Update 11-19-2014: Dudley aka Apollo is doing great in his new home! Here are some photos of him “chillin like a villain” in his new home.

Apollo bonding with his new daddy…such a silly puppy! 

Surrounded in warmth, love and toys! 

We were asked for help with a Deaf boxer puppy named Dudley who had been in a shelter in another state and has spent the last few months in a crate in a shelter after leg surgery. His leg was broken because he was abused as a pupy. We agreed to take the little boy because he was only 5 months old. He was a handful when he got here to Virginia so I decided to go into our partner rescue Angels of Assisi every single day to work on puppy mouthing, walking on a leash, and try to get his jumping under control.

Christina Lee with DDR doing “watch me” training in our Deaf Dogs Rock Dog park.

Bobbie the trainer at Angels also worked with him daily. I decided to bring him home so he could also be around older deaf boxers to learn to “play gentle” and also learn about “bite inhibition” training. After two weeks he was doing really well and he had a couple meet him at the beginning of his stay here in Virginia, in the middle of his stay and then two weeks later they got to visit him here at Deaf Dogs Rock Headquarters so they could see his progress and also watch him interact with our dogs.

In the mean time a friend of ours from MN sent $250 to sponsor Dudley aka Apollo to go towards something Dudley would need. Because of Andrew and Katherine’s generous donation Deaf Dogs Rock offered to pay for 50% of Dudley’s aka Apollo’s puppy training and obedience classes if the new owners would commit to a three month x 2 a week training schedule. They agreed and signed up and we sent a check to one of our favorite training facilities called Field of Dreams (where Bobbie works part time). The rest of the money went towards buying Apollo high quality chew toys so he can be directed with chew toys when he gets to mouthy.

 

Dudley taking cues from deaf dogs Nitro and Bud (left and middle) and doing additional “watch me” training. Such a good boy! 

Thanks to the nice lady who brought Dudley to our attention and also transported him to us. Thanks to our friends Kim and John Gregory for doing an emergency 5 day foster for Dudley as soon as he got to Roanoke. Thanks also to Bobbie and Lisa at Angels of Assisi for letting us sponsor Dudley into rescue. Thanks to Katherine and Andrew Null for seeing the potential in Dudley and sending in a sponsorship for him so we could in turn make sure he gets the best training so he can have a strong training foundation before he gets to be one year old. Also thanks to Deb and Steve Cates for giving Dudley aka Apollo a loving home and also agreeing to go the extra mile and get him into a consistent training schedule so he can be the very best he can be.

 

 

Happy “Gotcha Day” Apollo! Deb Cates with her new Deaf boxer puppy Apollo with Christina Lee of Deaf Dogs Rock. I think Apollo just won the Deaf Dog Lottery!

Have a great life Apollo! ~ Christina, Chris, Bud and Nitro – Deaf Dogs Rock