Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Of all the 80 animals at the ranch, blind and deaf Spinner is clearly the most disabled.  I can’t imagine being blind … or deaf … but to go through life both blind AND deaf?  I’ve tried to think what that must be like, and it’s hard to grasp.  So every day we just marvel at how Spinner copes with her double-whammy of disabilities.  This afternoon we had a perfect example of how she does it, and that’s what prompted this post.

Spinner’s window on life is her nose.  It tells her everything.  Her sense of smell is so acute that she picks up on things the other dogs never notice.  But it’s how she uses her sense of smell that is so incredible to see.  Early this afternoon I let her outside to pee (she’d been in my office for most of the day). The wind was blowing about 12 mph, strong enough to kick up snow from the ground and send it through the air.  It wasn’t that cold, but still not the kind of conditions you want to leave a dog out in.  So after a couple of minutes I began to think to myself, "Keep an eye out for Spinner."

Often I can look out my office window and see her pass by, so I’ll hop up and go see if she’s made it to the front door.  (She frequently finds the door on her own and she’ll sit patiently on the steps waiting for us.)  But this afternoon she kept going around the house … I’d open the front door just as she’d disappear around the corner.  I’d head to the back door, open it, and see her disappearing around the other corner.  Of course, you can’t call to her as you would a blind dog, nor wave to her as you would a deaf dog.

On her next pass around the back side of the house, she was about 20 feet away from me when I opened the back door and stepped out.  Almost immediately she came to a dead stop.  She lifted her nose in the air, then turned her head over her shoulder, nose still up.  Suddenly her body did a little quiver — we’ve learned this is a sign she recognizes what she’s smelling — and she sprang forward, headed right for me.  When she got to within an arm’s length of me, I reached out with my hand, touched her on the nose, and then she followed my hand as I "waved" her through the door.  It happened in an instant. 

Even with the wind blowing and from 20 feet away, she could smell that I was there AND she knew in what direction to find me.  This is really an awesome thing to behold. 

I took the photo of Spinner later this afternoon.  This is her classic "I’m checking things out" mode, with her nose up and over her shoulder.

It would be easy to feel sorry for an animal who’s both blind and deaf, but this girl is nothing but pure inspiration.

(Click on photo for larger image.)