Deaf Dog Hope Learns a New Sign

Deaf Dog Hope
Photo by Tracey R. Simmons July 2016

When Deaf Dog Hope was first adopted, she was really quiet when she went outside to do her business. This lasted three weeks. Then, one winter day, the neighbors’ dog was on our property, just outside the dogs’ fence. When Hope went outside, this dog startled her by just being there, so after that she would go out and bark like crazy.

I spoke with the trainers we were working with to understand this situation. They said because Hope was deaf, she was barking in this wild, aggressive manner to compensating for her deafness, or trying to cover it up by letting any predators (or other dogs) know that she was big and bad and not to mess with her. In other words, it was a protective defense.

The problem for me was the loudness of Hope’s barks. She barked like a banshee. It was earsplitting for me. She had no volume control, because she couldn’t hear herself. And despite living in the country, there are neighbors close by.

For a long time, Hope would do her barking thing, then stop - maybe realizing that there were no predators around. More recently, she’s decided to continue this barking, so I had to figure out how I was going to teach her to stop barking or to be quiet.

The cool thing about Hope is that she’s really smart. I think it’s the Border collie part of her that helps her learn and puzzle through things when we work on training and a new sign, and this helps her figure things out quickly. Many times, it’s harder for me to work through how I am going to teach something new and the new sign in a way for Hope to understand what I want.

Hope pouncing on her spikey ball - her favorite toy.
(Because she is so fast, it is difficult not to having blurring
in a photo when she is playing.)
Photo by Tracey R. Simmons July 2016

Another thing about deaf dogs, is that they learn to "read" their human(s), as far as mood. Hope figures out when I am playing around and when I am being serious. (Hearing dogs can get the tone of a human to know when they are mad, but they don't always pick it up just by looking at a human.)

A few weeks ago, Hope went out first thing in the early morning, along with the other dogs. She immediately started her banshee barking. I quickly opened the door. Hope stopped barking as I gave her a stern look (because I was frustrated) and put my index finger to my mouth - the way we humans tell another human to be quiet. Because she’d stopped barking, I quickly gave her the “thumbs-up” sign. This is her equivalent to a click when clicker training a hearing dog – letting the dog know they did something right.

Hope's all white left side - albino white.
Photo by Tracey R. Simmons July 2016

Hope understood the “I mean business” look. She swiftly figured out this new sign and what she needs to do. Now I don’t have to give the stern look. I just use the sign. Overly barking problem – solved!

How many signs does Hope know? She knows sit, down (as in lay down), sit back up, come, watch/look at me, wait/stay, release, target hand or object, go to mat/crate, no, shake, high-five, thumbs-up; and I can point a direction I want her to go and she’ll walk in that direction. She also knows the sign to stand between my legs and to do a clockwise circle – although we haven’t done these for a while. The latter two were things I wanted to do, along with adding more tricks & signs, because there are dogs that dance with their humans.

Hope's right side with some color.
Photo by Tracey R. Simmons July 2016

Update - Honeybees, Pippin's Surgery, and the Baby Chick

Today, I am updating information on three previous posts. First, my beehive is doing well in its new location. I was able to put the second super on the hive on June 5^th. This was a lot earlier than I’ve been able to do in the past.

Honeybees on frame they are drawing out comb.
Photo by Tracey R. Simmons June 2016

 That day, the bee girls were working to fill the outer frames in the first super. This was something that hadn’t been done before either. The previous groups of bees drew out the comb, but didn’t get food store in those frames. With this current group of bees, the frames are being filled with food stores for the winter.

Again, I checked the hive on June 30^th. The middle frame in the upper super was filled end to end, and from top to bottom with brood, most capped. A few cells were open and I could see the larva. Having the frame so full is something I did not see with previous queens. In addition, several other frames were being filled with more food for the winter.

Top of hiving with one frame removed so you can see
honeybee activity.
Photo by Tracey R. Simmons June 2016

It is a great relief to see positive things with this hive. I believe this confirms the theory about the vehicle exhaust and carbon monoxide affecting my previous groups of bees while in the old location near the road.

 (The second hive didn’t get set up. The free wild honeybees that I was supposed to get fell through.)

Second update – Miss Pippin O’Chi made it through the surgery without any problems – other than her poor belly was growling from hunger. (She couldn’t have breakfast the morning of the surgery.) Thankfully, there were only two baby teeth that hadn’t come out. One had caused her lower canine tooth (fang) to move out towards the front teeth, and this has caused some crowding.

I was anxious for Pippin. Waiting hours for word that Pippin came through the surgery brought up memories of Koda and the loss I feel for him. Spritzen Nala O’Chi seemed worried as well. She didn’t seem to understand why Pippin was able to get in the carrying crate, and she wasn’t allowed to get in it as usual.

When Pippin arrived home safe and sound, Spritzen checked Pippin over from nose to tail to make sure she was okay. Then, Spritzen was ready to rough house, something Pippin wasn’t ready to do. Snuggling on the couch with me was a great alternative.

Pippin chewing on her dragon. Hope had been helping.
Photo by Tracey R. Simmons July 2016

It didn't take long for Pippin to get back to playing with Spritzen and Hope. In fact, she and Hope have tried to have races back and forth from the kitchen to the living room - this in a tiny house, so it's just a few feet. It works for a little chi, but for a big Border Collie/Husky mix, it sounds like a bull in a china shop.

Third update – the baby chick whose foot was broken. The answer to the prayers I wanted was for her to heal and grow into a beautiful Rhode Island Red hen that would follow me around when I was outside with her. Unfortunately, she died despite all my efforts.

Photo by Tracey R. Simmons 2016

There is a condition called “starve-out” in baby chicks. As I wrote in the previous post, chicks can live the first two days without food while being shipped, because they are still absorbing nutrients from the egg. After this time, it is very important that they start drinking and eating. If for some reason they don’t, their little bodies go into this starve-out mode. With this I have read that sometimes they can be save, but not always. I believe it would depend on the amount of time the chick was suffering from this condition before being caught and corrective action being taken.

At the farm store, despite plenty of water and food being provided for all the chicks in the holding tank, this little chick was not able to get to either because of her foot. My guess is that more than 24 hours had gone by from when this chick along with her sisters had arrived.

The frustrating and sad thing about this situation is that the chick’s foot would have healed. The rehabber was confident about this. I did everything I knew to get the chick to eat and drink, including wetting her food and carefully putting it in her mouth. She did rally for a few hours, but then she gave up.

I’ve seen animals give up on life before, and even saved a kitten that had given up – she used what little strength she had to clamp her mouth shut - refusing to eat. I, literally, had to pry her mouth open to put in food, then rub her throat to get her to swallow it. This kitten had given up, and death had his hand wrapped around her - ready to take her, but I said “no” and fought against him. I kept proving love and nourishment until her body and mind had the desire to live again. Sadly, this did not work for the baby chick, but the chick did know that a human love her even though her life was cut short. She is buried next to Koda.

Life is precious, all of life!!