Turbo’s Happy Tail by Andie White
Meet my beautiful deaf dog Turbo! She is without a doubt one of the best dogs I have ever had the pleasure to spend my life with. When I first found Turbo I was walking by a sign near a market that said ‘Puppies $100 a each’. All of Turbo’s litter mates were playing in the grass being rambunctious puppies but not Turbo because she was paying attention to me walking by. I thought it was strange she was not paying any attention to any of her litter mates. As corny as it sounds for me and Turbo it was literally love at first sight.
As I talked with the people who were selling the litter of puppies, I asked them if she maybe she was a deaf puppy deafness is more prevalent in white puppies and since she seemed so distracted). I never raised a deaf puppy before so I wanted to be certain of what kind of situation I was getting into if I decided to take her home. The breeders of the pups assured me that she was not deaf but in their opinion she was just “stubborn.” In hind site, it didn’t really matter if she was deaf because the way I saw it she was coming home with me either way.
Once I got home with Turbo it was clear to me she was indeed deaf so I wanted to educate myself on living with, training, and raising a deaf puppy. It was important to me to make training and a loving home environment a priority for Turbo, so I read lots of deaf dog training posts and we signed up for training classes. Even after eight years of living with Turbo, I am still learning new things every day about living with a deaf dog but I can honestly say I wouldn’t change a thing. Turbo brings me so much joy and she is my princess. I may spoil her just a bit but it’s worth it to me to see her so happy.
Turbo is very vocal and she has many unique facial expressions. She has very thin fur so she loves to wear tee-shirts and jackets, so much so she gets excited to pick out what she is going to wear. If someone is looking at adopting a deaf dog, the best advice I can give is to educate yourself by doing lots of research, consider signing up for a group training class and as your deaf dog grows you will learn more everyday (what works better for your particular deaf dog).
The special connection you will share with a deaf dog is unbeatable. Turbo is my velcro dog and she is very clear when she wants something, so much so, I can usually tell what she is asking for just from watching her facial expressions. I highly recommend living with a deaf dog because for me our journey has been so worth it. I look forward to many more joyful years to come with my deaf princess Turbo.
