipient to a range of sounds including the doorbell, cooker timer, alarm clock, smoke alarm and telephone.  

BT offered to re-equip The Grange training centre, near Princes Risborough, so that the charity’s dogs can learn the specific sounds that they will hear in their new homes. 

Philip Biggs, access and inclusion manager at Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, said: “The support we’ve received from BT has been fantastic. Hearing Dogs for Deaf People was launched 30 years ago at Crufts. Since then, we’ve become a centre of excellence in training hearing dogs and have created more than 1,600 life-changing partnerships.”

BT has also agreed to set up a Try Before You Buy centre at the training centre, enabling deaf visitors to test BT’s phone equipment to make sure it is suitable for their needs.