Deaf dog has the heart of a champion
Given up to SPCA because she was ‘untrainable,’ Seven has conquered Agility Trial
HALIFAX— She was born deaf, and surrendered to the Nova Scotia SPCA as “untrainable.”
But Seven, believed to be a border collie who was rescued as a threemonth-old puppy, recently received the Agility Trial Champion of Canada title, completing a seven-year climb through the ranks of canine athleticism with the rescuer who became trainer and teammate.
“It was a huge sense of relief because we’d been trying so hard for so long . . . I felt the window was closing,” said dog trainer and agility coach Adina MacRae. “We needed to prove that deaf dogs can do it, because that’s why she was surrendered — she was ‘too deaf to train.’ ”
MacRae said she adopted Seven to show the world that deaf dogs can do whatever hearing dogs can. The now nine-year-old isn’t the first deaf dog to achieve the title, but MacRae said she believes she’s the only Nova Scotian pup to ever do so.
Agility is a dog sport in which a handler directs their canine through an obstacle course, aiming for both speed and accuracy. The dogs must navigate jumps, a teeter-totter, weave poles and tunnels — normally following a human partner’s hand signals and verbal cues.
The Agility Trial Champion — known as the ATChC — is obtained only after achieving every other title at the starter, advanced and masters level of competitive agility. Fittingly, MacRae and Seven clinched their title exactly seven years and a day after their first-ever qualifying score.
During a recent interview at Nova Dogsport in Harrietsfield, N.S., just outside Halifax, MacRae said she trained Seven by figuring out what motivated the medium-sized, grey and white pup with piercing blue eyes — and it was food.
She said instead of speaking to the dog, she uses hand signals such as a thumbs up to indicate a job well done.
“I knew that she was starting to understand the thumbs up hand signal when she started licking her lips in anticipation of the treat,” said MacRae as a restless Seven waited at her side, eyes darting watchfully around the gym.
MacRae said using hand signals is actually a much more natural way to communicate with dogs because canines rely heavily on body language to communicate with each other, making the training less of a challenge than might be expected.
In fact, Seven’s biggest challenge has not been her inability to hear. MacRae said she used to be afraid of things like shadows and ceiling fans. Now that Seven — so named because she was the seventh dog added to MacRae and her partner’s pack — has achieved her championship title, MacRae says she’ll likely retire. But she hopes Seven’s long and decorated career inspires people to adopt a rescue dog.
“If the opportunity comes along, give a deaf dog a chance. They have great personalities and they can be trained just as easily, if not more easily than the hearing dogs because there’s fewer distractions for them. They can be great family pets.”