There are some photographers who have a gift of taking photos of people and their dogs and then there are other photographers that not only have the gift of a good eye, but have a deep love for their canine subjects. Such is the case with photographer Pati Robins. A perfect example of her love for dogs can be seen in many of the photos taken by Pati Robins. Pati is a photographer who lives and works in Wales, Great Britain. DDR was very fortunate to have Pati as one of our guest bloggers last year and ever since then, I have been a huge fan of her work.

I ran the article below last May (under the video) 2012 when I met Pati Robins via Facebook last year. She had just adopted her deaf puppy Shy Bella and was also training Shy so we asked her if she would be willing to do a guest blog post for Deaf Dogs Rock. She agreed and she shared her deaf dog training experience with our readers. Over the past year I have enjoyed looking at Pati’s creative eye when it comes to her dog photography. If she lived in the United States, there is no doubt, I would book her in a heartbeat to take photos of Nitro, Bud, Chris and I together.

Pati has been so kind to make some wonderful training videos featuring her deaf dog Shy so we can share them on Deaf Dogs Rock readers (under our training videos section). Not only is she a great trainer of deaf dogs, but she is also a friend to rescue dogs and rescue organizations in Wales (GB) and the United States.  Personally speaking when I look at her dog photography, she inspires me to be a better photographer. Today Pati sent me some photos of her beautiful dogs to feature on our rotating headliner banner on Deaf Dogs Rock.

Below are just a few of the new photos. Isn’t she just so talented? You can see more of her work at probinsphotography.weebly.com

If you live in the Great Britain and want Pati to come and photograph you and your loved ones, please click here to contact Pati.  

 Above is a photo of Pati’s deaf puppy Shy Bella and Pati.

Shy Bella and Dizzy sporting their Great Britain colors!

This is one of my all time favorite photos of one of Pati’s dogs. This is her latest rescue Dizzy. Isn’t he just stunning? I love that he has one blue and brown eye like my Nitro!

Here is a video we have featured under our Deaf Dogs Rock training video section of Pati working with Shy when Shy was only 6 months old. Consistency is key to training a deaf dog and I am so proud of Pati’s commitment to Shy. She is a great example of someone rescuing a deaf dog and then going the extra mile to build a solid foundation for her deaf dog to make sure Shy is going to be the best dog she can be. According to my deaf dogs Nitro, Bud and myself, Pati, Shy and Dizzy totally ROCK!

~ Christina Lee – Deaf Dogs Rock

 

 

 

Here is Pati’s guest blogger post from May of 2012

Over the last week or so I ran across a family who just adopted the cutest puppy I have ever seen. I think it helps that the young lady who just launched her new deaf dog blog Bella’s Ears is an talented photographer and she lives in the United Kingdom. Bella’s Ears is a cute deaf dog blog about an adorable deaf American Bulldog named Shybella and her new family. Shy’s mom Patrycja (Pati) Robins is an amazing photographer so I asked her if she would be our guest blogger this week. She is from Poland so I did do a little editing to her post to make her story flow a little easier. I hope Pati doesn’t mind. When you see her photography, you will totally understand why I wanted to feature her deaf dog blog. Please welcome guest Blogger Patrycja (Pati) Robins and her new puppy Shybella or as they call her Shy or sometimes Bella.

Please welcome Pati and Shy! I hope you adore her photos as much as Nitro and I do.  Enjoy, Christina Lee – Deaf Dogs Rock

My Ears Are Just For Show – Day 7 (All photos on this post were taken by Patrycja Robins Photography and all rights are reserved – Please do not use/post/recreate the images in this post with our the permission of the photographer)

When we first found out there was a deaf puppy needing a home we just melted at the idea of having a new puppy. Before we even saw her (our new puppy Shy) we decided we needed to go home (with a clear mind) and really think about the idea of having a special needs dog. Like so many other people who are considering the adoption of a deaf dog for the first time,( or someone who has purchased a purebred puppy only to find out later their puppy is deaf), they might have the same anxiety or reluctance as we were having because of the uncertainty. Please bear in mind that we are no experts when it comes to training dogs but especially to training a deaf dog. We knew we would have a huge learning curve but at the same time we decided to just jump in and also start sharing our experience by starting our blog called Bella’s Ears.

So the first question we asked ourselves was just how do we as a family communicate with our new deaf puppy? It seems like everyone just assumes dogs can understand the human language but in reality all dogs will respond to a consistent word command like “sit” or “stay” when it is used often and is followed by a consistent positive reinforcement (like a treat) each time the dog gets the command right. The cool thing about a deaf dog is positive reinforcement with ASL sign commands works exactly the same way (or you can also just make up your own special sign command).

 

When we use sign commands each time the deaf puppy gets it right we positively reinforce the correct behavior using a thumbs up or a big smile. Dogs also learn from our body language and facial expressions . So finally figuring all the regular training stuff ended up being pretty easy. We would just make up a sign and keep using it until dog gets the sign command and we had to have a lot of treats handy.

I must add we have noticed our little puppy Shy doesn’t like the sign or word “no” so we try to redirect her instead of using the word “no” to often. When she likes to argue or ignore the sign we are giving her she will just look away and not make eye contact with us. 

Next thing that we were wondering about when it comes to training her was how in the heck do we call her if she is at a distance with her back to us or in another room in the house? We knew right away we needed to start working getting our new puppy to look at us to “check in” often. This way if we could get her to look at us, then we could sign to her. We have concerns about the fact that she is only 11 weeks old , so we weren’t 100% what we should do to get her attention.

Okay, I must admit I have heard many of you use a vibration collar to get your deaf dogs attention so maybe that will help us solve our problem and get her to look at us when we call her or need her attention. More often than not, we end up just walking up to her and redirecting her if she is getting into something we don’t want her to get into (it make us wonder who is training who in this new relationship).

There is a plus side to a deaf dog and that is they learn very quickly and there are no sound distractions. They tend to hold their focus on you when they are learning and playing.

After a bit of research we found others who also own, train and adore their deaf dogs just like our family.

There are thousands of deaf dogs owners so we can come to a website or FB page like Deaf Dogs Rock and ask others if they have experienced the same issues or challenges that we are currently going through. At least now the anxiety has faded and been replaced with excitement because now we belong to this amazing special community of deaf dog lovers. We are not alone! We are hearing all these great stories of so many people who have raised and trained fantastic deaf dogs. Many of these stories refer to deaf dogs who are so well trained the general public has no idea they are even deaf because they respond so well to their handlers.

So getting back to that night when we went home to really think about if we would be a good match and a good family for a deaf dog (and after a very long night with no sleep what so ever). We decided to take the plunge and adopt our beautiful girl Shy. We totally fell in love with her and we dedicated to give her a wonderful forever home and always be her advocate. After the first week, we knew we made the right decision. Right now the biggest challenge we face is making it through the puppy stage which deals with potty training, bite inhibition training,redirecting her teething and chewing activities. We look forward to being part of the Deaf Dogs Rock community and we invite all of you to come to check out our deaf dog blog Bella’s Ears.

To go to the original unedited blog post on Bella’s Ears, please click here.