Party Puppy!



Lottie Moon attended her first birthday party on Saturday.  Although it was actually a party in honor of Zeb the briard’s third birthday, since Lottie was estimated by the shelter to be born around April 14, I kinda like to think of it as a party for her, too.  There was even doggie birthday cake.













I believe we counted approximately ten dogs in attendance.  I say “approximately” because they moved a lot.  A confirmed head count proved too difficult.  Of all my dogs, Lottie Moon is the only one who enjoys the company of dogs not in our pack, so she was the one chosen to attend the party.  Plus, I knew that having that many dogs in a small house who don’t know each other and 2 of them briards and two of them Jack Russell terriers would be cause for lots and lots of dog stress.  Since Lottie can’t see or hear, she would be much more blissfully ignorant of the stress than some of my other dogs.  So Lottie was the lucky one who got to be the party girl.

  

The girl can rock a hat, can't she?!



Daque and Kaylee, party guests, lovin' the hats!



New love:  Talis



She seemed to have fun.  For one thing, there was cake, and my girl loves her treats!  For another, there were lots of new dogs and people to meet, and she glommed on to a new friend, Talis the yellow Labrador retriever.  He is a giant dog, and very handsome, and Lottie chose him as her new best friend.  He was quite tolerant. 

     

I tried to get a photo of Lottie eating
cake, but she was too quick.  All gone!



Disability?

Despite all the dire warnings I received prior to Lottie’s adoption, I haven’t had too many issues with caring for a deaf dogs.  I was warned by a few that it would be all-consuming and difficult to train and live with a deaf dog, yet I find that I rarely even remember that she IS deaf, much less sight-impaired.  I forget.  I talk to her just like I do all my other dogs, I say “sit” when I touch-cue her to sit, I even talk to her in the happy, higher-pitch  dog voice that makes all my dogs wiggle with joy.  And when I talk to her in that voice, and smile at her, she wiggles with joy just like all the others.  My feeling is that we humans don’t fully understand subtle energy, and senses, and that there is more to “hearing” and “seeing” than we realize.  So because she can’t hear and see in the same way that I do, maybe she hears and sees in a different way.  Maybe she can detect my intent, even if she can’t audibly or visually see.  If I feel joy, I’d like to believe that she can feel my joy, and share it, even though she cannot hear my voice or see my face in the traditional way.



There is only one thing that is annoying with her deafness.  Well, maybe two.  The first is that I can’t call her.  Most of the time, that doesn’t matter, because she is always by my side, even in the back yard.  The problem comes in at the dog park.  We go on my lunch break, so my time is limited.  When our time is up and it’s time to go back to work,  I really need to go back to work.  But the dog park is the one place that Lottie is NOT at my side.  I’ve often wondered if other people in the park wonder if she is my dog when I chase her down and leash her to lead her out, because she completely ignores me and acts like I’m not even there.  She is either visiting with other people, or other dogs, or chasing her invisible friends, or sometimes chasing my other dogs, but regardless, she wants nothing to do with me.  Kinda funny because she is so attentive and loving all the time she is NOT at the dog park!  When it is time to leave, I have to go get her.  And the park is a big one.  So today I decided I need to get her to pay attention to ME in the park.  Its okay to go visit friends, but please don’t forget about me altogether!  I’ve decided to bring treats next time, and give her a treat every time she comes near me.  I’m hoping that will change her park orientation back in my direction a bit.

At the gate of the park, ready to run!

Frisbee! With Tango and Pascha

 



My girl likes her some tug!





The only other time I struggle with her deafness is when she is in the back cargo area of the Jeep, and I’m driving down the road, and she decides she wants to go do something else, something else outside of this Jeep!  So she starts barking, and shredding and ripping her blanket.  And I can’t say, “That’s enough!” like I would with any other dog.  But I had an idea for that, too.  I bought a water pistol.  I keep it filled and next to my seat.  When she barks or digs or rips in the back of the car, I squirt her with water from the front seat.  So far, so good.  She stops and looks around, like “What the . . . ?”  And then she is quiet.  It’s working.

Lovely, Dark and Deep

Tango went on Saturday to take his Therapy Dogs International (TDI) test. TDI is a certification issued to dogs that pass a sort of temperament/obedience test, which gives them access to nursing homes and hospitals for therapy visits.  Most homes and hospitals in my experience do not require that dogs are certified by TDI to come in and visit with patients, and I’m not a fan of the organization, but I need Tango to pass his TDI as a part of his requirement for his Honor Scout badge with Dogs Scouts of America, which IS an organization of which I am a big fan!  (for info on Dog Scouts, go to http://www.dogscouts.org/ ).  So, I loaded the gang in the car and we drove to Columbus for Tango’s test.

T

Tango the Wonder Dog,
after passing his TDI.

ango passed (yea Tango!), and while I was there, I asked about possible future certification for Lottie Moon.  I had just heard an ugly rumor that TDI will not certify deaf dogs.  Turns out, the ugly rumor is true.  One more reason to dislike the TDI organization.  As I said, a therapy dog does not really need a TDI certification, or any certification, to go and do therapy work, but I would have liked to get the title for Lottie, because it is a recognized achievement in the dog world, and I want to showcase the abilities of deaf and blind dogs like Lottie.  There are many other organizations, it turns out, that will certify deaf dogs for therapy work, so we will have to pursue another route.  Maybe one day Lottie will be able to get TDI to rethink their prejudice against the handicapped!

  So after the test, I stopped at the park to let the dogs run.  A party in Tango’s honor.  It was Lottie’s first time at Daree Fields, which is one of our favorite park walks.The woods there are lovely, and a couple of trips around the path and boardwalks deliver tired pups back to the car.  The only problem for Lottie, however, is that the woods are not fenced, so she must stay on leash.  I know the poor girl was frustrated, with four of her best friends tearing around off leash, darting here and there like squirrels in a rush, all the while she was confined to walking at my pace.  But she did seem to enjoy the excitement, and the wonderful smells of spring dampness, fresh greens and new flowers, and old and new wood mixing with the sun and the dewy ground.

 

 

 

Dog Park!

Every day at lunchtime, I take dogs to the Dog Park.  This involves Lottie and sometimes Pascha, Skye,  Tango and Pony.  Lottie's first visit was her first week with us, and she didn't have the confidence she has now.  At one point she was running too far away from me and the other dogs, and she couldn't find us, and kinda paniced.  I was calling her and waving my arms, but of course she couldn't see or hear me.  I did it anyway, habits are habits.  I sent Pascha and Tango, the border collies, out to collect her, which they did, and she was so happy to be with us again.  Then a big ol' brute of a dog came up and wanted to play with her, which she was happy about, until he got too rough with her.  She is active, but very gentle, and he was too much.  He was pushing her down into the mud, and I had to step in and save her twice, which was annoying me because the brute's owner was standing there with us, talking to me, and doing nothing to stop his rude dog from frightening the poor handicapped puppy.  I told the owner that Lottie couldn't see or hear, as I went in to push the brute off of her and allow her escape, and his comment was, "well he doesn't know that."  I guess if his dog is rude AND stupid, it's okay somehow.  Finally I had to literally pick Lottie up and carry her away to keep her safe. 

But after her first couple of visits, Lottie's natural confident attitude took over, and now she is a crazy thing.  She bursts into the park at full speed, chasing the border collies, then running to the first person or dog she can find.  She meets and greets everyone in the park, both human and canine, no matter how many are there.  She makes the rounds.

Lately, though, she has taken to greeting everyone, then gets bored and starts chasing her invisible friends.  Everyone at the park seems to think this is amusing, but I would rather see her play with REAL dogs while she's there.  All the the dogs run and chase each other, and Lottie will join in, but if the action slows she gets distracted with the shadows or energy or vibrations or whatever it is that she chases and barks at, and she's off digging and barking at the ground.

Today, however, was great.  There were just a couple of dogs in the park, and Pascha and Tango.  I was throwing the bumper for the border collies, and Lottie was chasing with them.  Only one time she started to look at the ground, and I threw the bumper past her so the border collies would rush past and distract her, which they did, and she took off after them.  It was nice to have her play with other dogs the entire time.

Only one scary thing happened today, and that was the empty park bench that she came upon as she was at the far side of the park.  She freaked out and started barking, running backwards!  I waved my arms and got her attention, and she ran to me and stayed by myside for several minutes while she kept her head toward the scary park bench.  This is the kind of thing that makes me wonder what she sees.  Obviously she saw the bench, but why was it scary?  There are lots of benches around the park, what did she see scary in this one?  I don't think I'll ever know, but it is interesting to observe and wonder. . . .

Lottie Moon Rocks the Pet Expo!

Lottie working the show . . .

 I wasn't sure if I was up to handling Lottie Moon for four hours at the Petsmart booth at this years Pet Expo, so I brought Tango also.  I figured he needed the hours for his Honor Scout Badge, and I knew he would be reliable and easy to work with in addition to, or instead of, Lottie.  Of course, Tango did great, but I was happy to see that Lottie did great, too.  In fact, I'd guess that she enjoyed it more than Tango.  He doesn't always care for other dogs, and he can be shy around strangers, but Lottie loves it all.  She worked that show!  It was constant attention, and that seemed to suit her just fine.

At first she was a wild thing (and by "at first" I mean for about 2 hours!), but she did calm down as she tired, I'm guessing.  But even from the time we got there, she was great with all her tricks.  Sitting, and lying down for treats, and before we left she was greeting new people by sitting!  She also is starting to make "down" her default behavior, which is totally cool with me.  I always say it is hard to be a bad dog when you're in a "down".



Dahlia and Lottie with a fan

  

 Dahlia was there, too, and the girls worked nicely together.  Dahlia is much calmer than Lottie, but they do get on well.  I think both dogs (and of course, me and Victoria) did quite a bit of education today.  I must have told at least 20 people about double merle aussies, and Victoria did the same.  We are well on our way to educating the world ;-)

One of the most interesting parts of the day was the women at the Reiki Center.  They met Dahlia first, and she loved their energy.  They kept their hands about 6 inches above her body, but as they moved their hands, her body would twitch and move beneith the hand.  A sure testiment to the power of subtle energy for me, absolutely!  Tango loved them, and he melted into the Reiki worker, which is very unusual for him, as he tends to be a tightly wound dog.  A couple of years ago I bought him a massage, but the worker was never able to get him to relax.  The Reiki workers, however, had no problem.  Lottie was still wound up when she visited them the first time, and while she didn't dislike the work, she didn't soak it up like Tango and Dahlia.  Later, we went back to listen to the animal communicator there do a reading on Dahlia.  She was quite good, and said that Dahlia had special work to do, possible with handicapped children, to teach them that she is quite comfortable with her limitations.  Dahlia told the communicator quite a few things about Victoria, with a lot of insight, so I was impressed both with the skill of the communicator, and the wisdom of Dahlia.  I would like to have her talk with Lottie at some point in the near future.

A beautiful drawing of Dahlia
by a wonderful artist, Kelly Zalenski at klzart.com



What a nice sit for a greeting!

Lottie and Dahlia

Lottie's Invisible Friends

Within just a few days of coming to live with me, Lottie Moon started some strange behavior.  One day we were out in the back yard, and she cocked her head sideways and looked at the ground.  Then she pounced on something, and barked at it.  Next she dug furiously, then pounced again, all the while looking curiously at the ground and turning her head like she was looking at something, or listening to something.  Since she's deaf and blind, this was expecially odd.  She then bounded off like a rabbit, or a coyote, all the while looking at the ground, frantically barking, as stopping every once in a while to furiously dig.  Well, I thought she was able sense the vibrations under the ground of moles, or bugs, and was amazed at her gift of extrasensory perception.  Then she did it in the kitchen.  I'm pretty confident that there are no moles under my kitchen floor.  So now I don't know what it is.

 My friend Victoria also has a blind/deaf aussie, and she told me her Dhalia does the same thing, sort of.  Dhalia will be calming lying in the living room, then suddenly jump up and snap at something in the air, invisible to Victoria.  Dhalia will bark furiously, and snap at nothing.  Then calmly lie down again.  Victoria calls it "playing with her invisible friends."

Punch doesn't know what Lottie is trying to do,
but he doesn't want to miss out on it.

 

 I've been observing this, and it has continued to get worse -- more often in more locations, and less easy to distract her.  So I've decided it is not extrasensory perception, but just Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), or if you like, just plain "crazy".  I try not to let her do it in the house, or if she's on a leash, but honestly it is a lot of work to get her focus off of her invisible friends, unless I have a cookie.  I figure the more I can keep her from it, the less she can practice it, and I always tell my clients, "Don't let your dog practice bad behavior!"  So I'm trying to follow my own advice, but it is hard!

She seems to do it whenever the other dogs get excited, and Victoria has observed the same thing, so we are speculating it might have to do with energy sensations.  Heck, that sounds good, anyway!

While it is kinda funny and cute in the backyard, it is annoying and destructive in other places, like my kitchen, and the dog park.  The digging is quite furious.  And it is kinda sad to see my other dogs running and playing together, and Lottie off in her own little world with her Invisible Friends.  I would rather she play with the ones I can see.  She will run with my other dogs for a bit, but she usually diverts at some point to her barking at the ground.  Hmm, this is a project in progress . . .