Cornell has been adopted and has officially joined our family here at Deaf Dogs Rock. We are so excited to have him. We also learned more about his daddy Ricky who passed away in April. Ricky loved his five rescue dogs and one rescue cat. Ricky’s family adopted the other four dogs and I know they were worried about finding deaf heeler Red aka Cornell a loving forever home. Cornell was very lucky to get the Karnes family for a foster family and when they submitted his adoption listing we started networking Cornell on our Deaf Dogs Rock FB page to find him a loving home.
Chris and I kept going back to Cornell’s adoption listing on Deaf Dogs Rock and checking him out (after all, Cornell was being fostered just up the road in Charlottesville, VA). There was something very special about this little red heeler boy that Chris and I were drawn to. Maybe it is because he reminded us of our late German Shepherd mix Bailey who died of Cancer two years ago, or the fact that when we would read his Facebook updates his foster family shared a video of him smiling when he was happy. The kind of smile that shows all of his teeth!
The more we learned about Cornell, the more we just knew he would be a perfect fit into our dog pack here at Deaf Dogs Rock. We decided to make an adoption commitment and filled out all the adoption applications and paperwork. We were immediately approved so we scheduled a time to go pick up our new deafie from his foster family.
As luck would have it, his foster family was vacationing at their Smith Mountain Lake house only a one hour drive from our farm. We set up a time to meet and we picked Cornell up on Saturday June 17, 2017 and by Tuesday afternoon, June 20 Cornell was completely relaxed and was figuring out our daily routine. It is like he has lived with our entire pack his whole life (we now have 4 deaf dogs, one semi-blind chihuahua and a senior chug). So far Cornell is doing great and he fits into our family as if he was our one missing piece to our family puzzle. The three other deafies and two hearing seniors adore him. They keep trying to engage him in play by play bowing and nudging him but Cornells is reserving all his affection until he can be sure their intentions are pure of heart. He is a smart cookie!
Below are some photos of our adoption day and additional photos of Red (now Cornell) just chillin like a villain.
The Karnes family (above) did a great job fostering Red aka Cornell so he did not have to be stressed in a shelter. Fostering saves lives!
Above: Here is Chris and I on Cornell’s adoption day with the Derick and Katie Karnes saying good bye to Cornell.
Cornell’s first Father’s Day with his new daddy. We are so thankful to his daddy Ricky for loving him and doing such an amazing job with him.
Update 6/13/17: Cornell’s adoption is pending.
Cornell entered fostering after his human died of cancer, and his pack of 4 other dogs were split up to go to different homes last month. He is house trained, doggy door trained, and great with other dogs. OK with cats. No aggression signs at all.
He loves to sleep all day and go for walks any time, for as far you’re willing to go. Perfect for almost any lifestyle, as he seems happy watching Netflix all day or going for 4 mile hikes.
