grasshopper.

Bo smiling for the camera :)

Jack wasn’t supposed to live. He was born the runt with various eye problems and after nobody wanted him, the breeders decided they were going to put him down. It seems in my family we have a certain soft spot for animals that nobody wants, so we decided to welcome him into our home. The only problem with this was that our home was still being built. Because we were living in an apartment that didn’t allow pets, my mom’s boss took Jack in and when we got him back a few months later her daughter had him trained pretty well.

Fun fact about Jack before we get to the actual point of this blog: We got him when I was seven and when I found out he was yellow I wanted to name him Sunshine. I can vividly remember me being at the bus stop telling her I want his name to be Sunshine and her telling me that she didn’t really think that would be a good name for him. I was so hurt. Looking back now, I think she made the right decision. :)  Alright, back to the point…

Bo is a very, very smart dog. So smart that we are lucky he can’t hear or he would be a ruthless dictator in our household. But, his deafness is still a huge communication barrier especially because it is something we have never had to deal with. Deaf dogs aren’t for lazy people. When he is doing something bad, we can’t just yell at him. We have to walk over to where he is, get his attention, give him the no sign and make sure he stops. When he is outside during the day and we want him to come in, we have to bundle up, put on some boots and walk out there to get him. (When it’s night he usually comes in if we flick the lights on and off.) It is different, but it is something that we are adjusting to.

 Bo’s foster parents told us that he knew some commands, but that was a big fat lie. Weird… Anyway, my mom and I decided to teach Bo how to sit first. We started his training his first full day with us.

Obviously, when training deaf dogs you cannot say the command to them so instead you have to use signs. For Bo, we decided to use a “sit” sign that I had seen before. I’m not really sure how to explain the sign but it kind of looks like you are doing a bicep curl without the weight. I put my arm at a 90 degree angle and bend at the elbow to make closer to a 45 degree angle.

To train him, we would make sure he was looking at us, do the sign and then push his butt down and give him a treat. Training lasted anywhere from five to ten minutes and was done probably four or five times a day. By Saturday, Bo was sitting consistently without treats or help from us. The first time I saw him sit with just the command, I was overwhelmed with satisfaction because for the first time, I actually felt like we really were going to be able to take care of Bo and train him correctly and provide him with the home he deserves.

turd.

Fun fact #4: Contrary to what Bo’s foster family told us, Bo does NOT get along with cats. I guess most boxers don’t. Our plump kitty spent the night in my room and, when I left my door open the next morning, Bo seized the opportunity to show us how he really feels about her. As soon as Bo took off for my room, I chased him at full speed, yelling at the top of my lungs (which really did no good at all.)  He had the cat cornered by the time I reached him and when I grabbed his collar, he snapped at her but she was just out of reach. Good start to the day. Again, he’s lucky he’s so cute.

My brother was on his deathbed ill that morning. Not literally, but if you saw him you would have thought so. He stayed home from school so he could try to sleep off the sickness.

Fun fact #5: Bo is a slow eater, Jack is not. Bo takes forever to eat his food every time and it tortures Jack to watch him every time.

When I got home from school, I let the dogs out and then sat with Bo while he finished his leftover breakfast, which of course tormented Jack. After things settled down, I had to go to the bathroom and with it being the puppy’s second day here I didn’t trust him to be unattended for any amount of time so I asked my brother if he could get up and watch him for a few minutes. He said no. Shocker. I decided to risk it; I mean what could he do in three minutes?

Mistake. I failed to realize that because I had just fed him, he would have to go potty very soon. So, while I was doing my business, he did his too. On the floor. To his defense, he did get it just on the wood floors and avoided the rug completely. Doggy dodo is a lot harder to get off of rugs. 

Later, I went with the dogs outside and watched Bo eat some poop, which is repulsive so I called my mom and told her and after she googled it she found that dogs with worms eat their poop. Awesome. She called the vet office and they didn’t seem too worried about it. Sometimes eating poop is a behavioral issue. The good news is he loves to lick people. I have now dubbed him poop breath.

houdini.

           Jack never plays with other dogs. I woke up a happy camper the morning after we got Bo solely because I had two puppies now. But after I groggily walked into the kitchen to see my two puppies playing tug-of-war together, I could not contain the smile on my face. Jack had refused to play with Bo at all the night before, so this came as a huge surprise.

I went to school as cheerful as humanly possible when you’re up before the sun is. Everyone that knew I was getting a puppy asked about Bo and I gladly told them the stories from the night before. I went through the day wishing I was at home playing with my new dog.

Around lunchtime, I got a text from my mom that said Bo got out of his crate. Damage still being assessed. Prepare yourself for when you get home. Excuse me? Bo got out of his crate? How could he possibly get out of his crate? Oh, so my deaf dog was also magic. No big deal.

I tried to think of everything that was left out that he could possibly ruin and one thing just kept popping into my head. My nook. (It’s like a kindle, only better. If you’re looking for an e-reader I would suggest the nook for sure.) It was sitting in my brand new duffle bag that had all of my clothes from my dad’s house in it. My brand new nook in its brand new bright blue case was sitting right on top of the unzipped bag. I kept telling my friends I just really hope he didn’t pee on my nook.

The last few hours of my school day slowly crept by until finally the last bell rang. I walked out to my car, where my brother was waiting for me. When we got in the car, I told him Bo had gotten lose and to be ready when we got to the house.

I was relieved to see that Bo’s adorable white face was not there to greet me when I opened the door to my house. I let him out of his crate and my brother watched him while I walked around to see how much fun Bo had earlier.

Fun fact number three about Bo: he is a kleptomaniac. He will just take random things and move them to a different spot. He doesn’t chew them, just moves them.

When I got to the living room, I found a lotion bottle that used to be in my room and laughed to myself. (Bo’s foster dad had told us about his need to steal things.)  I went to my room and at first glance everything looked okay. I took a few steps in and the smell of urine hit me. I was standing right over my nook. I knelt down and opened the top of my duffle bag and the first thing I saw was a pee-stained basketball shirt, and then some jeans with wet spots. My eyes wandered over to my nook and much to my surprise it was absolutely fine. Bo had peed on every single item in that bag except for my nook. I guess he knew exactly how much he could get away with.
Oh, and just in case you're wondering, my mom didn't close the latch on the crate right. Bo isn't really a magician.

bo.

Jack is a smart dog. So clearly, when it was time to get Bo, Jack knew it. He had noticed all of the clues that he was getting a baby brother. (It probably didn’t hurt that I told Jack about Bo every single day.) Jack loves dog beds. After we got Bo’s bed, I was sure Jack would think it was his. He didn’t. It was in my mom’s room for a week and Jack didn’t lay on it once. When we brought Bo’s crate in, Jack seemed like he expected the change.

Jack sat at the front window for hours, barking at every car that drove by, knowing that sooner or later it was going to be him. Starting at five, I sat with Jack and cuddled. We were supposed to get Bo at six and both my mom and I were extremely anxious. We distracted ourselves by looking at some vacation spots while we wondered about whether or not we would get to meet our new beloved dog today. My mom had texted and e-mailed Bo’s foster mom and she still hadn’t replied.

Six rolled around and our spirits were low. We still hadn’t met our new dog. Just when we had given up hope, my mom got a call from Bo’s foster dad. They were running late and they would be there at 6:30.

A big truck pulled up to our driveway and stopped. My heart skipped at least three beats. He was here. I didn’t even see the guy walk in, all I saw was my snow colored puppy. I immediately started talking to him in my usual puppy voice until I realized he had no idea I was talking to him at all. I clapped my hands and he felt the vibrations and looked at me. I sat on the floor and he came right up to me and gave my face a good washing with his tongue. He cuddled with me just like Jack always does. That’s when I fell in love with him.

While my mom was talking over the contract and boring stuff, I got to watch the dogs. I let them outside and watched them get used to each other. They weren’t fighting. Good sign. Most dogs immediately don’t like Jack; he’s a people’s dog not a dog’s dog. So this was a promising observation.

After things settled down, Jack grabbed a bone and snuggled up on his bed with the new pup. Jack doesn’t share his bed with other dogs. Good sign number two. I sat down with my mom and Bo’s foster dad and listened to their conversation.

Bo got up and walked by the mirror and just stopped. Bo loves his reflection. We think he thinks there’s a parallel universe out there. There’s fun fact number one about Bo.

Fun fact number two: boxers STANK. Bo’s foster dad mentioned it, but we didn’t really find out until after he left and Bo let one rip.

We paid and signed the contract and our family was officially one mischievous member bigger. We took our eyes off of Bo for a couple minutes and he managed to pee on my mom’s favorite chair. Then, while my mom cleaned that mess up, he went into the other room and marked the other chair as “his territory.” My mom wasn’t so happy and I think she went to bed with a little doubt in her mind about whether or not adopting this new pup was the right thing, but I went to bed knowing that our home was meant for Bo.  

swayze.

I have a yellow lab. His name is Jack and I absolutely love him to death. He greets me, comforts me, and has this incredible ability to make me smile whenever he wants. He is literally the best dog ever. I have always felt like Jack needs a friend though so I’ve been asking for a new puppy for about seven years now. And for all of those seven years I have heard “We can’t get one because you are going to college soon.” Well here we are seven months away from when I move out and what does my mom decide to get? A puppy.

I was ecstatic when she told me she was looking at dogs. She sent me a link to this one she was convinced she was in love with. Her name was Brianne and she was a deaf, emotionally impaired American Staffordshire Terrior (a.k.a. a Pitbull.) Before Brianne I didn’t even know that deaf dogs existed. It’s just something you never really hear about. And after much research I found out the reason you don’t hear much about deaf dogs is because most of them get put down as soon as their owners find out they can’t hear.

Back to Brianne though, she sure was cute so we sent in an application and got approved to adopt her. My mom e-mailed Brianne’s foster mom quite a bit and we found out that she had a lot of other issues, issues that we weren’t ready to deal with. So there goes my puppy, there goes Brianne.

 My mom had given up the search for a little while saying that we should just wait until our spring sports seasons are over, but I was determined. My mom, brother and I had decided that even if Brianne didn’t work out, we wanted a special needs dog so I spent countless hours on petfinder.com looking for the perfect dog for us.

I found him. His name was Swayze and he was at a Saint Bernard rescue in Flint. My mom and brother immediately said he was ugly. I told them they were wrong. He was an all white, seven-month-old, boxer pup with one blue eye and one brown. I convinced my mom to send his foster home an e-mail. The next day our application was approved and my family was set on getting Swayze.

Within a couple of days we were picking out a new name for him and a full week before we got him we had already bought a bed, a water bowl, a food bowl, and a nametag. We decided we would name him Bo.

For about two weeks I had a constant countdown in my head of how many days until we get to meet Bo. I was telling everyone about him. They all thought I had literally gone insane. When they asked me why on earth my family wanted a deaf dog, I told them because we want a dog that nobody else does. We want to give a disadvantaged dog a fighting chance.

They also thought my family was insane for having our hearts so heavily set on a dog that we had never met. There were so many things that could go wrong. But my mom and I had a feeling that this was right, so we went with it. We were getting Swayze and as long as he got along with Jack we were going to keep him. We both knew it was not going to be easy, seeing as we had never trained a deaf dog before (my mom kept telling people we were going in “blind”) but we both knew that this dog was going to make it worth it.