Scooter the deaf dog
Deaf
Scooter came to us along with blind Sugar on the same trip from the Hayward, California shelter. Shelter
volunteers drove them to Spokane, and one of our volunteers
met them there and brought the two dogs back to Montana.
While Sugar fit right in with her quiet, easy-going demeanor, young Scooter needed some training from Miss Manners on acceptable doggie social skills. She got it at Camp Rolling Dog, where the other residents have been schooling her in the art of behaving well.
Scooter is a sweet thing but plays a little too rough with her elders. She's not aggressive at all, but likes to jump on them, which of course they do not like. Being deaf, of course, does not help, because she can't hear all the vocal social cues the other dogs are giving her...the warning growls to back off, get out of my space, etc.
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So when Scooter goes too far and one of the other dogs rolls her, she's immediately submissive. But when the other dog lets her up and moves away, she springs back into action, as if the other dog was playing a game. <Sigh> It reminds us of the country western song, “Which part of ‘no' don't you understand?”
Scooter is learning, though, and through it all we can see she is a wonderful and sweet young thing. She is very sensitive and attentive, and one of our volunteers managed to teach her the ‘sit' command with hand signals in just a couple of hours.
Scooter absolutely loves people, and squirms with delight when petted. In fact, she just kind of melts at your feet.
