One Day At A Time...: February 2007

Lately I've been going through the adoption application process and I just found out today that I've been approved. On Monday, February 26th I will be picking up my new daughter, Lilly, from Knoxville. Lilly is 15 months old, has beautiful blue eyes, weighs 35 pounds, has four legs, a tail, and loves to play with her tennis ball. And you thought I was talking about a human child... gotcha! Lilly is an Australian Shepherd rescue special needs dog. She had a rough start in life and is very timid & shy. She is also deaf. Her foster mom assures me that her sight is just fine and she is quickly learning sign language. I had a deaf Australian Shepherd in high school and fell madly in love with his intelligent & perpetually happy personality. I have wanted another deaf Aussie for years. I decided upon a girl due to thinking Rocco would handle a female better than a male. I was willing to adopt an older dog and, in fact, thought that would work out best as Rocco is a senior citizen and not up to dealing with puppies anymore. However, Lilly was the only deaf female Aussie up for adoption in the entire state of Tennessee. I have been told she gets along well with other dogs and is not too rambunctious around the senior dogs.

** Update: Lilly has been home a week now and gets along famously with big brother Rocco. The ride from Knoxville back to Nashville was traumatic. She wouldn't get into the car due to fear and then peed all over herself when I picked her up to put her in. She spent the entire drive curled up in a ball on the seat, trembling and refusing to look at me... until I bribed her with french fries. That only lasted as long as the fries were around. Getting her out of the car once we were home was no less traumatic. She hid under my bed until she discovered that Rocco was friendly & then proceeded to stick to him like super glue. She does have significant vision problems in her left eye and her mouth and teeth are unusually small with some missing that just never grew in. Her foster mom grossly exaggerated her communication abilities as well as her ability to walk on a leash. She is terrified of both a collar and a leash and rolls over on her back screaming while she pees all over herself anytime she is approached with either. Her understanding of sign language is limited to "come" "no" and "good" - and she isn't very consistent with those. Right now she will snuggle with me when watching TV at night, but otherwise she either ignores me or is terrified of me. She copies Rocco in everything he does and I am hoping that she will eventually trust me because of him as well as learn sign language by watching him (I have signed to him since he was a puppy). It is obvious she was severely abused prior to being rescued and it will take an abundance of patience and love to help her reach her full potential. All of that said, she is an absolute sweetheart and is already making an excellent companion for Rocco. She is gentle with him, is always very happy to just be in his presence, and her companionship has taken years off of him. It is wonderful to see him young again.
Below are a few pictures of her getting settled into her new home.