Bath Day!

We took Juneau to Mud Puppies for a nice bath today. She did a great job in the tub, allowing us to scrub her throughly and dry her with the blow drier. We cleaned her ears and brushed her teeth-- she was a trooper!

Mighty Texas Dog Walk

We took Juneau to the Mighty Texas Dog Walk yesterday and it was a huge success! Juneau was perfect. She walked like a champ on her leash (though it was quite hot and there wasn't much water so I turned her around a mile short of the full walk), and she was incredibly friendly with every single dog she met. She greeted every person and pet with a wag and a kiss. I couldn't have asked for a better experience for her. Many, many people came over to pet and love this unique and lovely girl and she made several new friends, two lovely and huge Great Danes in particular!

Following the Walk we headed to our group's Meet & Greet. These events are always very chaotic and often overwhelming for dogs, especially the first few times. Juneau was fine-- no doubt her deafness an advantage in such a loud environment with dogs barking! She greeted the other rescue workers and kissed all of the pets she met. We also microchipped her while we were there.

We knew she was good with other dogs at home, but these outtings let us know that she is great in all kinds of situations with every size and shape and age of dog. This is all important socialization work, and she is well on her way!

Veterinary Ophthalmologist report

We got some good news on Friday from the vet ophthalmologist: "Juneau can see from both eyes"! He says that her "peripheral vision may be limited" due to some congenital anomalies, and her eyes are consisted with Merle Australian Shepherd Syndrome, so she will need periodic eye exams to make sure everything is ok, but she does not need any treatment right now and he said we should treat her as if she is "completely normal". Yay!

Signs of the week: "Good Girl!" and "Sit"

Once you have trained a dog with hand signs, it is hard to ever go totally back to voice-only commands. Even our hearing dogs are trained using signs for many of the basics since they are so effective.

Juneau is learning our sign for "Good Girl" (a thumbs-up) this week. This is a great lesson, because she learns it by getting treats and a thumbs-up repeatedly until she understands that thumbs-up is like getting a treat and means we are pleased. Once this connection is established, it will be a useful sign for so many other training areas: housebreaking, playing with appropriate toys, going to her crate, following other commands, etc.

We are doing sit in the traditional way, with the treat over the nose, but we give the "sit" sign as well when she is starting to sit and the "Good Girl" when we give her the treat once she has gotten it. Soon we will just make the sign and she will sit, and we will reinforce it eventually with just the thumbs-up.

We will try to post a video of her working on her signs later in the week!

Playful Pup

Welcome, Juneau!

This big, sweet, wonderful Aussie puppy was found wandering the highway alone about 6 weeks ago by a Good Samaritan. She is deaf and visually impaired but also smart, loving, friendly, and devoted. We welcomed her into our Foster Home on Friday and she has gotten along very well with everyone here including multiple other dogs, cats, & kids.

Juneau is crate trained, and we have spent this week working on the other basics: housebreaking, hand signals, etc. She is a super smart girl: it only took one lesson before she learned how to "go to bed" (from outside to the crate in our bedroom).

We recently lost our own double merle deaf Aussie so we know first hand what wonderful pets these dogs can be and and we are excited about helping another sweet girl find her very own Forever Family!