Hobo Haven

When Brian and I brought Hobo to Woodlawn Kennel on June 25, 1997, to have his nails cut, we never imagined that we would be bringing home another family member.  There was a mixed-breed dog, just a little bigger than Hobo was, playing in the yard with the owners' children. Her name was "Bitsy," and she was looking for a home. She originally came to the kennel as a stray, frostbitten and malnourished puppy. She'd been adopted out several times over a couple of years and kept running away from her homes, the last time she was picked up at a vets because she'd been hit by a car.

We changed "Bitsy" to "Emma."  She was a bit on the round side and loved to eat, Bitsy may have fit when she was first found but not anymore!  She and Hobo became inseparable, and she was wonderful with Brian! Her mother is a German Shepherd mix, but Emma's personality seems to be predominately terrier with a dash of beagle.  We think she is probably part Am. Staffordshire Terrier but whatever she is, it's a wonderful combination!  This is not to say that life with Emma has been a bed of roses.  She can be a pushy girl, and she continued to try to run off, because she loves to run and have someone chase her!  Now that we have a large pasture fenced in, Emma has been sticking close to home, but every once in a while, we see a little twinkle in her eye, and know that we'd better keep an eye on her!  Our wonderful trainer and team of supportive friends have saved our sanity more than once since our dog experience was very limited and Emma is one smart and determined girl!

Over the past year, there have been days when Emma has not seemed quite herself.  We were worried and took her in for tests, but everything appeared to be normal.  The vague symptoms continued to worsen; Emma often seemed confused, slept a lot more, and was hard to wake.  When the other dogs were playing, Emma stayed off by herself.  Emma's always been a barker, but she started barking frantically, looking at her human family members and getting louder and louder.  Somehow, we finally caught on Emma was losing her hearing.  We are trying to retrain her and ourselves using standard obedience hand signals, as well as American Sign Language, with a few other made up signs thrown in.  Our goal was to learn one new sign per week, but we haven't made a lot of progress.  However, Emma does seem much happier now that we've caught on that we need to make an extra effort to communicate with her.

Emma has stayed pretty healthy since our last update.  She occasionally has a bit of back pain, but not enough to slow her down.  She is mellowing as she gets older and is more tolerant of other dogs, but she has not lost her wonderful feisty terrier  personality.  Being a confident dog, Em does not get worried when she can't hear what someone is saying; she just assumes you are saying you want to give her a butt rub and all the cookies she can eat. Company will often find themselves with our Emma standing patiently between their legs until they remember what she 'heard' them say.  

Emma and her friends are waiting patiently for Halloween.  
Come and join in the fun.

Emma plays keep away with Dad.

Emma is not very happy after Lucy pushed her into the snow bank!

Emma politely requests a belly rub.

Emma

Lucy

Joe

Harry

Wrecker

Butch

Isabell

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