Very interesting story. My brother and sister-in-law who at the moment live in
Virginia have a totally blind rescue dog, not that he does anything special. He
was abused before they got him, probably as he was in competitive dog fights as
a young dog. That's probably how he lost his vision. He's a labradorretriever,
and if he runs into you, it feels kind of like being hit with a tank.
Linda G.
-----Original Message-----
From: ourplace-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ourplace-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of cmohney1961@xxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 6:41 PM
To: ourplace@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ourplace] Re: Deaf N.S. dog once thought to be untrainable wins
champion agility title
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On Jul 12, 2016, at 7:46 PM, Gaston Bedard <gasbedard@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:score.
Deaf N.S. dog once thought to be untrainable wins champion agility
title
She was born deaf, and surrendered to the Nova Scotia SPCA as "untrainable."
the chronicle herald.ca, nova scotia
But Seven, a suspected border collie who was rescued as a
three-month-old puppy, recently received the Agility Trial Champion of
Canada title, completing a seven-year climb through the ranks of
canine athleticism with the rescuer who became trainer and teammate.
"It was a huge sense of relief because we'd been trying so hard for so
long.I felt the window was closing," said dog trainer and agility
coach Adina MacRae. "We needed to prove that deaf dogs can do it,
because that's why she was surrendered - she was 'too deaf to train."'
MacRae said she adopted Seven to show the world that deaf dogs can do
whatever hearing dogs can. The now nine-year-old isn't the first deaf
dog to achieve the title, but MacRae said she believes she's the only
Nova Scotian pup to ever do so.
Agility is a dog sport in which a handler directs their canine through
an obstacle course, aiming for both speed and accuracy. The dogs must
navigate jumps, a teeter-totter, weave poles and tunnels - normally
following a human partner's hand signals and verbal cues.
The Agility Trial Champion - known as the ATChC - is obtained only
after achieving every other title at the starter, advanced and masters
level of competitive agility. Fittingly, MacRae and Seven clinched
their title exactly seven years and a day after their first-ever qualifying
noises."
It's been seven years of relatively peaceful competition, as crowds at
agility competitions tend to fall strangely silent whenever Seven
steps in the ring.
"For some reason everyone goes quiet when they're watching her compete,"
said MacRae with a laugh. "We can't figure out why that is, because
she's going to be the least distracted dog on the course when it comes to
process,"
During a recent interview at Nova Dogsport in Harrietsfield, N.S.,
just outside Halifax, MacRae said she trained Seven by figuring out
what motivated the medium-sized, grey and white pup with piercing blue
eyes - and it was food.
She said instead of speaking to the dog, she uses hand signals such as
a thumbs up to indicate a job well done.
"I knew that she was starting to understand the thumbs up hand signal
when she started licking her lips in anticipation of the treat," said
MacRae as a restless Seven waited at her side, pink tongue lolling
from a grinning mouth, eyes darting watchfully around the gym.
MacRae said using hand signals is actually a much more natural way to
communicate with dogs because canines rely heavily on body language to
communicate with each other, making the training less of a challenge
than might be expected.
"So because she's never had to conform to my human way of speaking,
I've had to conform to her way of communicating and it's been a fairly easy
said MacRae, an agility coach and dog trainer with Sublime Canine.not include quotation marks:
"Once I taught her the obstacles like I would teach any dog the
obstacles using whatever motivates them, it's just a matter of
pointing her in the right direction and teaching her the different
hand signals to guide her around the course."
In fact, Seven's biggest challenge has not been her inability to hear.
MacRae said she used to be afraid of things like shadows and ceiling fans.
She's also very friendly - sometimes too friendly, she said.
"That was another one of our challenges. She would often go visit the
judge or visit the ring crew and of course with a deaf dog you can't
call them back. You have to wait for them to turn around and make eye
contact," said MacRae, who owns 11 dogs including a papillon, a
borzoi, a chihuahua and a few mixed-breeds.
Now that Seven - so named because she was the seventh dog added to
MacRae and her partner's pack - has achieved her championship title,
MacRae says she'll likely retire. But she hopes Seven's long and
decorated career inspires people to adopt a rescue dog.
"I find that a lot of people can be skeptical about getting a rescue
dog to compete with. But give the rescues a chance. They can be great
companions as well as great dog sport performance dogs," said MacRae,
adding that Seven has also worked as a therapy dog.
"If the opportunity comes along, give a deaf dog a chance. They have
great personalities and they can be trained just as easily if not more
easily than the hearing dogs because there's fewer distractions for
them. They can be great family pets."
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1379689-deaf-n.s.-dog-once-tho
ught-t o-be-untrainable-wins-champion-agility-title
<http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1379689-deaf-n.s.-dog-once-th
ought-
to-be-untrainable-wins-champion-agility-title>
Deaf N.S. dog once thought to be untrainable wins champion agility
title
<http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1379689-deaf-n.s.-dog-once-th
ought-
to-be-untrainable-wins-champion-agility-title>
thechronicleherald.ca
She was born deaf, and surrendered to the Nova Scotia SPCA as "untrainable."
end of story.
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