Foster-turned-forever mom Patty shares her story of when she first met a sweet deaf cocker spaniel named Chloe who stole her heart.
“I was at at Muttville one day two years ago as a backup walker when Sherri said, ‘can you take this dog home to foster?’
My last Muttville canine visitor had just gone to his forever home so I said ‘sure!’
I had walked Chloe, a deaf black cocker spaniel around Muttville HQ’s neighborhood before and remembered that she was good on the leash. Onto her temporary home we went where I introduced her to my permanent Muttville guy, Frankie. He digs the chicks and he was glad to meet her.
Chloe…I learned early on that touching a sleeping dog who can’t hear is startling, so I blew on her, that worked.
She wakes up gently and she wakes up often as this deaf dog tends to close her eyes more than a dog whose senses are engaged.
Her vet said she could hear at some point but those chronic cocker ear infections had taken that ability away.
For Muttville’s website, I was sure to take good photos of Chloe as I had heard about ‘black dog prejudice’ and I know how important a good photo is in the ‘aww’ factor of a would-be adopter coming forward. I was sure that you could see her deep soulful eyes and her shiny black coat.
One inquiry, that was all that came in, and it was from a person who had a female black cocker in the recent past.
A couple of months into my relationship with Chloe, I noticed she had some raw pink spots above some toe nails. We made an appointment at SFVS to see the doggie dermatologist, then the doggie oncologist and together they determined lymphoma was the cause of this condition. Six rounds of chemo ensued and she got through it easily.
The sores healed, her blood work looked good and by gosh, we were in love.
The interested party didn’t want a dog who had cancer or was in remission, I get it.
I often wonder where Chloe came from and why someone gave her up.
Her face is so attentive, goofy, smiley, appreciative, and sweet.
Muttville has rescued 1,150 worthy dogs, Chloe was almost 600 dogs ago.
Cocker Spaniels, I count myself as a Cocker person now…we talk at dog parks.
11/16/11
Are you the proud parent of a Muttville dog? Send us your story! Include three of your favorite photos and send it to success_stories@muttville.org with the subject line 'Success Story'.
