Way back in January 2012 Deaf Dogs Rock featured tortured deaf dog named Phoenix on our website when he was saved, transported, fostered, up for adoption and then his update once he was safe in his forever home. You can read about Phoenix here on Deaf Dogs Rock and what he went through before he was adopted by his new forever family. Click here to see previous post on Phoenix. 

The following two photos below is how Phoenix looked when we posted him in our adoption section here on Deaf Dogs Rock back in January. You see Phoenix was tortured and set on fire and he lost his hearing in a Meth Lab explosion. It gives me great pleasure today to feature Phoenix’s Happy Tail told by his forever family Tamara and Michael Dragojevic. Thanks B.U.L.L.I.E. Nation and foster mom Amanda for getting Phoenix to safety and to Tamara and Michael for giving Phoenix the winning “dog lottery” ticket. According to my deaf dog Nitro and I, you all totally ROCK!

~ Christina  and Nitro Lee – Deaf Dogs Rock

 

Phoenix’s Happy Tail told by Tamara

The way I found Phoenix was by accident. I was interested in another deaf dog who lives at the veterinary office close to where I work. However, it was clearly stated that dog should be the only animal in the home and since I had an 18-month old pitbull girl, it was not possible for my husband and I to adopt him. However, just for the heck of it, I looked him up online and stumbled upon Deaf Dogs Rock website. That’s where I saw Phoenix and at first I couldn’t read his entire story in one sitting, it was just so sad and upsetting. Once I finished the story (at work), I called my husband and told him about Phoenix and immediately contacted Amanda, who was at the time his foster mom. Within three days I was told I can come and pick him up if I’m truly interested.

I thought, I can give this dog a good life that he deserves. He will never be hungry, he will always be safe and certainly loved. As you know, Phoenix had been set on fire when he was a few months old and I was told that he lost hearing in the meth lab explosion. Looking through your website, he looks identical to many of deaf dogs on there and I think he might have actually been born deaf and once he was about three months old, his first owners realized he was deaf and he became “useless” to them, which is why they abused him the way they had.

 

Since I live in Chicago and Phoenix was in Evansville, Amanda and I agreed that if I came to Evansville, met Phoenix and there seemed to be no problem between the two of us, I’d be able to take him home immediately, without the “proper meet and greet, and my other dog meeting him as well.” It was a gamble, particularly since my other pitbull adores people but is not friendly to other dogs. My husband and I figured – one is a boy, one a girl, Phoenix is bigger than Alcide – we’ll make it work.

Phoenix greeted me as if I was a long-lost friend and for me it was love at first sight.

Entering Chicago with Phoenix in the back of my car, I was absolutely terrified, constantly questioning whether this was the right decision or have I really made a big mistake – I didn’t want to put Phoenix through another unsuccessful period of his life.

Luckily, Alcide and Phoenix hit if off immediately – Phoenix enthustically so, Alcide a bit reluctantly, but there has never been any true problems – to my huge relief.

 

Since Phoenix has joined our family, it seems everything is as it should be again. Prior to him and Alcide, we had two other dogs, a pitbull who was put to sleep at the age of 14 and american bulldog who died when she was 11 and after we’ve had Alcide be alone for nearly a year, we longed for another dog, particuarly so that Alcide would have a buddy to play with. Now it just seems we are a perfect family again – I know that probably sounds like a cliche, but I do feel like that.

When we go out, I tell Phoenix’s story to anyone who will listen. Everybody in our neighborhood knows and likes him, he is very friendly. Because of his back being hairless due to burns, he wears a coat in the winter and t-shirts in the summer when the sun is strong, so that seems to be the first thing people notice when they see him.

We live on one of the main Chicago streets, packed with restaurants and shops, so there are people everywhere and almost every day we bump into someone who stops and meets Phoenix – he is a large dog, with white coat and light colored eyes, very striking to look at and people tend to stop and talk to us just because he is so beautiful.

Almost every person says that Phoenix is a very lucky dog to be with us, but honestly, everything that we do for him, he repays tenfold with affection and love he has for all of us. Being walked three times a day on weekdays and going to the park and by the lake on the weekends, he is in public a lot. He is comfortable with most people, although sometimes, especially when it’s dark outside, people just seem to appear out of nowhere to him and he will bark a little, but it’s not a vicious bark, so no one is really afraid.

Children are a bit weary around him, again because of his size and due to his eye color, sometimes it seems like he glares at people. He is friendly though, as long as I hold him firmly so that he doesn’t jump on the kids (and knock them over), they will pet him and he will give them kisses. It’s very cute.

hat I learned from Phoenix is that deafness is not a true disability per se, just a slightly different way of life. Instead of words, we had to learn to communicate with him in a different way. We’re all learning and with patience it all seems to work out fine.

I have to admit, for the first week or so it seemed to me as if there was a great big neon sign above his head, saying DEAF DEAF DEAF. Now, although we are of course aware he is deaf, it’s not something that is the most important thing about him.

When I first decided on certain signs, he didn’t seem to really get it and I was wondering why that was. Then, I realized he had been living in vet’s office for a few months and then in two different foster homes, so that makes us the fourth set of people trying to teach him signs, possibly each of us using different signs for things like “sit” and “no”… So again, with a bit of patience and a lot of treats, we all slowly learned signs together.

The funny thing is that when I was trying to teach him to sit, I would make a gesture with my hand and after I pushed him down to sit, I would touch my chin, ASL sign for “good”. When I came home a few days later, my husband said, “look, he learned the sit sign” and then he touched his chin and Phoenix sat. “That’s not sit, that means good,” I said, but since Phoenix seems to think that’s sit, we kept it at that.

Just like Alcide ignores me when I call to her, Phoenix at times gets fed up with the signing business and won’t look at me.

When he is happy, he will run around like a crazy person, stealing clothes and bits of paper and shake them vigorously or jump on me and playfully bite – it’s all love and I have plenty of bruises to prove how loved I am.

This is my first deafie and considering how horribly abused he had been as a puppy, it is remarkable that he seemed to trust us from the minute we entered into his life. He sleeps in our bed and is a big cuddler, so much so that sometimes it’s very crowded. As soon as you move a finger, his head pops into view as if to say “here I am, what’s happening? what are we doing now?” Even though Phoenix is completely deaf, I still talk to him all the time. He will look at me sometimes as if he knows what I’m saying, then give me a quick kiss on the nose and walk away.

What I would like people to know is that abused animal is not “just an animal”. It’s a living being who like the rest of us can get terrified and sad, feels pain and rejection hurts them just like it would any human. People who are capable of abusing animals are also capable of abusing other people, so don’t turn a blind eye to animal suffering. You don’t need to be an animal person to prevent animal abuse. We should all have enough compassion to recognize suffering and act accordingly.

I sometimes browse through your website, Christina, but very often I find it hard to do so. So many beautiful dogs waiting for someone to give them a home and it’s a shame that not more people decide on adopting a deaf dog. As afraid as I had been that it might be hard to have a dog that can’t hear, it’s really nothing to be worried about.

The basic communication is slightly different, but not that much. My dogs are very young now, 1 and 2 years old and hopefully they will be with me for a very, very long time. But when the time comes when I might be thinking of adopting another dog, it will very possibly be another deafie.

I hope this answers your questions. If there’s something I missed, please ask away. English is my third language and I’m not very skilled in letter writing, so please excuse my awkward way of expressing myself.

Basically, I want to thank every single person who had anything to do with Phoenix’s rescue and care. Big thanks to Amanda, who allowed me to adopt Phoenix and of course, big thanks to you for having his story on your website.

I think YOU rock and you’re earning your wings every day!

All the best to you and your family.

Tamara and Michael Dragojevic