Princess

Princess was a 4 yr old deaf female Dalmatian who was turned into the Lancaster Co, PA SPCA in February, 2001. The people who brought her to the shelter found her, running as a stray, in Dec. They tried to find her former home to no avail. They did not want to keep her because they did not know how to train a deaf dog. They took her to the shelter. Willing Hearts Dalmatian Rescue was called and asked to take her. So one of our board members went to the shelter to evaluate her not knowing what to expect. A shelter board member brought Princess out to meet her. What she saw made her sink a little as here was this dirty, scruffy black and white Dal pulling the shelter board member into the meeting room. Princess looked like she had been out on her own for some time. Our member found it hard to believe that someone had kept her for 2 months and didn't take better care of her. Her bones were showing...which broke her heart especially since she knew the shelter had put weight on her in the last few weeks. She offered her a hand in a non-threatening manner and was pleasantly surprised as Princess ignored the hand, jumped up, and planted kisses all over her face. She immediately knew this was a good one and we had to help her. It was hard to leave Princess that day but we had no choice. We had no room in our existing foster homes. As our member left, she silently promised her we would get her out. We frantically searched and pleaded for a foster home for Princess. We just about gave up hope when we received an email from one of our deafdogs listers. She was not in the position to foster but she wanted to help by paying for Princess to be boarded until a foster home became available. We immediately made arrangements for one of our members to pick Princess up at the shelter and have her boarded at a local vet where she could stay temporarily, have spay surgery, and be brought up to date on shots. After about two weeks, Princess was transported to Never Never Land kennels www.neverlandkennel.com in Lewes, DE for continued boarding, a much needed bath, TLC and training til a foster or a permanent home was found. Princess did very well in the kennel (which is more like a doggie daycare). Our DE member visited her regularly with bones and chew toys. Princess was great with people and other dogs. She was a quick learner too....and learned many commands thanks to the trainer at the kennel. Although Princess was doing well and seemed happy ... she still needed a home. We were starting to panic after months of internet exposure on www.petfinders.org and still no leads on a home. We contacted DDEAF- deaf dog education action fund and asked them to put Princess` picture and bio on the DDEAF adoptions page. Princess' info and pic was posted within hours of receiving it. We also contacted Deaf Pets of America and they crossposted Princess` plea. A few days later we received a post from a woman in Washington state. She already owned a deaf dal and was very interested in learning more about Princess. We put her in touch with the trainer in DE and after a phone call she fell in love with Princess and was very anxious to adopt her. We were thrilled that Princess had finally found her forever home but expenses were adding up. Although we felt the best way to transport Princess was to fly her out to Washington our funds were low. There was a non stop flight from Phila to Seattle...much easier than trying to arrange ground transport so we contacted the executive director of DDEAF to ask if she could help with the cost. She mentioned that membership dues were up...deaf dog owners were greatly supporting the effort to help deaf dogs and she was able to make a very generous offer to pay for Princess` ticket to fly to *home*. So...on Saturday, May19th, 2001, 12 noon EST, after over 3 months of being kenneled - there was a very special spotted deaf doggie in the sky. She had waited a long time to finally go *home*. So many people put so much effort into this little girl, and we thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts for all their help. Princess is now with her new family and her dal brother - Pepper. She is loved very much and her momma has discovered that Princess can hear. Now we do not know if during all the time at the home where she spent 2 months, and through all the boarding, if she had "selective" hearing - or if possibly the flight to Seattle unplugged her ears, giving her some hearing. All we know is that she is a special lady, and has a special home, and what a happy ending - and a great beginning of a wonderful life.