FEBRUARY PET CORNER

On January 20th the Animal Control department held the first annual vaccination clinic, this Clinic gave residents the opportunity to license their pets for the year.  The event was well attended and it was nice to see so many citizens, care enough to license their pets.  Guests that day were fun to visit with and it was interesting to talk with Jeff and Sandy McMaines about offering dog obedience classes.  I shared with Jeff my many experiences with dog obedience.

I believe that working with Lacey my deaf Dalmatian was probably my most challenging obedience dog.  Lacey came into our home through the Animal Control Department as a stray.  A resident had brought her into town as the breeders were going to shoot this sweet 5-month-old pup.  As with a lot of Dalmatian?s she was deaf and therefore deemed worthless.  The resident thought that she would have no problem finding a home for this cute spotted puppy, but she found that when she told them that the puppy was deaf people did not want a dog with such a disability.  Hence the phone call to me!  I was a little apprehensive at first to even look at the puppy with my animal history.  But after only a few seconds of visiting with this sweet 5 month old puppy I was hooked and swore that I would do my best to find a good home for her.

Five years later and lacey still lives in the Lapos household, and reflecting back on our first trip to dog obedience was a challenge.  Even the simple task of getting Lacey to sit was a challenge.

Sign language not too different from people sign language was decided to be the best avenue to follow. But as most deaf people do not have to heel, Sit or stay we had to be a little ingenious.  I remember when all the dogs were going through the "lay down" part of training and all the other dogs were listening and obeying their owners commands to lay down Lacey gave me this blank stare, clueless as to the task in front of us.  I tried everything! Pulling her leash down made her react as though I was punishing her. What to do next?  After 30 minutes of trying everything I could think of in frustration I thru my hands up in the air and fell to the floor, then a cold nose nudged me on the head and to my surprise there was lacey laying on the ground nose to nose to me. So the sign for lay down then became a flat hand with the motion to the floor and success it worked!

The first time we didn't make it through obedience but knowing what to expect the second time around we made it through obedience with flying colors.  Lacey now has over 40 signs we use from "No? to "got to sleep"

Jeff and Sandy are going to offer some advanced classes such as Agility and Fly ball, Lacey and I are excited and hoping we are up to the new challenge ahead of us, but..

If you are interested in an obedience class in Barnesville contact Julie or myself.