Deaf Dogs Hear With Their Hearts

It's been a long time since I wrote about Jessie. I guess it was because I was trying to tell you about Jessie's life detail by detail and that didn't really work. I think it's because the sum total of Jessie's life was so much greater than the parts so rather than talk to you about day to day details, I want to tell you about that amazing, unique, enchanted soul called Jessie Arnold Ziffle who was the better half of me for 9 3/4 years. From the beginning Jessie had a presence about her. Other people were drawn to her but I was always her special human. Jessie loved everyone and like many dogs she would jump up on adults and wiggle her nub to show her pleasure. The amazing thing though was that she always knew the difference between babies, children and adults. Never once did she jump on a child and when a toddler was learning to walk she would stay a safe distance behind and just follow and watch. She was even more careful with infants. My granddaughter was on her belly on the floor on a blanket before she could even walk and Jessie crouched down and crawled up to see her, face to face, ever so gently, ever so carefully.

The invisible fence

When Jessie was still too small to defend herself we put a large kennel outside so she could play while we were at work. When she got big enough to defend herself I decided to put in the invisible fence. As most people know the fence gives a warning sound to a hearing dog that lets them know they are near the electric charge. Jessie didn't have that advantage so I had to do a lot more training with her. Unfortunately the inevitable happened one day when she tried to follow me to the car. I didn't realize that the width of the charge area was so wide so once Jessie got zapped she kept throwing herself in and out of the area. I ran to her, grabbed her up and rocked her on the porch like a baby till she stopped crying. This experience was NOT forgotten by Jessie. Every day I would let her out and every day she would climb up the garage wall and spend her day perched on top of the garage looking like a white gargoyle. I can't tell you how many people asked me if I knew there was a dog on top of the roof. I'd just say "yep" and then they'd ask how she got down and I told them, "the same way she got up there....she climbs. As I began to have to work more hours Jessie developed an "interesting" habit. She began to swallow underwear, not chew them up, but actually swallow them whole. To gain more variety Jessie began to swallow socks, washclothes and once I found her downing a pair of boxer shorts. My vet bills that year were putting me in the poor house and Jessie was really increasing her swallowing clothes addiction. In desperation I found another white boxer pup and brought him into our home. His name was Mister Lucky. This accomplished my goal but Mister Lucky was so destructive it took it's toll on me. Since this blog isn't about Mister Lucky the only thing I can tell you is that his name was appropriate because if anyone else had owned him they'd have killed him for some of the stuff he did. As my marriage began to fall apart Jessie was the only living thing in my house that was glad to see me when I got home from work.

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.

Jessie Arnold Ziffle 2000-2009

For so long, while I had Jessie with me, I had a story in my head that grew and grew and after she died I began to write it. I stopped for a long time and during that time I realized that the reality of Jessie's life was so much more than the book I'd had in my head. It's been over a year now since Jessie died and the grief has not left me. It hasn't really even lessened....I've just learned to hide it better. For over year there has been no day I haven't awakened to the thought of her and gone to sleep praying I would dream of her so I could be with her once again. I have had many other dogs in my life and numerous other animals too - goats, ducks, mice, gerbils, horses & cats. I have love many of them very much but the bond between Jessie and me was so much deeper than any other. People say to me, "It's like you've lost a child". The fact is, the bond was completely different. When I lost Jessie...I lost the better part of me. Our story began before Jessie was born. I'd lost my dog and best friend of 12 years in December of 1999. I swore I'd never get another dog but coming home everyday and not hearing the sound of dog tags jingling began to get to me. I finally decided to get another dog and I wanted a boxer so I began to research them on the internet. It was then that I learned there were actually white boxers. During the research I also learned that white boxers have an increased chance of being deaf but I really didn't care. I finally found a breeder in Lancaster PA who had a female white boxer for sale so I sent a small deposit to hold her till she was 8 weeks old. When she was 7 weeks old I received a call from the breeder telling me he wasn't going to sell her and would send my money back. When I asked why, he told me she was completely deaf, a fact he didn't know when she was first born. I told him I didn't care and wanted her anyway and he said "I was hoping you would say that, I will give you to her free." On March 13th of 2000 I drove with my husband to Lancaster to pick up my new puppy. I do have to say that everyone, especially my husband, was against me getting her. They all said that because she was deaf she would be more aggressive and have more of a startle reflex if you woke her up. I just told everyone flatly that she would NOT! My first introduction to her was watching an 8 pound ball of energy try like crazy to outrun us all.