MARLEE'S 

STORY

Marlee is a German Shepherd Dog (GSD)/Beagle mix. 

We do not know about her infancy, but we can make some educated guesses.

She was probably born deaf, but she might have become deaf by an accident in early infancy. Being deaf, Marlee was probably shunned by her mother and siblings as weak and did not get proper nutrition.

Her original "owners" may not have known she was deaf and just thought she was disobedient or unintelligent from a lack of response.
Whatever the case, at some point Marlee made it out into the open, either she got out or was set out.

Marlee was found and brought to a shelter, the Humane Animal Welfare Society (HAWS) in Waukesha.
It did not take HAWS long to determine Marlee was deaf. They took great care of her, knowing she was special. A very special worker there, Gina, fostered Marlee and made sure she was okay. It was Gina who named Marlee, after the deaf actress who won an Oscar for her role in the movie Children of A Lesser God.

Marlee found us one day when we were out looking for a dogs at all the local shelters. After poor luck at three other shelters we made our way to HAWS.
Though HAWS is 30 miles from our home, we continued there after the other shelters as we really wanted to rescue a dog.
We had the best experience at HAWS and really liked its facilities and people, but we only saw one dog we liked. When we asked about the dog we were told it was not available for adoption as it had been returned numerous times. While talking about that dog, Robin saw a dog behind the counter that was really cute.
Gina was helping us out and she told us that the dog was available for adoption, but it had special needs. When we asked what the needs were, Gina told us she was deaf.
Robin and I were not phased by the news, in fact our interest was piqued even more. We asked what that meant as far as adopting and raising her. Luckily it was Gina who had fostered her and knew about her so she could tell us a little about her experiences.

HAWS also had a behavior specialist who was able to tell us about raising a deaf dog.
After hearing all the requirements we decided to adopt this special dog we were still interested.

Read on for more information on Marlee and her other special needs.

Meet Marlee

 
Marlee Hiding

Marlee & her brother Griffin

Marlee Sleeping