Deedee Graduates with flying colours

Deedee graduated from her puppy class with flying colours.  She did us proud winning 4 prizes in the end of session competitions.  She did her 'return' in two seconds flat.  We use a flash of a torch to signal her to return. Her handler Tiff aged 12 won musical chairs with her, she got a prize for walking so well in the egg and spoon race and for doing her return so quickly.  She did all the tricks we taughter her, paw and roll over and jumping through a hoop.

We attended www.carensk9college.co.uk in Frodsham.  Deedee starts Puppy University in the first week of April.

Deedee is settling down really well.  She is learning how to greet people and not get so excited.  We are constantly socializing her with other dogs, and she is getting used to staying in her crate when we have to leave her in the house.

Unfortunately my two adult dogs still won't play with her and she so wants to play.  Luckily enough my mum's collie is happy to rough and tumble with her as is my sister in laws Border Terrier, who both live within a few hundreds yards so she has plenty of dogs to play with.

Videos and funny moments

My iphone will be delivered today.  So hopefully I will be able to take lots of video's of Deedee.  I would have liked to have it today.  This morning she was having her breakfast biscuits, and for some reason suddenly decided she would like to eat them on her bed in the living room.  She picked her bowl up in her mouth and walked into the living room with it.  Unfortunately the angle she had it at meant that all the biscuits fell out, leaving a trail across the floor, so when she proudly got to her bed to eat them the bowl was empty!  She did make us all laugh!!

Tricks!!!

It will be our last week of puppy class next week and Karen our trainer has told us to teach our puppies a trick.  Deedee already does two tricks, she will give us her paw and roll over on her back waving her paws in the air.  However, I wanted to go one better.  I decided to teach her to jump through a hoop.  She is not scared of anything and the hoop did not bother her in anyway.  She was jumping through it in minutes.  Even my nine year old collie Kimmy, who had never done it before decided to have a go to.  I was really pleased with her for learning the trick so quickly, then I read my homework again and it said "do not get your puppies to do any tricks that involve jumping such as through a hoop until they are 18 mths old"  Oh dear, too late.....

Ow watch my fingers....

Deedee is coming to the end of her puppy class.  Last night was the fifth that went really well.  One of the problems we have with Deedee is she is very treat focused and will try and snatch them out of your hand regardless of whether your fingers are in the way.  With her having sharp teeth and strong terrier jaw this is becoming a problem.  Karen my dog trainer showed me how to close my fist so that she could not get to it and only open my hand to give the treat once she was sat and quiet.  It only took a short while for her to clock on.  Maybe I will get to keep my fingers after all!

Star of Puppy class

At puppy class this week Deedee was on top form.  She did her sits and downs on cue every time.  She walked well on her lead around the cones.  However this week was the week we did recall and I was a bit nervous about this.  The trainer took each puppy to the other side of the hall and encouraged their families to call them back to them and I got more nervous as each puppy successfully ran up to their owners.  When it came round to Deedee's turn the trainer asked me if I wanted to do this, and I replied "yes of course"! We have a system, not tried it anywhere other than home, but I was prepared to give it a go.  We have a secret weapon which is a torch that we use to bring Deedee in out of the garden.  I was not sure whether she would respond to it in the light of the hall with all the distractions of the other dogs and people, but we were prepared to try.  I was so proud of her when the trainer let her off the lead, I flashed the torch twice and she came straight to me, didn't even look anywhere else, just straight to me for her treat.  She did this twice.  Everyone was very impressed with her.  Well done Deedee :)

Four weeks today since Deedee came to stay with us.  She is settling down really well.  Still like a little hurricane at times, but when she is not having her mad half hours she is more settled.  She is still chewing everything and anything she can find, so needs a lot of supervision.

Unfortunately we have had to buy a crate for Deedee.  We have never crate trained a puppy before, I have never felt the need.  However she can be quite destructive if left to her own means, and I was not happy leaving her in the house unattended.  Luckily enough she has taken to the crate straight away, it is in the living room and she will happily go and lie in it, and if "told off" will go and lie in it herself, so I think she feel's it is her safe place already.  I have only left her for an hour at a time so far, and put her into her crate if I need to do something. But it is still early days yet.

Deedee is still a little hit and miss with my older dogs.  Kimmy the border collie who is Deedee's companion dog when let off the lead (their harnesses are joined together, Kimmy is very obedient off the lead and will come back immediately upon request and fetches Deedee with her).  Kim is most tolerant of being jumped on and bit at by Deedee and will occasionally play with her, however Tilly being a smaller and more nervous dog will still show her teeth if Deedee tries to play with her, but will happily cuddle up with her on the couch.

The one member of the family that seems to have no bother with Deedee at all is our cat.  Deedee had one smack across the nose from her when she first came and learnt her lesson straight away.  The cat is so used to dogs that she has no fear of them, and so far although Deedee will sometimes chase her, she has not done her any harm therefore the cat is very comfortable in her company.

Deedee has been with us two weeks today and we are amazed at how well she is doing.  She now recognises five hand signals.  She knows sit and lie down.  She understands no, stay and good girl.  She is very treat motivated, and will do anything for a choccie drop.  She also knows exactly where they are kept.  She will sit and bark at the food cupboard.

We have had a few issues, she is a climber, and the first time I took her to see my parents she jumped up onto their dining table, cleared it in one jump straight from the floor.  Bearing in mind that she is still a puppy I could not believe my eyes.  She just loves to climb on everything and has no fear.

She is also a chewer, we have loads of toys and chews for her, but I am constantly going around taking things off her.  She is so used to it now that she drops many of the things when she see's me coming towards her!  However, her personality just wins everyone over.  She is great with everybody and everything.  Curling up with the cat on the sofa.  She has her mad half hours, but as a whole she is very calm and spends a lot of time watching people.  She is great on the lead, and I am currently teaching her how to walk to heel.

She is fascinated with mirrors and any reflections of herself, we have had to cover our electric fire (shown in the the picture below) as she just sits barking at her own reflection.

She is great for letting us know when she wants to go out, she just sits and barks at the patio window.  Only problem is that she likes being out in the garden so constantly asks to go out.   My garden is secure, but I am going to have to do a bit of adjusting as the spring comes to keep her out of the borders.

It takes a lot to tire her out, so I make the most of it when she is flat out.

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.