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We are looking for anyone who can help this dog. Read his story.
The White Dog
By Spirit Seabre
Not only do I take in stray pets and rescue any and all animals, but I usually find myself with the difficult ones that nobody else will want! Among others i took in a "bite case" pit bull, a 90 lb pit bull who had been living in the shelter for 9 months, baby squirrels, rabbits, cats, meat goats, etc. I even had a baby veal calf living in my HOUSE after I rescued him from slaughter last winter ( I wasnt expecting that he needed to live in heat and not a barn). In the end a life is saved and that is all that matters.
This leads me to "The White Dog". This baby was dropped off at a Louisiana shelter as a little puppy. His breed, which is a Catahoula Leapord Dog, is notorious for having puppies come out deaf. These puppies are often put down because the owners/breeders do not want to deal with a deaf dog. Luckily The White Dog made it to the shelter. The shelter realized that not only was he deaf but he also had parvo, a disease that almost always proves fatal in puppies. The shelter fought for him and got him treatment. He was on the road to recovery... but still behind bars. A short time later a couple came and he was adopted. They promised to keep him in the house and love him as they did their Golden Retriever. Instead, they left this timid, deaf dog with no socialization tied up outside. He did not work out as a guard dog and he was once again brought to the shelter. He was now coming on two years old and about 80 pounds. Everyone knew that as he grew older his chances for adoption were becoming less. It wasn't long before the shelter realized that he had been returned with heartworm. The couple who had him tied outside did not give him his prevention pills. This poor deaf dog now had to go through painful heartworm treatment. He did not ask for this life or for people to not do right by him. Luckily the wonderful people of the shelter were there for him the whole time. They gave him all of the treatments needed and kept hoping that he would get a forever home.
When a friend of mine who volunteers for the shelter told me this story, I decided that I need to take this dog out of the shelter and give him a chance at a normal life. I do not keep the animals that I take in because then there would never be room to save more. I knew he would have better chances of being adopted if he was living in a home and was trained. I did lots of research on how to train a deaf dog and I was ready for the challenege.
The White Dog took the long trip from Louisianna to Long Island NY. I was given the instructions that he had to stay very calm for a few weeks because the dead heartworms could be released if he ran and that could be deadly. This dog couldnt handle any more problems or stress! It wasnt long before I realized that he was covered in fleas! His white coat made it easy to see the hundreds of fleas all over his body. I treated him (and my house) but they had already done their damage. As I cleaned up the stool in the yard I saw live worms! Day two and already a trip to the vet and more medication to cure the worms that the fleas had caused!
I noticed right away that his deafness made him very unaware of things. In the house he would cower in a corner. He didnt know what a house was! He would look around strangly at the ceiling and lights and bark nonstop. This was strange and it was certainly proving to be more difficult than I expected to get this dog's attention. After a few days of working with him, I threw a ball to him and it just hit him in the face. He didnt even attempt to move or catch it. Very odd I thought. Throughout the next few days I came to the conclusion that his slinking around and strange reaction could mean only one thing. Not only was he deaf, he was blind too!
We did a few tests at home and then took him to a well known opthamologist. He did tests and let me know that The White Dog was indeed blind. He was born with catactacts over his eyes. I was told that he could however see some light and shadows out of one eye. This explained his barking at the ceiling lights. I now drove away with thoughts running through my mind. How would I ever find a home for this dog? Or how could I ever keep him? How would he ever be trained? How did I not realize this earlier?
I hired a trainer for $250 per session to work with him. He used a shock collar and my family and I agreed that we were not comfortable with this. We would just figure out how to train him on our own. Luckily he fit right into the pack of the other dogs at the house and it turned out that they did most of his training. He would follow them around into the backyard so he knew where to go. He was very cautious and did not run. His nose is amazing though. You can see him smell his way around. As time went on he stopped barking at the lights. We needed to just be patient and realize how hard it was for him. He is used to the house for the most part but still occationally hits into an open draw or something that is arranged different than usual. In the dark he does run into trees, garbage cans, etc. We attempted to adopt him out but had no luck at all.
It was very traumatic for him and we couldnt put him through any more stress. We werent expecting to have a huge, deaf blind dog forever but sometimes they just pick you. He is now over 100lbs and we often joke that the blind/deaf dog is the best watchdog. If he smells a stranger they better watch out! He has a big bark and is not afraid to use it. The White Dog did however welcome our farm animals in with open paws. He would sleep with the sick, cold calf and baby goat while they recovered in our home. The parvo, year of shelter, heartworms, fleas, worms and bad experiences are all behind him. He is a true fighter. He will be deaf forever but the vet has told us of an operation to give him vision. We would love to give the gift of vision to this young dog who has been through so much. He has a whole life ahead of him and it's just heartbreaking that he cannot run and play like a normal dog. We wish that we can afford to help him but it's not something that we knowingly signed up for and we just dont hav the money. We are doing our best to give him the happiest, safest home we can.
(Above- The White Dog, Spirit Seabre, Baylee the veal calf
(Above- The White Dog with baby goat Happy who is in a sweater)
If anyone has it in their heart to give vision to this dog please contact me. I can give you more information about the process and of course would send you updates once he has vision and can play and interact like a normal dog. If you would like a video of before and after he can see or of the time that they reveal his new eyes you will get that.
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Last updated 1-11-12
(Above and Below - The White Dog with Spirit Seabre)
(Above- The White Dog and Baylee napping)