Home at Last

Someone told me that a puppy this young would sleep all the way home...well not this one. This little white ball of fire was totally alert all the way home. I wonder what the motorists thought when we would pull over to the side of the thruway and I would stand over her while she peed? I'm surprised the men in the white coats didn't get us before we got home. The first night home we put her in a crate and tried to sleep. It wasn't going to happen. She cried all night. The next day at work people told me to put a clock in with her - ok now understand they already knew she was deaf. I asked them what good that would do since she couldn't hear it - maybe I could put in a digital clock so she could watch it for entertainment. In the end I got the bright idea of putting warm water in a two liter coke bottle and wrapping a piece of my clothing around it so it would smell like me. Worked like a charm...sleep at last. Now came my daily shower. Everytime I would take a shower she would sit right outside the shower door and sob. She couldn't hear me and her senses weren't developed enough to know I was there. Solution? Everyday we took a shower together, just me, herbal essence shampoo and the 8 pound puppy sitting happily at my feet, head facing upwards as the warm water ran down her face. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, I was trying to figure out a name for her and realized that she looked like a little piglet when she was laying down. Do you remember the pig from the tv show Green Acres. His owners treated him like a son and his name was Arnold Ziffle. Well, since she was a girl I couldn't just name her Arnold Ziffle so I put the name Jessie in front of it and she was registered with the name Jessie Arnold Ziffle. My ex husband is half Italian and when Jessie was being bad we'd call her Arnie the Ziff - kinda like being part of the Sopranos family LOL. Anyway, after a few days I realized I was going to have to figure out how to train this deaf puppy and the only way I could so that was to experience the world as she saw it. I took a couple vacation days from work, put earplugs in my ears, earmuffs on and spent 3 days crawling around the house after her, looking up to see how she would see things. My husband said I was nuts (maybe that's why he's my ex) but I didn't really care. Once I had a better idea of her perceptions I knew I'd figure out a way to train her. Hearing dogs respond to praise and to the tones of your voice. Your voice can be a caress to a hearing dog. Jessie didn't have this ability so I made sure I touched her constantly. I took her everywhere with me and since she was small I could carry her like a baby. I wanted to make sure that she was socialized so well that she wouldn't have "startle reflexes" to surprises. I even took Jessie in stores with me and though I was actually a shy person when I got her I was amazed at how tough I could get if anyone gave me any hassle about having her with me. After awhile everyone knew not to mess with the white puppy's mama. When Jessie was about 10 weeks old I knew I had to figure out how to get her attention without being able to use my voice. Wellllll....you know those cool lazer pointers the kids all have...PERFECT! I would point the lazer at the floor and put a teeny treat where the light hit. To teach Jessie to walk up stairs I pointed the lazer at the stair and put a treat there. Jessie LOVED treats so she learned very quickly that where there was a spot of light..there was a treat. Eventually I started pointing the lazer at my stomach and putting a treat there so she began to focus on me. After a couple weeks of lazer light treats Jessie was responding immediately to the light so now it was time to teach her some commands. I took sign language in school so we started. I'd point the light at me and she would look at me, then I'd make the sign for sit and push her butt down a bit and as soon as she sat...TREAT TIME!! It only took a few hours the first day and Jessie knew sit by heart. My Jessie would learn anything for food.