Jennifer Laus
Board Member, Michigan, USA
I've had dogs and cats (among other critters) all my life. The first few years that I was married, we couldn't have pets where we were living. I dearly wanted a dog though, so as soon as we had a house of our own, my husband (Mark) asked when we were getting one. Gwydion (Australian Shepherd) came from ARPH in 1997. We didn't have a computer then, so the application process took longer than it does now. Once approved, the rep told us about the dogs she thought would be good matches. The first 2 dogs that she talked about sounded nice, but when she described Gwydion (known as "Jake" at that time), he sounded perfect. Then she said that he was deaf, and explained a bit of what that involved. I got off the phone and told my daughter (Jessica, who will be 21 later this year), and she thought he sounded wonderful. I told my husband when he got home from work, and he said "Well, the cats don't listen to us anyway." We did a bit more research and decided that he was the dog we wanted. He's perfect.
I've been a member of the deafdogs list continuously since May of 1999 (other than a sabbatical of a few months just after my daughter graduated from high school). We had been thinking about getting a second dog and decided on a younger deaf female Aussie. With some help from the list members, we found Gwen, who flew from Montana to Michigan to live with us in August of 1999. Gwen is the complete opposite of Gwydion (she's the energizer bunny vs. his much sought after "couch potato" variety of Aussie), but they have always gotten on well in spite of that. She's our wonderful weirdo, who we wouldn't trade for anything.
Both of my dogs have their CGC (although Gwen got hers before she became "weird" and would have trouble if she were to take the test again now). Gwydion and I tried for a U-CD for a long while, but never got more than one leg (good score on that one, but no matter). Gwen knows how a Flyball run goes, but our team hasn't ever been able to get our act together enough to actually go to a tournament. I keep saying "With the next dog ... " but I think we all know that the next dog will have his own set of challenges (and yes, it will be a "he" because Gwen has told me so in no uncertain terms).
We have no hearing dogs in our home (my dogs do not miss anything by not having anyone to "be their ears"), but we do have 3 cats: elderly siblings Claudius (orange and white shorthair) and Melissa (tortoiseshell shorthair), and the young brat Salem (longhaired solid black - who really should have been named something else). We don't have any other pets right now. I currently volunteer with the local Aussie rescue, and mostly do home visits and fund raising/education. I've tried fostering (didn't work out well for multiple reasons), but still hope to be able to try it again in the future.
I've learned a lot from living with my two "kids," and not just about dogs. The first thing was an interest in dog training. It started as a simple realization that "praise" is far from effective with a deaf dog. I started reading dog training books and "trying stuff." I found a good trainer, learned about clicker training, and have never looked back. I've worked with many skilled trainers, assisted in classes, and attended very informative seminars. The second thing was a curiosity about the "why" of deafness in dogs, which led to an interest in genetics. There's an awful lot to learn there (and a lot of disagreement among the experts), but it's a fascinating subject. Last, but not least, I started learning about web design. I began with simple html pages about my dogs, but have progressed to much more advanced coding. I like doing it because making a website look the way you want, and do what you want, is like trying to solve a very complicated puzzle. I enjoy the challenge!
