Raising Keller

Finally Updated!

2010-02-24T11:11:00.004-06:00

I have finally made some time to update Keller's blog. I kept forgetting about it.
Keller and Hoover are doing great! They are a little over a year old and in good health. At the end of last semester, they both went to live at our parent's house, while we finished up exams. They did just fine there. Keller did have a splash in the pool, but luckily my mom was right there watching her and could pull her out quickly. Keller's a fast little booger! Hoover had a blast running and playing with my mom's other dachshunds. Keller did have to have hernia surgery over Christmas break. She had a hernia on her inside thigh. We decided to have the surgery done with our vet at home because we know and trust him. It went very well, though he did say that she has very thin skin, like that of an old dog. This is probably a reason she gets cold so easy. We have coats and sweaters to fix that though. :) Other than that, she hasn't had major problems. Since there's not much information about blind/deaf dogs, we're not sure what problems we'll encounter as she ages. But I'm happy to say she's as spry as ever at the moment. Here's some pictures from the past few months:

Hoover can fly!

Keller is a great sniffer

K & H got new P.J.s for Christmas

Such a cutie pie

Hoover had a ladybug on his nose!

Sneaky Hoover

This is her favorite spot on the couch

She gobbles up food!

All four doxies napping

Pictures!

2009-08-27T21:53:00.003-05:00

Finally, I am updating Keller's blog and uploading some pictures.
Keller and Hoover are back in Mississippi with us, and have gotten so big! They are tons of fun and so sweet, while at the same time being a handful. They get to go outside and play (under supervision, of course) and love every minute of it. Keller loves to run and play outside. She used to be timid about going out, but now she hops outside and takes off. She's so funny to watch. If you didn't know better, you'd think she could see and hear just fine from the way she runs and plays. That's pretty much all that's new at the moment. We thought when we first got her that we would have to keep her routine and the placement of furniture exactly the same, but we've found that she adapts to many different places very well. After sniffing around thoroughly, she's ready to go. Keller is one amazing puppy!

Update

2009-07-06T17:45:00.002-05:00

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. Summer has been very busy in our household. Keller and Hoover are doing great! They have gotten so big, even since May. (I'll have pictures to post soon.)

They are in the terrible twos stage, getting into pretty much everything. They are doing very well with house training and only occasionally have accidents. They are still using a puppy potty pad, but they get to go outside (supervised, of course) sometimes. Hoover loves to be outside, but Keller is still a little wary sometimes, especially if the wind is blowing. She doesn't like the wind.

They are traveling with us to Dallas in a few days. They are well traveled by now, and Keller does great adjusting to new places as long as we're with her.

Keller has attached to my sister and never leaves her side. When she leaves the house, Keller will search and search all over for her. Satisfied that she's nowhere to be found, she will either come to me or my mother as a last resort. And Hoover is never far behind.

Keller is a spunky little puppy, but she can be very sweet also. It's so cute when my sister picks her up because she'll lay her head over my sister's shoulder. She definitely keeps things interesting. Oh, and even though she's blind and deaf, she still barks. We weren't lucky enough for her to be mute as well. (Just kidding! Sort of...) She barks like any other dog when she wants something. It's usually in protest to being put in her crate, or when she's left on the couch and can't get down. She's just learned to jump up (Hoover could do it, so why couldn't she?), but she's not brave enough to jump down by herself. She has, however, fallen off the back of the couch. She decided to play mountain goat and took a wrong step. She jumped right up and ran off, so no harm done. We have decided that Keller should not be a mountain goat from now on, and keep her off the back of the couch.

Hoover is a sweetie. He loves to cuddle and sleep in your lap. He's playful as well. We have a litter of puppies at my mom's house who are almost 3 months old. He loves to chase them, and they turn right around and chase him back! It's cute to watch. Hoover is not as adventurous as Keller, he's sort of a scaredy cat. But nevertheless, he manages to get into mischief. We took them outside to play, and Hoover discovered where the pool was-twice! He doesn't swim very well... My sister fished him out, and he was safe and sound. He is a little more careful now, when running outside. Hoover also likes the back of the couch (like all of our doxies) and fell off once. It's a good thing dachshunds are sturdy dogs! He hopped up and ran off too, but is more careful now where he steps.

Hoover and Keller went to the vet about a month ago to be neutered and spayed. My sister (who is going to vet school next fall) stayed and watched the surgeries. She wanted to be there with Keller when she was put under and woke up. Everything went fine. After a day or two of moving slow, they were both back to normal.

I guess that's all the news from Hoover and Keller. I will try to post more often in the future!

Keller and Hoover's First Vacation

2009-05-11T11:17:00.010-05:00

Keller and Hoover have been home with us in Texas for almost two weeks now. It took some adjusting when we arrived. We have a litter of puppies and a protective mother here, so Keller and Hoover don't have as much room to run and play yet. We're working on fixing a place for them. But they are as happy as ever. This weekend, we took a trip to the lake. Keller and Hoover went with us and did great on the 3 1/2 hour drive. They will be well traveled doxies! In addition to this being their first vacation, they also had another first this weekend- walking on a leash. We have a single leash with a splitter on the end of it. They didn't quite know what to do when we hooked them up and set them on the grass. Hoover was quicker to catch on than Keller, because he can see and hear us calling his name. Keller however, did not like being restrained! She fought with the leash the whole time. Before long, Hoover was pulling her along. We kept it short the first time, but they will get better with practice. She was already getting better before we left. Keller will learn to trust and follow Hoover when she can't follow us.

They already have a strong bond and do not like to be separated. In the car, I was holding Hoover in the back seat, while my mother held Keller up front. Keller didn't like not being with Hoover, so she was leaning over the back of the seat. They rode together in someone's lap, sleeping the whole trip. I think they had as much fun as we did at the lake!

Busy Growing Up

2009-04-23T22:32:00.004-05:00

Keller and Hoover are doing great! They are steadily growing every day. I apologize for not posting pictures sooner, but my camera is broken, and I seem to have misplaced my sister's. I'll post as soon as possible.

Keller is having no problems that we can tell. She is healthy and happy. Keller and Hoover are inseparable. They play, eat, sleep, and live together. They are so funny to watch when they play together. Keller is usually the one chasing Hoover around. She follows him by scent, we think, and when she seems to loose him, she pounces in the direction that she thinks he's in. It's hilarious! And a good bit of the time, she's right on!

Everyone who hears that we have a blind and deaf puppy is sad for her. If you could see Keller in person, you would see that there is no reason to be sad. She is a bundle of life and energy, and lives a very happy life. She is not disabled or incapacitated in the least. In fact, I'm not sure that I would want to see her with all of her senses intact-she'd be a terror! :)

Hide and Seek

2009-04-05T22:02:00.001-05:00

~*~

Keller and I played a new game today- Hide and Seek! I was playing with the puppies in the kitchen tonight. Lately, I've been noticing how Keller will follow us without grabbing onto our pants leg. She smells where we go, and follows that way. I saw her looking for me, and before she found me, I'd run to the other side of the room. She still followed! :) Keller is one incredible pup!

~*~

Spring Break

2009-03-24T21:49:00.002-05:00

I apologize for not writing much about Keller and Hoover lately. I will post a quick note about Spring Break, and write more in detail later.

Keller and Hoover, along with our other two dogs, make the trek to Texas with my sister and I last week. As I had suspected, Keller and Hoover were great travellers in the car. For the trip up there, we set up their crate in the back of the car, so they would have plenty of room, and it was also a familiar place for Keller. We didn't hear much out of them the whole trip, just the occasional bark at the other when they played. Neither of them got carsick (thank goodness!), so that made for a more pleasant trip.

The week spent in Texas was great. Keller and Hoover fit right in with the other menagerie of dogs at our parent's house. Most of the day, while we were working in and around the house, Keller and Hoover stayed in their crate in the living room. They were pretty content there, being in the center of the action around the house. We would let them out to run around, and one sunny afternoon, we put together their pen on the patio where they could play in the sunshine. They enjoyed that.

The ride back went as smoothly as the ride up there. This time though, the car was too full to put their crate up in the back, so whoever wasn't driving was holding them in the passenger seat. They slept most of the way, and when they weren't sleeping, they played in the floorboard. Keller and Hoover are going to make great travellers, which is a necessity at our house! Keller adjusted just fine to wherever she was. Even being blind and deaf, she is not impaired in the least. She is just like a normal dog, and is able to live a healthy happy life!

Escapees

2009-03-12T00:33:00.003-05:00

Keller and her companion, Hoover are doing great. They are continually getting bigger and cuter! They are a lot of fun to play and nap with. The kitchen has been their domain thus far. Their crate is in the corner of the kitchen. They sleep and eat in their crate, and it is also where we keep them when we are not home. Keller is much happier when we're not home now that she has Hoover. We let them roam the kitchen occasionally, but decided that they needed to have a larger area than the crate, but not the whole kitchen. Our solution was to build a puppy pen out of PVC pipe. It turned out well, and the first night we tested it out with the puppies, Keller was out in five minutes flat. However, it took Hoover three days... Keller may be blind and deaf, but she's no dummy! We had to modify the pen, and it still might take a few tries to get it right, but I think we're on the right track. It's inexpensive, portable, and easy to clean. I'll post pictures of the pen soon.

Keller's Companion

2009-02-22T21:46:00.007-06:00

Week two with Keller was as good as the first. We are still working on potty training and the biting is getting better. We decided this week that Keller needed a companion. She was doing fine with our older dachshund, but he doesn't like to play, and definitely didn't like it when she bit on his tale. We thought it would be good to get a puppy Keller's age who she could play with and sleep with. We called the people who we got Keller from and they still had three puppies left. I went and picked out a little dapple male. He's a laid back little fellow, but oh so sweet. His name is Hoover, and he is fast becoming Keller's pal.

The First Week

2009-02-16T16:10:00.010-06:00

Our first week with Keller has been great. She is learning where everything in the kitchen is, and doesn't bump into things so much anymore. :) She knows where the water bowl, her potty pad, and her crate is, though she doesn't like her crate very much right now. She is a spunky little girl who loves to play and bite things. Biting things is fine when she is biting toys, not so fine when she is biting your fingers, but we're working on that. She's sleeping better through the night now. At first, she would wake up around four or five in the morning. Now it's closer to seven or eight. She still naps during the day, but it's less often. She'd rather play. :) She sleeps in her crate in the kitchen at night, and stays there in the morning when both of us are in class. She doesn't like to be alone, but she's never alone for too long at a time. Our schedules work out pretty good so that when one of us is gone, the other is at home. I think it's important for her not to be left by herself for long periods of time. Occasionally, we'll leave her in the kitchen with the baby gate up, so she can run and play, while we do something else at the house.

Keller is getting along great with our other two dogs. Wicket, also a dachshund, is nine years old, so he's a bit of an old man. He likes Keller as much as he does any puppy. Wicket doesn't care much for her when she is biting his tail though. When Keller is asleep on the couch, Wicket will curl up beside her sometimes. I'm hoping they will become buddies as she gets older. Bella, our boxer, likes Keller as well. We have to be careful when Bella and Keller are in the kitchen together because Bella will get excited sometimes and doesn't watch where her feet are going. She could easily kick Keller across the room. Bella's bed is in the kitchen too and Keller will curl up beside Bella sometimes.

Keller had her first bath today. She wasn't sure what was going on at first. I filled up our sink with a couple inches of water to bathe her in. She just stood there at first, then tried to drink the water, and then decided that she didn't like being wet and tried to get out. I successfully got her bathed and dried off. She was shaking, so I wrapped her in a blanket. She burrowed down in the blanket, like any good dachshund would do, and took a long nap.

We also took her to the vet for her first check up and shots. Everyone oohed and ahhed when they saw her. She was really sweet and sociable to everyone who petted and held her. And she seems to be in great health despite being blind and deaf.

So the first week went well. She still learning and growing. We're working on making her stop biting and fine tuning potty training. Other than that, she's the sweetest little baby.

How It Started

2009-02-15T23:19:00.004-06:00

Recently, my sister came across an ad in the classifieds that was selling mini dachshunds. Because my mom raises mini dachshunds, she was curious and decided to take a look at the ad. In a litter of black and tan dapples, there was one female puppy who was blind. She has a genetic defect that occurs when someone breeds two dapples together. It causes huge problems for the puppy, therefore it is an unacceptable breeding practice. My sister was immediately drawn to the puppy. She called about her and finally got in touch with the owner, and she and I went to look at the puppy. It became clear after we saw her that she was both blind and deaf, but her sweet and lively personality and her sad situation made her impossible to refuse. We took her home, a little overwhelmed, but adoring her. My sister gave her a very appropriate name: Keller. Watching Keller in the past few days has been amazing. Even though it seems as if she doesn't have a thing going for her, she is just like any other puppy. She is adapting to her new home rather quickly also. Despite not being able to hear or see, she has remarkably good senses of touch and smell. These, and taste, are the only sense she has to use. Likewise, those are the only senses we have to train her with. We need lots of patience and information. Keller, and the two of us, have a long read ahead. I can foresee that she will teach us a lot and continually amaze and surprise. So keep my sister and I, and Keller in your thoughts and prayers. We are going to need it!