Berezi (RIP Jan 2008 - Feb 2016
Born deaf, blind in one eye and tunnel vision in the other.
She came to us aged 14 weeks
We use sign language and she even has her Kennel Club Bronze Good Citizen Award
The examination for the award was held in a ring at a local dog show and we found that we gathered quite a crowd watching me sign to her. The stay and re-call required all the dogs to stay in a line off-lead for one minute while the handler waits five paces away and then we had to move ten paces away and recall the dogs.
Berezi never took her eyes off me the whole time and when it came to the recall all I had to do was give her the come sign and she made a bee-line for me and sat in the perfect present pose with her nose laid on my thighs and gazed up at me.
Everyone else was shouting encouragements and to be fair most dogs returned to handlers but some opportunists had made a bid for freedom long before the end of the stay exercise.
I was (and still am) so proud of her.
Berezi has turned out to be a little star
I work with adults that have learning and communication difficulties and as she responds to sign-language these people can communicate with her on their level which is something that they cannot do with hearing dogs.
Scotland
Our little water-baby is over-the-moon at our new location. Most days, unless the tide is too enthusiastic she gets to run, paddle, splash and swim on the beach. Unfortunately she has wanted everyone else to join in the 'fun' but no one could keep up with her or wanted to go out quite so far in the waves ... until we got Ali. They are now partners in crime, match for match in speed and agility and both totally water nut-cases :)
SAD Update ...
February 2016 (RIP)
Over the past couple of years the little vision she did have started to fade until she was not only deaf but also blind. Whilst a lot of dogs cope with this extremely well this was not the case for Berezi.
The lack of sight worried her and she became a fearful dog that jumped at everything. Ali took did her best and provided a much needed lifeline but eventually it was abundantly clear that life was no longer fun for her.
Quality of Life ... always the key in our book and so, with a very heavy heart we decided to let her go.
Copyright © 2007 L Montgomery (All Rights Reserved)