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 I will never forget the day Jamie came to live with us.  She was just a baby, no more than 6 weeks old.

Her first family discovered that she was blind and deaf when she was about 4 weeks old.  They loved her but knew that they could not keep her safe.  When they contacted our local animal shelter, they were told that the shelter could not take her because of her handicaps.  They suggested that the people contact us because they knew we had dealt with other handicapped animals. 

Jamie's mother was a white German shepard/Husky mix and her father was a blue merle Austrailian cattle dog.  Deafness can occur in white dogs and eye problems and blindness are linked to the gene that causes the merle coloring.

Jamie would have been euthanized if we hadn't rescued her!  We tried to find someone who could advise us on how to work with a blind, deaf puppy but no one could help us.  Some people told us we should just have her killed.  Several humane organizations told us they would have put her down if she came to their shelter.  We were even told to use a shock collar to teach her.  Can you imagine shocking a blind, deaf creature to teach it anything!  We used touch to teach her everything, along with lots and lots of love.  She never let her disabilities slow her down.  She was as rambunctious as any puppy but she learned fast.  Stroking, petting, hugging were all part of her learning.  She went everywhere with us to expose her to everything we could.  And it worked to perfection!  She was the sweetest, best mannered dog I have ever known.

Jamie was not born totally blind - her eyes were too small and were covered by her inner eyelids.  We did not know about eBay then so we delivered phone books to save the money to take her to a specialist.  Part of her inner eyelid was surgically removed.  Jamie was able to see things for the first time.  She would turn her head at everything that moved.  She was so excited by the things she was actually seeing.  Before her surgery she was only able to differentiate between light and dark.  However, her vision did not last.  Her eyes continued to get smaller as she got older.  That was also part of her genetic condition.  She also had juvenile cataracts.  But we will never regret giving her the gift of sight, even if it was only for a short time.

She loved people.  If someone came over, she got their scent and started searching with her nose in the air until she found them.  Then she was wagging her tail, giving her special greeting.  She had to smell their faces thoroughly and she kissed anyone she really liked.  It was like a blind person who "knows" someone by feeling their face. 

Jamie was very close to me and loved to go for walks to check out new things.  When we walked on our road - we live on a dirt rad and there are no sidewalks - she knew just when to turn onto our property.  If she went even a few feet too far, she would stop, put her head up and sniff, then turn around and head right to the driveway. 

When I had knee surgery, she lay by my side and would not let any of the other animals come near me.  She would not eat or even go to do her business for over 12 hours.  Even then, Kristie had to make her go out.  As soon as she was finished, she came back to my side.  We had been worried that she would bump in to me but she knew something was wrong and protected me for a change! 

Jamie had two surprising quirks.  We had to wake her up every day!  This would have been a plus if we ever got to sleep in - but none of the other animals slept in!  We woke Jamie up every morning about 8:00 - just in time for her breakfast.  We had to sit next to her on the bed (she slept on my bed) and touch her.  She would slide over and put her head on my lap to be stroked until she was ready to get out of bed. 

The other quirk was a real surprise.  Jamie could not swim!  She did not even know how to stay afloat.  When I took her to the river with our other dogs one day and she got in deep water, she tipped right over like an overturned canoe!  Every time I got her upright, she tipped over again.  Obviously being blind and deaf affected her sense of balance.

Jamie was a real learning experience for us.  She taught me more than I can ever say about communicating and listening to our animal companions.

Jamie is no longer with us.  She was 13 years old when we lost her.  It was in early 2014 and I still miss her terribly.

This was Jamie playing with 2 visiting dogs - my Mom's boxer Brandi and a dog we were watching named Angel.  They would play for hours.  These 2 visitors and all our other dogs knew that Jamie could not play in the same way as other dogs.  They learned that she could not see a play bow or hear a play bark.  They would play with her by staying close and constantly touching her in some way.  It was something special to see.

Doesn't she look like a ghost.  Her coat was so white that sometimes she had an almost ethereal appearance.