THERE was a cooker on the grass field at Pollok Park just outside the Burrell Collection.

Surely not a brazen example of fly-tipping? There was also a door which somehow was upright rather than flat on the grass, and a bed. A duvet-covered bed in which someone was lying.

Rushing from one to the other was a very active springer spaniel named Bruno, who was wearing a burgundy coat. It's the burgundy coat which explains what is happening. On it is printed Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, and Bruno has had some £45,000 spent on him on training. Many of us are in jobs where £45,000 has not been spent on training, but Bruno is pretty special.

As the commentator explains to Sunday's onlookers in the park, Bruno can hear your alarm clock going off and can jump up to the bed and put a paw on you to wake you up. A smaller dog can be trained to jump up on top. Some can even pull the duvet off. Presumably that is a graduate of the training programme entitled Exasperated Mother of a Student.

Then the pretend porridge on the cooker is ready and Bruno once again goes not action, giving you a bit of paw-nudging to remind you to take the pot off the ring. The doorbell rings and Bruno goes to alert you and lead you to the door rather than leap snarling at the letter box which is the default position for most springer spaniels. Good stuff this £45,000 training.

Then the commentator sets off a pretend smoke alarm and Bruno races off again, this time to sit flat out in front of its owner to let them know that there is something seriously wrong, rather than the simple arrival of the postie. A few dogs with burgundy coats who are in the audience with their owners get a bit agitated at this one, even though they are in the middle of a field. They don't like to ignore a smoke alarm.

The demonstration at Pollok Park was a sideshow to the Great British Dog Walk where over 250 dog owners took their pets on a sponsored walk around the park to raise funds for the Hearing Dogs charity which receives no funds from the Government. Did I mention that it takes £45,000 to train and support the dogs with their owners?

Hearing Dogs are not as well known as the Dogs for the Blind but can be just as important. There are now over 850 such dogs in use in Britain with about 85 of them in Scotland.

Now some people will disagree with the conclusion, but I once read an article where the author argued that becoming deaf is worse than losing your sight. Becoming blind, he wrote, you can still nevertheless join in any conversation with friends and family. Being deaf, and living in a world cut off from normal social discourse is far more isolating. Well let's not get involved in a distracting argument about the relative merits of disabilities, and accept that people suffering from either condition should receive what help that can be given.

I meet Kirsteen Allison from Alexandria, a mother in her thirties, whose hearing has gradually deteriorated since birth. A cochlear implant a few years ago helped, but since then it has again deteriorated. She now has Frankie, a cockapoo. I know, ridiculous name, but a rather lovely curly-haired cross between a cocker spaniel and a poodle, trained for her by Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. As Kirsteen simply says: "I'm a completely different person to what I was two years ago before Frankie arrived. I'm now a far more confident person."

You see Kirsteen has a daughter, now aged seven, whom she had to cart around in a carry-cot from room to room when she was younger as Kirsteen would never hear her crying. Then when her husband was away overnight on business she had to stay with her mother, fearing the smoke alarm went off and she never heard it, leaving her daughter, she felt, at considerable risk. "Now I can stay in my own house," says Kirsteen. "When you're 34, you don't want to go to stay with your mum."

But it's not just a question of having a four-pawed alarm system. There is the companionship a dog can bring to an isolating world, and also the help the dog can give when you are outside. Often a deaf person - remember this is the invisible disability as no one can tell simply by looking at you that something is amiss - will be accused of being rude by a stranger, because they did not move aside when someone says excuse me. You can only lip read if you are face-to-face with the other person.

The Hearing Dog, with its distinct burgundy coat, alerts people to your problem, and can often lead to a reasonable chat with a stranger who, on seeing the coat, can stand in front of you and clearly enunciate so that you can communicate. Depression is a common problem amongst the severely deaf and a Hearing Dog, not only helps you in public but brings you back into society. As Kirsteen says: "People make an effort to speak to you once they read what's on Frankie's coat. She's an icebreaker."

She is indeed. I've now been on my knees for five minutes scratching Frankie behind her ear which she seems to enjoy. Not for the first time I feel heartfelt sorry for people who don't like dogs. What's not to like?

Oh and if you live in Edinburgh, the charity is looking for volunteers to help set up their first puppy training scheme in Scotland. I on the other hand will investigate training pub dogs to gently put a paw on someone who has omitted to buy their round. Sounds like a winner to me.