Gordon and Elyana | The Kennel Club Hero Dog Award 2024

12-year-old Elyana Kuhlemeier, from East Sussex, was struggling until hearing dog Gordon gave her a lifeline. Elyana is profoundly deaf, which her parents first noticed when she was just two and a half years old, and despite genetic testing, the cause remains unknown. Not only was Elyana experiencing hearing loss, but she also faced challenges with bullying and making friends. At her lowest points, Elyana would tear her own hair out in clumps, or would spend the day vomiting when everything got too much for her. Her parents thought the carefree moments of childhood were gone for good. But the arrival of Gordon, Elyanaʼs hearing dog, transformed her life, her confidence, and her self-belief. Gordon provides reassurance during difficult nighttime hours, and safety by alerting Elyana to sounds. Gordon wakes Elyana up in the morning by pulling her duvet off, and gives her focus, routine, confidence and companionship. When she returns from school, Gordon is over the moon to see her.

TRANSCRIPT

So Elyana was suffering a lot from anxiety before we got Gordon. I'm scared to think what would have happened to Ellie if he hadn't come along. We name him G-Dog or our favorite one is The BFG. Big Friendly Gordon. He's my hearing dog and he helps me with everything like the timer waking me up, and being my best friend and helping me mentally and physically. Well I've got cochlear implants and I'm profoundly deaf. When I take my hearing aids off, my implants, it's complete silence. Like you can't hear anything. She's a bilateral cochlear implant wearer which means she wears it on both sides. We always say that gives her access to sound but by no means it replaces her natural hearing. Unfortunately due to her deafness she has had quite severe anxiety issues. It got to the point where she would wake up and she would just vomit for the whole day. She was pulling out her hair, she wasn't very confident, and she didn't have many friends either. Society doesn't quite understand what deafness is. It can be quite isolating. It went from needing a hearing dog for the practical reasons but also for the emotional reasons and for helping her with her mental health. When Gordon arrived, I think everything changed. From the get-go he slept in her room. He watches over her at night. He gives me like a sense of comfort and just makes me happy. Life is fun! I wake up to him pulling off my duvet because he recognizes my alarm. He gives me a sense of safety with the fire alarm because I know he'll wake me up. He's like my best friend. My anxiety problems are, like, still there but like I don't really have them anymore. She's super confident. She's deaf and she's proud, and I think that Gordon just helps other people understand that Elyana's deaf. There's so much more than just friendship to it. You can see that Gordon is always checking where she is in the house. He knows that he is there for her so it's a real friendship, but partnership on top. It's very special. He has transformed the person that she is. He has supported her mental health so much so that she's a completely different person to who she was before. It's been life-changing.