Meet Penny! – Oh My Canine!


Meet Penny, this gorgeous lady:

In the foreground, a white arm with a black watch band reaches forward to stroke the chin of Penny, a white Catahoula leopard dog with a pink and brown freckled nose, one open blue eye, and one closed eye. Her ears hang down along her head and both have injuries on the tips. The background is blurred to obscure the permanent mess of the kitchen shelves behind Penny.

If we’re hooked up on Instagram, you’ve already in brief met this beautiful girl. However, I’d love to officially introduce her and percentage her tale with you!

However, first, a reality: I didn’t be expecting to be introducing a canine to you nowadays. In reality, I deliberate–and nonetheless do plan–to write down two posts about puppy loss and grief, one particular to children shedding a puppy and one particular to a cat shedding a canine best possible good friend. The ones posts will nonetheless come as a result of I feel they’re precious. And, additionally, I didn’t be expecting to undertake a brand new canine till the spring.

Why the spring? Smartly, I believed housetraining within the wintry weather could be an enormous ache. Additionally, John tore his labrum (shoulder cartilage… I feel?) and had to have a lovely vital surgical operation the week between Christmas and New 12 months’s. I figured on most sensible of our common loopy lifestyles, plus his restoration (no using for him for a month!!!), it wasn’t the precise time for a canine.

And the universe laughed.

And delivered us Penny.

Penny, the Catahoula leopard dog, with a mostly white coat and a smattering of brown spots on her hind end, reclines on a gray poof with a cream, red, and green knit blanket on top.

10 information about Penny:

  1. She had a LONG adventure to our area. Confiscated from a hoarding scenario in Alabama, she was once bumped to an overcrowded safe haven. Then, a personal rescue picked her (and one among her domestic dogs) up, then she was once moved to a foster who wasn’t ready to handle her, so she was once despatched to any other rescue and any other foster, after which–after all–to our circle of relatives.
  2. On account of her background, she’s a timid and nervous girl. We have now a LOT of skill-building to paintings on together with her!
  3. Penny is bilaterally deaf (deaf in each ears) and unilaterally blind (blind in her proper eye).
  4. She can’t get sufficient affection. Like, in the event you forestall patting her to take a sip of our espresso, she nuzzles you till you get again to it. She needs to climb the entire approach into your lap or push towards your hip or lean for your shoulder at. all. occasions.
  5. Penny is terrified of Newt and Ripley and provides them a WIDE berth. Which is excellent. It is going to assist them accept as true with her quicker, I feel.
  6. At her first consult with to our vet, she was once the most well liked lady within the position! She soaked up the entire consideration, and ended up with a mostly-clean invoice of well being. She has hookworms (blech) and a work of particles in her aspect the vet thinks is a bb (grrr) however in a different way she’s in nice form.
  7. Candy Penny doesn’t be capable of stroll from room to room but. Why? No concept! She’s too scared to go into the kitchen in any respect, and he or she completely won’t stroll upstairs. We had a HUGE win when she began strolling from the bed room to the lounge on her personal. Nonetheless, she presses up towards the wall and skitters between the ones rooms. Within the period in-between, I simply lift her in all places. She’ll get it, and fortuitously I’ve heaps of persistence (for animals)! 🙂
  8. After her first week with us, Penny changed into assured sufficient to run across the backyard, and he or she is now a certified at zoomies! She has but to play with a toy, even though, so we’re slowly serving to her discover ways to canine.
  9. She’s indexed as a Catahoula leopard canine–a breed I do know not anything about however am taking part in finding out! That stated, I’m going to DNA take a look at her. Has somebody carried out one lately? Is there a most popular logo this present day? I haven’t carried out one since I did the Knowledge Panel with Cooper and Lucas so would really like any insights!
  10. She’s principally white with a smattering of brown spots, together with one heart-shaped spot on her hip.
A closeup of the back right hip of Penny, the Catahoula leopard dog. Her coat is mostly white except a scattering of brown spots across her back end. This closeup shows one large heart-shaped spot in the middle of several brown splotches.

As chances are you’ll already know, our circle of relatives is finding out ASL already–our daughter, Astrid, was once born hard-of-hearing and attends a sign-immersive preschool program at our state’s Deaf faculty, so we have already got a forged background. That stated, it is a complete new problem for me as a lifelong clicker teacher! I wish to construct new talents as I assist Penny alongside! I were given a perfect referral for an area teacher to paintings with, and I’m following those movies on YouTube.

I’ll have a lot more to percentage, after all, as we get to understand Penny and move in this new adventure in combination. I’ve all the time written about subjects associated with what I’m going via with my very own canine. That’s what began this weblog and the way I plan to proceed. So, whilst I lined treatment canine paintings with Emmett, reactive canine coaching with Lucas and Cooper, pit bull advocacy, and so a lot more particular to them, with beautiful Penny, I’ve so a lot more to be informed and percentage. Some subjects off the highest of my head that I’ll be overlaying: the double merle gene that reasons those canine to be deaf or blind, coaching a deaf canine, coaching a partially-sighted canine, her breed information, and extra.

What would YOU love to find out about Penny or what common canine subjects do you want to speak about in 2024? I’d love to understand what you’re interested by and what you’d like to speak about!

Within the period in-between, let’s attach on Instagram! I’m sharing gobs and gobs of Penny pics there and can chronicle her adventure extra continuously in that house!



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