"Focus" is a five month old tri-colour rough coat jack russell terrier puppy.  She was born deaf, however when I had her and her siblings meeting people for the first time, no one could ever guess which was the deaf puppy!  She is a dear little girl, and extraordinarily smart.  I have been fighting with myself, because a part of me would like to keep her, but I know she would be better off with more one-on-one attention, in a home as an "only child" or with an opposite-sex dog friend as a companion.

In an effort to give Focus the best chance possible for a wonderful life, I have been doing some work with her.  She has successfully passed Puppy Kindergarten in a class where no other dogs were deaf.  It has turned out to be easier than I had expected, as classes are typically based on hand signals and the body language of the handler.  She has amazed me with how quickly she has learned!  She knows several hand signals, and knows to sit in her crate and not "rush the door"  when it is opened.

The biggest challenge with a deaf dog seems to be to get their attention when they are not looking at you.  At night when she is out in the yard, (fenced, needless to say), I flick the lights on and off, and she will come running.  In order to have a sure way to get her attention , I have purchased a "vibration collar" - this gives a gentle vibration and I have begun working with her to make her understand to look at me when the vibration occurs.

Focus is an extremely agile little girl, and would do well in agility or flyball.  She responds very well to being taught new skills.  She can jump like a cat, and I actually found her on my kitchen counter one day.  I could not figure out how she got there, and assumed she had gone from a stool or chair to the counter.  The motivation for her was that I had left the lid off the jar of chicken breast treats, and her "sniffer" probably is, like other senses, compensating for the deafness .... and functioning VERY well!  Then yesterday I discovered how she got to the counter, and if I hadn't seen it myself I would not have believed it!  Without even taking a run at it - she was just seated below the counter and just went straight up and landed on the counter!  I gave her a correction, of course, but then I just HAD to get out my measuring tape ... 3 feet straight up!  OMG!!  Couldn't help but feel a bit proud of her, though of course I won't encourage the behavior!!

Focus sleeps in her crate at night, in my room.  I don't see her doing well being crated during the day for long periods, and I think the ideal situation for her would be one in which someone is home most of the time.  When I was at work during the winter, I left her and her mom loose together in a bedroom, and she did fine.  Now that the warm weather is here, I leave them outside in a large 36' X 24' chain link pen, with dog houses for shelter.  She loves the outdoors and exploring.

For any further information please feel free to email me at foxwillow@gmail.com