As many of you know, I am a member of HeARTs Speak. Each week a number of us are participating in a forum group that asks us to interpret, in a photo or a group of photos, the prescribed theme of the week. This week's theme is "something blue."
I knew immediately when I saw the theme that I would be using our dog Burton as part of my response. Burton was rescued by Another Chance for English Setters, and has been with us for about 6 years. He came to us as a puppy. Burton is a deaf Field Setter. He knows an array of hand signs, and if you were a first time visitor to our house you would not know he was deaf until I told you. Sometimes I think he, and our other deaf dog, Piper--a border collie--"hear" better than our hearing dogs.
Deaf dogs are no trouble. They hold a stigma and there are many myths about them, but I would adopt a deaf dog in a heartbeat. They are easy to train and really watch your body language. Sometimes Burton knows what I'm going to do before I even do it.
Burton has one beautiful, crystal blue eye, and his brown eye has a patch of blue in it. His breeder was breeding for the white in his coat, often connected to deafness.
I knew immediately when I saw the theme that I would be using our dog Burton as part of my response. Burton was rescued by Another Chance for English Setters, and has been with us for about 6 years. He came to us as a puppy. Burton is a deaf Field Setter. He knows an array of hand signs, and if you were a first time visitor to our house you would not know he was deaf until I told you. Sometimes I think he, and our other deaf dog, Piper--a border collie--"hear" better than our hearing dogs.
Deaf dogs are no trouble. They hold a stigma and there are many myths about them, but I would adopt a deaf dog in a heartbeat. They are easy to train and really watch your body language. Sometimes Burton knows what I'm going to do before I even do it.
Burton has one beautiful, crystal blue eye, and his brown eye has a patch of blue in it. His breeder was breeding for the white in his coat, often connected to deafness.
Many times I'll get questions about whether or not I did something to the color of Burton's eyes in my photographs. Really, I don't have to do anything. They speak for themselves. I sometimes sharpen the eye itself, but his eyes are effortless to photograph.
Burton really is a little boy at heart. He loves his orange ball and carries it with him everywhere he goes when he is outside. He is a stellar ball retriever and can jump extremely high in the air to grab his ball on a bounce. He is very attentive and treat oriented. He may be nearly 6 years old, but he is still a puppy at heart. He does not warm up to people or dogs he does not know as fast as our other dogs do, but within a few hours he acclimates under our direction to just about any situation.
Unlike his left eye, he is never blue.
Unlike his left eye, he is never blue.
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