The Elf

They say when one door closes, another opens.  Or, when one dog leaves us, it leaves a hole in the human heart that needs filled with another dog.  Keebler has joined our household.  He is a 4 ½ lb. white Chihuahua.  He is only one year old, and when I saw him on Petfinder.com, I was instantly attracted to his Noelle-like hair.  Then, I saw he was deaf, and that seemed to be the sign from Heaven that he needed to be my dog.  Or, I needed him to be my dog. 

Keebler is, like Lottie, the product of breeding two merle-colored parents together.  The puppies are referred to as double-merle, or lethal whites.  Twenty-five percent of these breedings are deaf and/or vision impaired.  Keebler is deaf, but his vision is fine.  He was turned into the shelter because the family he lived with had young children, and they claimed that when he was sleeping, he could be easily startled because he was deaf, and he would snap at the children.  I have never seen Keebler startle from sleep, or anything, but I have seen him chase and bark and snap at dogs that get too close to his Nylabone, or my lap.  My guess is that he simply doesn’t like children.  He’ll fit in great with me.

I’ve noticed that Lottie and other DMs like her seem to really gravitate towards one another, like they recognize others like themselves that are  . . . “special.”  I wasn’t disappointed with this when Lottie met Keebler.  These dogs are amazing together, they ADORE each other.  At first I was afraid that Lottie would accidently hurt Keebler, as he is so tiny, but she is so gentle with him.  It doesn’t sound gentle.  These two deaf dogs literally scream at each other as they wrestle and tumble around, it sounds like they are in a battle for their lives.  Too bad they can’t hear themselves.

I’ve wanted to get another little dog involved in agility, since my Pomeranian, Skye, is now 13 and at retirement age.  I’ve also wanted to train a deaf, but sighted dog in agility to see what they can do.  Keebler can nicely fit into both of those molds.  Two agility desires of mine, one little dog body.  Perfect.