Dogs and disabilities

Rocky

Stryker

It's been several years since I had Rocky.  He had horrific ear infections and ultimately spent a couple weeks at Virginia Tech having both ear canals entirely removed.  He was completely deaf, of course, but was, and is, one of the sweetest dogs I've ever known.  He was adopted by a former VGSR volunteer who was living in godforsaken Utah at the time.  She drove out here and adopted Rocky and took him home.  He later went into therapy work and they have since moved to Texas.  (There are many blog entries about Rocky, starting July 6, 2009, and continuing well into 2010.) 

 

The adopter later adopted another deaf dog and now she's looking for a third.  The current object of her desire is this boy, Stryker, being fostered by another friend of mine through Green Dogs Unleashed.


Because she's in Texas and hasn't actually met Stryker, I offered to go over and meet him just to take some pics and get another person's take on the dog.  These pics and this post are mostly for her, as a way of showing her the pics I took when I visited last week.  The dog is sweet, friendly, solid temperament, and she didn't really need me to tell her that.  He's deaf and vision impaired but not blind.  He's friendly, outgoing, and gives a nice hug although they are trying to discourage that particular behavior because it's not really desirable for therapy dogs.   He's good with other dogs, good with children, soft mouth and very gentle.  There's just really nothing not to like about him.  Her other deaf dog is also young and playful, so the two of them should make a good pair and will give the old man Rocky a break. 

I don't take in dogs from across the country, but I'm glad that some people do.  Rocky certainly landed in the best possible home because of it, and a number of other dogs with disabilities have benefited as a result. 

This was Buck (Robin) the day I picked him up
from my doggy dealer.  He's now clean, brushed,
and beautiful, soft and silky, but this is the way
I remember him.

And speaking of dogs and disabilities, today's local news had a story about Service Dogs of Virginia.  You may remember that they took in one of my foster dogs, Buck, and have placed him as an Autism Service Dog.  Buck, now named Robin, was ideally suited for that line of work because he's "bomb proof."  Nothing spooks him.  Here's the story from NBC29.com.  Aside from what Robin has done for that particular child, the child's mother is a therapist and uses Robin in her work with other children as well.  Robin is a true angel.  While I'm not keen on using dogs for police and military uses, this is one type of working dog program that I'm happy to support.