DOG PROFILES

• Fleece

Fleece enjoys snuggling and being close with humans.

Fleece is a female pit bull that we found at Clackamas County Dog Control in 2000. Her only issue was her complete deafness, as is common with dogs that are all white. Due to the misconception that deaf dogs are more aggressive or more difficult to train, she was not being adopted and would likely be euthanized. We had never encountered a deaf dog before and were fascinated by her.

We worked with her several times at the shelter, exercising her out in the yard and even bringing our dogs there to meet her. She was incredibly affectionate and sweet, and loves meeting new people. At the time, we only had three dogs, and they were having aggression issues with each other. We agreed that adding a fourth dog to the group would even them out, and the particular dog who was feeling like the third wheel would have a companion dog to align with.

Fleece (far right) squeezes in for a better view. She bonded early on with our 3 non-pit bull dogs.

We brought this puppy home with us and added her to our family. The older three dogs all acted like Mommies to her, but they could tell that something was not right with Fleece regarding her hearing. However, there is nothing cuter than seeing the older three dogs barking at a squirrel in the yard, and seeing Fleece laying right next to them sleeping soundly, oblivious to their noisy barking.

We found two books written on training a deaf dog and started teaching her sign language. When you think about how much of dog training is in our voices (voice tones, volume, inflections, etc.), you realize how much you must adapt to a deaf dog. We taught Fleece to respond to various visual cues to get her attention, and now she knows about ten hand commands. In fact, some of the other dogs that watched us train her will now respond to the hand signals even though they can hear. Deaf dogs also learn to watch the other dogs that can hear, and copy what they are doing. The challenges with having a deaf dog are there, but able to be overcome with patience.

Despite being born deaf, Fleece responded to training and has learned 17 hand commands.

One difficulty we encountered was how to reprimand a deaf dog when she does something wrong. When left alone in the house, Fleece would take to chewing anything she could find. Fleece chewed through three coffee tables, many CDs, books, siding on our house, and was about to start on our piano before we began using an airline kennel for her when we were away.

When we would catch her chewing something of ours, we would often squirt her with a water gun to get her to stop. This is effective because we don’t actually touch her, so she doesn’t fear human hands or associate human touch with chastisement, and this works instantly from a distance. Unfortunately, now she associates being bad with getting squirted with water. This means that when it rains, she refuses to go outside because she thinks somebody is squirting her with thousands of water guns.

Fleece is really the reason Pawsitively Pit Bull was formed, as she was our first experience with the pit bull breed. After seeing her human facial expressions, appreciation of human companionship and affection, and attachment to us, we knew she was a special dog. After having Fleece for three years, we didn’t hesitate to get our second deaf dog, Drunken Noodle.

Fleece loves staying warm, especially in front of a roaring fire.

Fleece enjoys sunbathing (even though she shouldn’t with her white fur and sensitive skin), racing through the house at top speeds, and snuggling with her humans. Fleece traveled across the United States with us in 2001 when we drove to New York and back. Fleece is the dog that will actually tap you on the shoulder when you are in bed to get you to lift up the covers so she can go underneath them and snuggle up against you.

Fleece got her name from her soft white fur, which made us think of a fleece sweater, and “It’s Fleece was white as snow.” Fleece is also known as Fleecemas, Fat White Grub, Dogo, Dinosaur Jr., Dragon, and Tank.