They Say Love is Blind...Meet Hope!

Hope on an adventure at Home Depot

Meet Hope, a gorgeously unique American Staffordshire Terrier mix available for adoption through Fred's Friends Rescue. At one year old, Hope is fully grown at 38 pounds. She's a nice pocket-sized Staffie. She came into animal control back in March as a stray found wandering the streets. See those big, clear, green eyes? They don't work. At all. Turns out, Hope is blind as a bat. She seems to have been born that way. She also has a severe heart condition, pulmonic stenosis, that requires daily medication. Her cardiologist said that with the severity of her condition, Hope may live up to two years or she may live a full life. In other words, who knows. Given her blindness and heart condition, Fred's Friends suspects she is a product of bad breeding. Oddly enough, being blind (and thus relatively slow-going) sort of works in her favor with regard to keeping her heart from exploding. 

Hope on her favorite bed

Fred's Friends reached out to us about taking Hope when her previous foster family had to move suddenly. We're good friends with one of their volunteers who knew we'd fostered a blind dog (Buck) before and she thought we'd be a good fit for Hope. Special needs dogs hold a special place in our hearts - it's how we started fostering and it's what we enjoy most. We've gotten away from that for quite some time now, so it's nice to do a special needs case again. So, Hope moved in with us last Sunday.

We have a lot of stairs in our house and they have a lot of twists and turns. Hope learned how to go up the stairs on her first day here, no problem. Going downstairs proved to be a bit trickier, but she got the hang of that on day three. Now she goes up and down without any difficulty for every potty break, every meal, and every time she decides to follow us up or down. Just like with Buck, she'll run into something if it's moved out of place. That's to be expected and it just makes us keep things tidier; we are diligent about pushing our chairs in and not leaving things out in the middle of the floor. She knows where all the dog beds are around the house, where the water bowl is, where the stairs are, and where the gates are that block off the stairs. She also knows where the toy basket is and enjoys rooting through it on a regular basis. Hope loves her toys! She piles them up on her dog bed so she doesn't misplace them. Every now and then she'll forget where she put one or another dog will move one and she gets confused about it. It's entertaining. You can practically see the, "Hey, that's not where I left you!" look cross her face when she stumbles over a rogue toy. She likes squeakers, but she also likes bouncy toys because she can hear where they go as they bounce across the wood floor. She loves going for walks, too. We usually take her for a 1-2 mile walk each day, sometimes twice per day. She does well on leash and enjoys the fresh air. Other things Hope loves: cuddles, treats, antlers, meal time, naps, and her people. Emphasis on naps though. She really loves naps.

Who you callin' a goofball?

So yeah, Hope is a pretty easy dog. She's quite mellow and really isn't any different than a "normal" dog with sight. Sure, she'll get spooked by strange or loud noises every now and then and she may run into stuff in new environments, but that's pretty much it. Her blindness doesn't get in her way much at all. She gets really excited when she "finds" us around the house and likes to celebrate by licking the backs of our legs. She likes that our two foster Chihuahuas wear cat collars that have bells on them, so she knows where they are at all times. She goes potty in the yard just like everyone else and abides by "big dog" rules (no couch, no human bed). She knows "sit" and understands "step" for curbs and stairs. She knows what "leave it" means and is learning how to apply it. She has free roam of the house when we're away, along with our two old guys, and does just fine. She's not a troublemaker and she's not a barker. She does make this really cool wookie noise when she wants something! It's sort of her signature yodel. She does it when she wants to play, wants attention, wants to go for a walk, wants to eat, or just wants to be a goofball. It's pretty fantastic. Check out her video and get to hear her wookie yodel for yourself:

Having a blind dog isn't necessarily a greater challenge than having a sighted dog. It's more of an exercise in patience and compassion. It forces you to slow down and consider things more carefully from the dog's perspective. Hope is a great dog. She just needs someone who will treat her like a normal dog and not coddle her excessively because of her disabilities. If an adopter can understand that, they'll get a fantastic companion in return. In our house, all dogs are given boundaries, structure, and equal love. Hope is expected to toe the line just like all the rest and she does. With so many dogs around, newbies figure out their place pretty quickly. Hope needed some extra help learning the ropes up front, but now she's got it down pat. She seems pretty darned happy about it, too. We're sure happy to have her around! Hope is a gem and it is a pleasure to have her as part of our pack for a while. If you'd like to fill out an adoption application for Hope, please follow this link: http://www.fredsfriends.org/adoption-application.html

PUPDATE: Hope was adopted on October 21, 2015 by a wonderful couple! Her new mama works in child development with special needs children, so she was very ready to accept Hope's variety of challenges. Her words: "I work with special needs kids. This shouldn't be much different and if it is, I'm used to a good challenge!". Things were a bit rocky after several months for Hope when the couple learned they had a baby on the way, but they stayed true to their pledge to stand by Hope's side, challenges included, and found ways to make things work for their growing family. We are happy for Hope...she's a special girl who so deserves a loving family!