Mia

 



I don't, as a rule, recommend shopping for cats and dogs at pet stores, however, it was there our Miss Mia first saw us, a slip of a puppy: half blue heeler and half Aussie they told us. Strangely, beautifully white; laser blue eyes; wagging tail; she didn't really bark much they said. She had found us! That look, I'll never forget: The happy eyes said "You came at last." Being the only female in a home with three guys, I absolutely had to have a girl-dog. I called my husband at his job, "Just come take a look at her!" I pleaded. We returned that night. The sales associate took her out of her cage and let her run around the store. "She runs like Mia Hamm" (the U.S. Women's soccer star) my husband said.

The second evening she was home she went out in our fenced yard alone. I opened the door to the backyard and called for her to come in; she didn't even look up. The next day the vet confirmed the diagnosis of deafness due to double-merle breeding. We didn’t care. We loved her, she was ours and we would make it work.

We enrolled in puppy obedience school. It was a class of two. The only other puppy in the class was a deaf blue heeler. It was his owner who told me about the deaf dog group and Diane Dubose. Mia picked up sign so quickly it was scary. I read, Living with a Deaf Dog, attended my first deaf dog picnic and realized we were now part of a terrific community. It was all meant to be. How lucky we were! Mia, 5-1/2-years-old now, is the greatest dog I've ever had the honor to care for.