Summer’s Happy Tail by Suzanne Horvath
Sweet Summer came to me through a rescue. She was a pretty little white poodle that was not doing very well at the rescue. I was told she just wouldn’t mingle with the other dogs and always sat off to the side by herself.
While I was working with the rescue I couldn’t help but be drawn to her. I offered to foster her so she could relax. Hopefully coming to my home she might come out of her shell if she is one on one with me.
I ended up bringing her home from the rescue to foster her. The rescue didn’t have very much prior history on her and she came with no name.
When she first arrived I started calling her different names to see if I could figure out a name that was familiar to her or a name she might respond to but I had no luck. All this little girl did when I repeated different names, was to sit and stare at me. As far as I could tell, she never really responded to anything I said.
As the days passed, I started to notice she never even jumped at noises in my home which was my first clue to her deafness. That is when it finally dawned on me that she could very well have a hearing impairment so I held her in my arms and made a very loud noise behind her. After the noise, she had zero reactions so I put her down and walked away from her but I knew she was watching me. After awhile, all she seemed to be doing was watching me and everything going on around her.
After I walked away from her, I turned back around to face her, and I used some visual cues for her to “come here” by smiling at her and doing a visual patting on my leg for her to finally come running to me. The transformation was astounding!
She took one look at me, saw my “come here” sign cue, she then picked up her head and happily ran directly to me. Oh my gosh, I was literally in tears at this point. With a few little hearing tests at home, we confirmed she was deaf which explained so much!
Summer had no clue to anything around her and I was going to make sure to teach her new sign cues as long as she was my foster.
As soon as I figured out she was deaf, I contacted the rescue and explained what had happened with my at home hearing tests.
Once I explained everything to the rescue I volunteer for, they had their doubts about her being adoptable. I was little shocked when the told me she would probably be hard to place in a new home.
After my conversation with the rescue, I knew she was not going anywhere but she would become part of my family. So I named her Summer because the day we committed to adopting her was also the very first day of summer. Summer finally found a home with us where she would be understood.
Since that day, she has learned to respond to her name sign (it is index and middle fingers outstretched and then closed). Now when we sign her name to her, she comes running (especially if it is an opportunity for her to sit on my lap).
If she is sleeping, I slowly wake her up by carefully touching her. In the beginning when she first arrived at our home, she would startle awake if any of us would try to wake her from a deep sleep. In her early days with us she always acted like she was in some kind of danger when we tried to wake her. Now when we wake her up from a nap, she just looks at me, her tail wagging and she is ready for anything.
Sweet deaf dog Summer has blessed us for many years now. People tell me all the time how sweet and calm she is. We set her up to be the very best she be by providing her a loving, happy, safe, and contented life. Summer also interacts with my other dogs and loves to go anywhere with me.
Shortly after we made Summer’s adoption final, we ended up going back to adopt her sister who is now named Winter. I’m not sure they are blood sisters but they came into the rescue together and I felt they needed each other. Winter can hear very well and she has no impairments.
So this is how Summer came to live and be understood with our family the Horvath crew.
Deaf dogs should never be overlooked. They are some of the best dogs out there. With patience, love, training, and a commitment to a deaf dog, the connection is forever and such a special relationship.
