Your Donation

makes us possible.

By making a donation to our Assistance Dog programs, we can continue to provide life-changing Assistance Dogs to recipients in need, free of charge.

Yannis, our 700th Hearing Assistance Dog, while in the Puppy Program.

Every year, Australian Lions Hearing Dogs delivers amazing Hearing Assistance Dogs to deaf or hard of hearing Australians in need. The process of training a Hearing Assistance Dog is no easy task, requiring months of work dedicated to puppy raising, training, socialising, and beyond. Ultimately, at the end of the journey, each Hearing Dog is delivered to their recipients, free-of-charge.

Will you support another dog to be just like Yannis?

Yannis here at eight weeks of age.

This is only possible with the support from people like you.

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Yannis, one of our amazing dogs who had recently started his journey to becoming a Hearing Assistance Dog.

Yannis entered the world alongside his four siblings, born to first-time labradoodle mum, Maddie, just days before Christmas in 2022. From the outset, Yannis displayed remarkable confidence among his littermates, quickly adapting to life at the Breeding Centre. He was exposed to a variety of sounds and stimuli, including footsteps, clapping, traffic noise, thunder, as well as being held and handled. Additionally, he was introduced to crate training and learned to enter and exit his crate willingly. At six weeks old, Yannis began his training with his first command for treats: ‘sit’!

Shortly thereafter, Yannis embarked on his official journey in the Puppy Socialisation Program.

Throughout this period, Yannis got to experience life as a member of the family while developing the foundational skills essential for a future Hearing Assistance Dog. Yannis mastered commands like ‘toilet’, ‘stay’, ‘drop’, ‘recall’, and many others. His socialisation extended to numerous outings where he encountered various scenarios in the outside world, including children playing, other dogs barking, moving trolleys, and even the rumble of heavy trucks. All these experiences helps to prepare Yannis for his big task ahead as a Hearing Assistance Dog.

Yannis has flourished with your support. It wasn’t long before he graduated from Puppy Preschool with flying colours!

In October last year, Yannis commenced his full-time training, where he regularly learnt his sound training skills and public behaviour. Yannis excelled in the program, and mastered his sound and public access training, both crucial aspects of his role as a Hearing Assistance Dog.

Now, Yannis promptly alerts his recipient to ten different household sounds, including knocks at the door, the oven timer, the phone ringing, and most importantly, the smoke alarm. Futhermore, Yannis is adept at navigating various environments outside the home, including shopping centres, supermarkets, hospitals and public transport!

After six months of full-time training, Yannis is now by his recipient’s side, as our 700th Hearing Assistance Dog!

Supporting dogs like Yannis through the journey to becoming a Hearing Assistance Dog costs just shy of $40,000 each to train, all delivered free-of-charge to their recipients. It is with your generous donation that we are able to make these goals achievable.

So, will you please consider a gift towards our training program, and help us reach more life-changing milestones?

Your contribution plays a pivotal role in helping people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and supports the training of the next generation of Assistance Dogs. We would be most grateful if you would consider providing recipients with the gift of safety and independence.