Deedee's big day out

Deedee visited the vet this morning.  We knew she had a cold and was on antibiotics before we fetched her home, but unfortunately I forgot to pick them up in all the excitement.  The vet gave her another lot of antibiotics.  He think's she is about 6 months old, and a Staffie cross.  Other than that she is fine and he thinks she is a lovely dog.  He has told us where we can get her hearing checked professionally if we wish, but we are in no doubt that she is deaf!

Later in the day Deedee travelled to Winsford with me to pick up Tiffany before going to her first Puppy Class in Frodsham.  She is too old for the puppy class but Karen from Caren's K9 College said that she was still welcome to come.  She was great, not phased by the other puppies at all and did everything that was asked of her.  Tiffany coped with it very well too, going around petting all the other puppies, I was very pleased with both of them.

The picture is Deedee after a very long day........

DeeDee's first day out

We took Deedee to Pets at Home today.  She was tied in the boot of the car this time as we want to start how we mean to carry on.  She was quite unsettled in the boot, but I sat in the back and reassured her.  We travelled for about 20mins to the store.  Being able to travel in the car is very important to us as we get about quite a bit.

At the store Deedee was amazingly well behaved.  She met other dogs and puppies and was very sociable.  She was extremely keen to meet the rabbits in the pens, we had to keep a good strong hold on her to prevent her from getting in with them.  We bought her a reflective collar and a harness of her own.  Along with a dog toy which is a football with rope on either end.

After visiting the pet shop we took her for a short walk in Calder Valley as I want her to associate going out in the car with nice walks.

Upon returning home, Tilly our Jack Russell who has been very anti Deedee since we fetched her home decided to have a go at playing with her, we let them out into the garden and they had a bit of a play, however after a few minutes, Deedee got to much for her and she bared her teeth.  We were just pleased that Tilly played at all and was happy for the small step in the right direction.  Tilly seems a little bit more settled with her being here now and Kimmy is still indifferent.

Bringing Deedee home

We picked Deedee up from Impawtant Puppy Rescue on Saturday 21st January.  The first time I set eyes on her it was love at first sight.  She is gorgeous and so loving.  Emma from Impawtant kindly gave us the time to sit and get to know her a bit, and show Tiffany how to handle her.  Kimmy and Tilly did not take to her at all and did not want to know.  Kimmy the border collie was a little more tolerant but Tilly would not entertain her in anyway!  John took all three for a bit of a walk with Tiffany and Emma's husband, out of the house and on the lead they were a bit better.

Impawtant Pups Puppy Rescue are great, they give their home over to puppies needing new homes and rescue pups from pounds all over the country, Deedee came originally from Coventry.

We had borrowed a crate for the car journey back, but as she had never been crate trained we abandoned it as a bad plan and she sat in the back between Tiffany and I instead.  After a bit of messing around she finally settled and went to sleep all the way home!

Once home, Kimmy was indifferent but Tilly really was not happy.  Deedee however, was wonderful with the cat, probably because my cat is not scared of the dogs in the house and does not run, just stood her ground looking at her, definitely do not think there will be any problems with those two.

John slept downstairs on the couch the first night as we did not know how settled Deedee was going to be.  She had him up for the toilet at 4am!

We are so surprised how well behaved and confident she is for a puppy, she asks to go out when she needs to, she sits on command and is very attentative.  She is also very loving and gives great cuddles as per the picture with my daughter Kirstie.

Things to buy :)

I found these items on the internet.  I think it is a good idea to inform people that Deedee is deaf so that no one startles her.    

I have also seen a collar with "I am deaf" on, but I don't think that will be as visual.

I will order a bandana first as we have no idea what size Deedee is going to grow to, but I would like a reflective vest for her when she is older.

Gettting excited now!

I am getting excited now as we pick Deedee up tomorrow.  I have found a really good facebook group called The Deaf Dog Network.  It has lots of members that own deaf dogs and is a very friendly place full of good advice and idea's for your deaf dog. https://www.facebook.com/groups/thedeafdognetwork/314687251909506/?notif_t=group_activity
The kind members of this site gave me some idea's of books and websites to visit.  The book that most people recommended was Hear, Hear by Barry Eaton.  They even showed me some youtube links of death dogs doing agility.  This is a link to a dog called Horus doing agility training.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kwAITsh0Ws&lr=1&feature=mhum  It just shows you that a death dog can lead as full a life as a hearing dog.

Basic hand signals for deaf dogs

I found a wonderful site http://www.dfordog.com/deafdogs.htm that has information and stories for and about deaf dogs.  I found these basic hand signals on their site and intend to try and teach these to Deedee.

 this is to get a deaf dogs attention, a gentle prod.

  This is the 'sit' hand gesture, your bring your arm up towards you.

  Lie down, moving the hand in a downwards motion as indicated by the arrow.

Come here, moving the arms away from the body, a nice big hand gesture so they can see it from a distance.

Stay holding the hand firmly with the palm towards the dog.


Go in the garden/go for a wee.  Walking motion with fingers.

Quiet/calm down.

There are more hand signals available, but to me these are the important ones and enough for Deedee to try and learn.  I have realised that a lot of these hand signals I already use with my hearing dogs in tandem with verbal commands.

How we found our dog

We have always had rescue dogs.  We had three rescue dogs up until last year when we lost our oldest Zack in August 2011, he was a fifteen year old mongrel.  I decided after Zack went that we would just stick with two dogs, two dogs were plenty.  However, I still caught myself checking Rescue Centres just to see what they had in, and one day I came accross an advert for a four month old bitch, a cross breed dog that was totally deaf.  She looked so much like Tilly the Jack that I already have that I just fell in love with her straight away.  However I kept reminding myself that I didn't really want another dog, but I could not stop thinking about her, I knew she would have a wonderful home with us.  Three days after I saw the advert after having looked at it everyday I showed it to my husband.  His reaction straight away was yes we would have her!

I contacted the rescue centre, the following week had a home check and on Saturday we go to pick up our first deaf dog!!

This is how the advert read.

Faith is one of the most affectionate pups I have ever had in my home. She loves her cuddles and having her tummy and back rubbed. She can often be found in your arms with her tummy on display for a gentle rub. She is great with other dogs, very playful and bouncy, so she needs a doggy companion who is still very lively and playful themselves, plus this will give the new owners lots more sleep as they will tire each other out *big smile*

Faith is Deaf but she is already picking up sign language really well, she is getting the hang of house training and has only had the odd accident in the night. She is also getting the practice of lead walking in the house and recall from the garden, all through sign language. She is a great girl and we are seeking the most special home for her where she will be loved and devoted.

She is currently in Burton-on-Trent and if homed within the area we are happy to teach the new owners all the signing skills if they do not already have experience of a deaf dog. She can be homed with children as long as they are kind and dog savvy as she may jump if suddenly approached from behind too fast. The children need to be of an age to understand the signing required or this will confuse her if she is being told to do something verbally, she will not know what is being asked of her.