Update: Unfortunately last year Pinky’s mom and dad died tragically in an automobile accident. Pinky is now living with family members in the Dearden Family.

Shortly after our Female Lab had to cross the rainbow bridge, I was cruising around PetFinders looking at dogs. I enquired about a couple American BullDogs but was put off by one AC warden who said that particular dog would be no good with other dogs and another one was already adopted. I ran across a picture of the most adorable puppy with ice blue eyes (see photo below) and it said he was deaf and was in desperate need of an adopter. So my gracious and ever patient husband called “The Mutt Hutt” and set up an appointment to meet “Que”.

The blue eyed puppy was at The Mutt Hutt, a doggy daycare facility in Cleveland, OH. He was with his fur brothers Tonka, who is a Victorian Bulldog.  Apparently, the owners did not have the patience for a deaf dog and he was too clumsy around their toddler so they decided to find him a new home.  At the time we still had a Labrador Retriever Black Jacque and our first rescue which was a brindle pibble named Hardy Har Har.

When we saw Que for the first time, we both immediately fell in love with him, though he was already a year old. But the Mutt Hutt peeps wanted to make sure he would get along well with our other dogs so we set up an afternoon for them to bring Que to our home and see if our dogs were a good match for Que. All the dogs hit it off and had so much fun together. We were approved for the adoption and we were the proud parents of a new member of the furry family. The folks from The Mutt Hutt called us his Angels because if he had ended up in the Cleveland Pound, he would have been PTS immediately with no questions asked. And that would have been a terrible waste for a dog with a BIG heart!

We immediately changed his name to Pinky, named for the cartoon character “Pinky” from “Pinky and the Brain.” When people ask us his name we always joke around with them and say, “well, his name is Pinky, but he’s deaf so you can call him Charlie if you want. He won’t care.”

He is an amazing dog. He knew signs for sit and come. And learned very quickly “speak” and “shake”! He used to love to go to the Dog Park, “Bow Wow Beach” but everytime we took him there, a total of three times, he was attacked by another dog. Bloodied several times and the last time a Great Dane tried to drown him by holding him underwater. Fortunately, his big brother Hardy would not put up with any dog picking on his brother. And firmly bit the offending dog in the rump!

We have since moved to Pennsylvania where we have no Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) in our area. We have a nice big fenced in yard, about half an acre for the boys to romp around in. and some very interesting cows to bark at behind our property. Pinky is gentle and sweet but tends to be a bit jealous if “mom” pays too much attention to another dog.

Pinky helped me get through a very tough time when we had to let my beautiful baby Black Jacque cross the Rainbow Bridge. He was only 8, but became very sick, very fast. I was devastated. It would have been much more difficult had I not had Pinky and Hardy of course. Last year we broke down and found another Labrador Retriever and we named the pup Baba Looey. Pinky and Baba became fast friends and do everything together except swim, because now Pinky does not like water any deeper than his belly!

I would take another deaf dog in a minute! Because Deaf Dogs Rock!

Thanks for putting Pinky on your site. He is an awesome pup!

Theresa J. Dearden

 

If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.

St. Francis of Assisi