Before it began:

As with most rescued animals, we will never know how this guy spent his first year and a half.  We do know, a rescuer of dachshunds remembered seeing a post in craigslist, and it sounded a lot like the puppy that had been picked up by the SPCA.  That same puppy was now looking for a rescue group that would give him a chance.  The Houston SPCA have an incredible amount of animals picked up yearly.  As we know in this country, last year, over five million dogs were euthanized because the shelters do not have the funds or room to keep them past a certain time.  In the case of a special needs dog, like this puppy, he would run out of time quickly.  If it was not for rescue groups, that operate on a volunteer basis only, that number would be doubled.  There were no rescue groups in Houston that could take another puppy.  So they sent out a state wide alert trying to save this little puppy which could not hear, not did he have eyes.

The original group in Houston had actually done research, based on the information that this looked like a dog that had been listed on CL.  The person that had originated the ad was contacted.  She said that they did not want the dog back.  She had no bond with him, that he was kept in the back yard.  This told me that the dog had been denied the one thing that every living thing needs.  A bond with someone or something.  Why or how they got the dog was never discussed.  The original owner did not want to continue the call.  If he escaped from his prison of a back yard or did they indeed just dump him, we will never know that either.  We do know that he came into a world that did not accept him.   A dog with his looks and his impairments most likely came from the breeding of two dapple dogs. A dapple or a merle is a pattern on an animal which is spotted, but the color is diluted as it goes out to the edge of the pattern.   Because that two dapples are bred, it is called a double dapple.

When you breed two of either of these color patterns together, you risk these kinds of impairments.  The Australian Shepherd, a brilliant dog, has created the name Lethal Whites to describe the off spring from a double merle breeding that is either deaf or blind or both.  I am not sure what all of the breeds are that are affected by this, but Great Danes,  Shelties, Red/Blue Heelers and many other breeds are commonly found in today's shelters and rescues.  The Dalmatian have been showing up with these impairments for years.  When you try to get a white boxer by breeding two white dogs, problem.  Pitbulls and several other breeds have the same problem.   Some of these are just accidents from ignorance.  Someone have two dapples and they breed them not knowing the risk.  Some, probably most, are simply trying to get a more beautiful or colorful dog.  These are breeders that the risk can be a bigger fee for  the offspring that turned out as planned and they simply dispose of the puppies that can't sell.  Smaller litter, less trouble, more money for the puppies they do sell.  Disposing of the puppies is the cost of doing business.  Just a dirty little secret that is coming into daylight more and more now.

 

Drake and thousands of other dogs like him are now finding their way into rescues and homes across America.  I tried to research the training and get information about these dogs, but found very little online.  I did find a few things, they weren't practical or there wasn't enough information to really let me know what to do with a puppy.  Who would foster such a dog?  How would you communicate with it?  Could he live in a house or was that why the original owner kept Drake in the back yard.  I had owned dogs, or they owned me, for years.  I had also been a dog sitter in your home for elderly or special needs dogs since the early 90's. I began fostering dogs during the same time period, all breeds and types of dogs.  I had fostered several deaf dogs, that is what started me on this journey.  I found deaf dogs so easy to train and to bond with.  They kept you in sight all of the time.  Just waiting for you to communicate with them.  I had learned some sign language and used it as a basic tool.  I had owned dogs, and dog sat for dogs, that had gone blind/deaf during their declining years.  I knew some adjusted easier than others, but they all adjusted and seemingly lived happy lives in that state. A dog that had never lived a normal life with sight/hearing or had a trusted companion, is very different.  That curiosity led me to look in Petfinders for dogs with special needs.  That is where I first saw Drake and found out there was a local program that used inmates to train dogs.  I wanted to support such a program, so I made the contacts.