This is Lily, the precious pitbull mix looking up at the camera, sweet, gentle eyes staring right at you, with her adorable, floppy deaf ears high in the air. Yep, you read that right. Lily is deaf.
Lily came into my life three weeks ago, after she was dumped in the country, not far from my house, by a family who no longer wanted her. They were having a baby, you see, and simply couldn't manage a special needs dog and a baby at the same time. How could I possibly know this, you ask? Let's just say it's a phenomenally stupid idea to list your dog on a Facebook rehoming page and then dump her.
Lily was stopped in the road, confused and scared, and after the car in front of me simply drove off after she moved, I stopped my car and got out to check on her. She was terrified, as her body language clearly indicated, and I was nervous to approach her. But she looked lost, and I couldn't just leave her on the side of the road. After speaking softly to her for several minutes, she suddenly looked me in the eye, perked up her head, and was my best friend. I opened the door to my car, and she jumped in straight away. Suddenly I had a 40-something-pound dog in my car and no where to take her.
Because Isis is 12-years old and dog-aggressive, I knew she wouldn't accept a young female into her pack. So taking Lily home to live with us was out of the question (regular readers of my blog know that this is my preferred method of cat rescue). I also couldn't send her to Animal Control, given that she's both a pitbull mix and deaf. The solution, thanks to a few friends, was to house her in a horse barn for a few weeks. This was not ideal, but it was better than on the streets or in a cage. I visited Lily three times a day, for about an hour each time, so I got to know, and to love, her very well.
Lily is now with a foster home, though it is only temporary. They love her but have three large dogs already and are moving to a small apartment in Kentucky in a few short weeks. She can stay until this Saturday, but needs to find a new foster (or better yet, a permanent home) by then.
I still spend a lot of time with Lily. Jim or I go every day and pick up Lily for 2-3 hours. We go for a walk, a run, or take her to my Mom and Dad's house to play with their dog. Between Lily's foster Mom and I, we know just about everything there is to know about Lily.
What do I know about her? I know I love her and would keep her in a heartbeat if I could. I have cried many tears already over the fact that I can't keep her. I know that I am incredibly jealous of whichever family she ends up with. With a little bit of training and a lot of love, Lily is going to make someone the perfect dog. And I'm not exaggerating when I use the word perfect folks. She's amazing.
What else do I know?
- The basics: Lily is an 11-month old pitbull/blue heeler mix who is completely deaf. She weighs somewhere around 45 pounds.
- Lily's biggest pleasure in life is being with people and/or dogs. Preferably both at the same time. She loves to give kisses.
- She has not an aggressive bone in her body. She loves people. She loves kids. She loves dogs. She loves cats. She loves horses. She needs to learn manners (but is greatly improving in this arena), but she is submissive and will back away when told to do so.
- She will play fetch for hours if you let her. She can destroy a cloth toy in seconds (thanks to those pittie jaws) but does really well with rubber toys. However, if she puts something in her mouth that she shouldn't have (and she frequently does), those same strong jaws will easily let you pull tiny cat toys out of her mouth, with nary a scratch to your hand.
- Lily will make a wonderful running companion. Jim has taken her running, and though she needs to learn a little more focus (she's still young, plus she needs to learn some more walking manners), she is great at running. She runs behind Jim so she can see where he's going, since she can't hear him.
- She will play for hours and hours and hours without tiring. But she's also happy to snuggle up on the couch with you. In fact, as I write this, she's snuggled up next to me on the couch, with her head resting on my knee. Over the weekend, she fell asleep on my Mom's lap, in her recliner.
- Lily is capable of being crated but much prefers to lay next to you.
- She is housebroken.
- She loves water. Pools, creeks, puddles. She will be a mess afterwards, but she has Teflon fur, and she will be clean and dry within hours. It's weird.
- Lily is a bull in a china shop. Because she's so young, she doesn't have much control over her body yet. There is a huge mind-butt disconnect. This means she knocks things down wherever she goes, but it's so adorable, you don't get mad at all.
- When she's really excited, she'll run and run and run. I've never seen a dog run so fast, in great big circles.
- She loves sticking her head out the window when you're in the car. She alternates between sitting between the front seat and giving you kisses and sitting by the window with her head out. The wind makes her sooooooooo happy.
- She has no food, treat, toy, or bone aggressions.
- She has the cutest spots on her ears. Ever.
- Lily likes being groomed. She stands perfectly still for bathing, isn't afraid of the dryer (because she can't hear it, of course), and when I saw her getting her nails clipped, I thought she had been drugged (kidding, kidding).
- She is amazingly resilient and adaptable. In the past three and a half weeks, Lily has lived at two different barns and one home. She has been tended to by three different barn workers, loads of barn boarders, her foster family, Jim and myself (who take her once a day now), and she spends several hours with my parents. All with a smile and never any fear.
- She is without a doubt one of the smartest dogs I have ever met. She is training very quickly and easily and already understands a lot of hand signals. What has she learned? She can sit, lay, drop her ball, come, go to her bed, and wait to go in or out the door. Someone who has her as part of their family could teach her all she needs to know within a few months. Seriously.
- Even though you know Lily can't hear you, you can't resist talking to her. She's so adorable that you want to use a cutesy voice too.
Wanna see some more pictures?
Lily and her foster sister Mal. Lily apparently is with Mal 24/7.
They sleep together, often in a pile.
See?
Here are those ears I was talking about. I just want to chew on them.
A very tired Lily, getting belly rubs from Jim. I didn't mention in my
bullet points about, but she loooooves belly rubs.
So, a general overview: Lily loves everything. Lily will love you. You will love Lily. Lily will be an amazing family pet.
We are looking for a kind, loving family for Lily. You can have dogs or cats or not. Lily needs quite a bit of training at this point, and therefore, time. Obviously, it's okay if you work a full-time job, but she needs to be walked/played with/trained several times a day. If you have a fenced-in yard, this is a bonus. Mostly, we want you to love her as much as she'll love you.
If you're interested, please email me at cancersupport@greatgoodheart.org. I am seriously willing to transport her, anywhere in the Continental United States, for the right family. I am not even kidding.
Even if you aren't in a position to help Lily, please share this blog post with others, so we can find Lily the family she so richly deserves.
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