Deaf Woman Adopts Deaf Dog Who Knows Sign Language

KTLA 5 via Yahoo! News ^ | May 11, 2014

[Salamander]

Dogs can be Godsends.

I’ve often mentioned Minny my first rescue Ibizan and how she saved my life when the wood stove backed up and filed the house with smoke.

A near-fatal accident at age 20 left me with impaired hearing and no sense of smell so smoke detectors and such were useless.

According to doctors who checked out the lung damage from smoke when I got pneumonia shortly after, it’s very possible I was unconscious and ‘on my way out’ when she started barking in my face while repeatedly jumping on my chest.

If not for her, I and my other dogs would all have died that night.

[AnAmericanMother]

This seems part and parcel with the "deaf advocate" mindset (which has taken over Gallaudet, which used to educate its students to "mainstream" as much as possible.) While it's all very well not to be ashamed of a disability, to refuse to engage with the larger world and insist on your own little world where everybody is deaf is not only illogical but harmful.

My great-grandmother was totally deaf, but she was trained in lip-reading and she got along perfectly well in the hearing world - so long as she could see your face she was good to go. She was a nurse, but many people did not even notice that she could not hear a thing.

[Starstruck]

Poor thing won’t even be able to hear the shot of the cop’s gun.

[RegulatorCountry]

Hard to get a photo of him doing that, if I look down at him he rolls over for a belly scratch. Here's one from this morning's throwing session out in the yard.

Sorry it's sideways, I'm not as adept at posting images from a phone.

[goodnesswins]

Our doggie is nearly deaf...she knows hand signals though (she is very smart)

[Jeff Chandler]

They make remote collars that buzz, kinda like a cell phone vibrating.

That would probably give her a heart attack. I just gently touch her jowl with my toe until she wakes up. If I do more than that, she bolts up in a panic, thinking she is being run over by a walker.

.

You’re certainly in a foul mood.

What makes you say that?

[Salamander]

He’s beautiful.

:)

I couldn’t even start to guess what he is, though.

[Salamander]

Ah, I see.
Guess it’s hard to fault her for that.

You just seemed cranky, is all.

Hopefully I am mistaken.

[Salamander]

[basil]

Dogs certainly ARE man’s best friend.

I’m so glad you had Minny near when you had an emergency!

[RegulatorCountry]

He has a very strong retrieval drive so there’s definitely Lab in there, he’s obsessed with throwing out in the yard, at least twice a day, morning and evening. His two rear paws are tipped with white and he has a large white “star” on his chest. His eyes are amber. He has very muscular haunches and is almost spring-loaded as far as jumping, he’d make a great frisbee dog and I’m going to see about that this summer. He does herd, and has that intense stare creeping up sort of crouched when he really wants something, a toy or whatever, so there’s Border Collie too, I’ve seen that many times in full bred ones. He likes to collect stuff into a nest in his bed, frustrating. Things that smell like me, can’t leave shoes or dirty clothes within reach. That and shiny objects like a pack rat. He’s a different one, and I’ve had many dogs.

[Salamander]

Thanks for sharing him with me.

He makes me smile.

:)

[verga]

Why would you say that? The dog is getting a good home with people that will love and care for it.

[Salamander]

That wasn’t her first time saving my life.

I got her *literally* 5 minutes before the shelter closed, on the day she was scheduled to die.

I think somehow she knew that and spent her life repaying the favor.

She was a very special girl.

[Silentgypsy]

Me, too.

[afraidfortherepublic]

My 15 year old (late) Golden Retriever went deaf gradually and taught herself sign language. We didn’t even notice that she couldn’t hear us — my neighbor pointed it out to me. But, she responded to hand signals, and we all got along fine until she died.