Lola

Catahoula's are the state dog of Louisiana … Really … LOL … Wikpedia has a nice article … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catahoula_Leopard_Dog

They come in all kinds of coats and colors from patchwork, merle, brindle and combinations there of. What sets them apart are the webbed feet and the glass eyes …

Lola is Merle and white with piercing blue eyes, while Cowboy is patchwork (all shades of brown and black) with the softest mossy green eyes you'll ever see, yet they come from the same home and we think share the same father.

When we lost our old Dane (he was almost 18 years old…really) in July, I thought I'd never own another dog…in fact, I didn't want to…after a life time of Danes in the house, I knew I was getting too old to handle one again… especially if they got sick and had to go to the vet…The last three danes we had all had to be carried to the car at one time or another… but that's a whole nuther story…

Anyway, being from the south, (my husband is Cajun), we decided on a good ole southern dog… the Catahoula… after we just couldn't stand having a dogless house. We contacted Catahoula Rescue, and fell in love with Cowboy's photo's… After we brought Cowboy home from Texas (yep… we drove 4 hours to and from Texline to pick him up on a Cur run.) we were contacted by Rescue again about Lola. Both dogs had been surrendered at a high kill shelter near Houston, both had gone into different foster homes. Lola was placed, but the new owners couldn't keep her in the yard. She was an escape artist. I was very reluctant to adopt a deaf dog. I got on the deaf dogs list to do research. We finally agreed to take Lola.

I was on a job in Wheeler Tex and was able to meet those gracious souls that love to transport dogs in Wichita Falls. The ride home was 12 hours long… I didn't know how to communicate with her… and she did NOT like riding all that way! I made a stop in a little town and bought her a toy at the dollar store. It lasted 5 miles out of town, where I watched her in her crate in the back of the SUV absolutely demolish that toy… I stopped at a roadside area and trashed it…I was terrified at each stop we made that she would slip her lead and I wouldn't be able to call her back. But, you know, she watched me the whole way home…and on that ride home I signed an L for Lola in the rear view mirror… over and over again. By the time we got to the Springs, she knew her sign name. Catahoula's are really smart dogs.

She loved seeing her Bubba again. They were both so happy! The days turned into weeks, and we worked on basic signs like come, sit, stay, good girl, and lay down. She picked them up so quickly… The only thing we were concerned about was she seemed to be in her own little world, willing to interact, but unwilling to become a part of the household. And then, something wonderful happened… she started acting like the 9 month old puppy she was… we saw our first play bow to Cowboy, then more and more she became interactive. She would initiate play with us, and give us a quirky little smile. She chased her own tail.

We now speak to Cowboy and Lola both in voice and sign. It's just second nature. Cowboy has taught her the ropes… no pee or poop in the house, when the back door opens it's time to go inside. She watches him constantly while they are outside… that is when they aren't playing clash of the titans, or "it's mine and you can't have it". LOL…

So now we have two dogs in the house… and one is incidentally deaf.