LECHE- BOXER (DEAF)

STATE: near Phelps,NY
AGE: about 18 months
DOB: unsure
WEIGHT: about 50 lbs
SEX: female
NEUT/UTD: soon/yes
COAT COLOR: White 
DOCKED TAIL: Yes
CROPPED EARS: No
CHILDREN under 4: yes 
CHILDREN OVER 4: yes
SEPARATION ANXIETY: yes
OTHER DOGS: yes (w/proper introductions)
CATS: yes
CRATE TRAINED: learning
HOUSE TRAINED: yes
OBEDIENCE TRAINED: no
LEASH TRAINED: yes
MICROCHIPPED: unsure
ADOPTION FEE: $475

 

12/19/23-Leche girl had her vet specialist visit today & got great news! She is able to have her lump removed tomorrow & no special graft, etc needed.  She has enough loose skin to close it well & will be spayed too so will be ready to go home probably next week! She would be the perfect therapy, emotional support or child daycare or senior facility resident type dog. She may be deaf but she loves kids to adults & walkers & wheelchairs are no trouble. 
 
 
 
12/4/23-Leche has been with me for a little over 2 months.  Her deafness is a gift as far as her temperament is concerned.  She loves everyone she meets.  I believe she will make an amazing therapy dog.  She is especially good with groups of children and the developmentally disabled.  She is learning sign language and does pretty good with basic commands.  She reads your body language like a book! My granddaughter wanted to read to Leche.  I am not certain if it was the child attention that Leche liked the most or if it was the cookie crumbs on my granddaughters face!   She loves kids, and the more, the merrier!
 

11/26/23-We attended a house full of friends and family for a football game.  Leche behaved beautifully.  She graciously greeted people as they arrived.  Many she had never met before. She patiently milled around the children as they nicely played. The shouting and game cheering never phased her.   When mealtime came, she was provided a liverwurst loaded Kong and never gave the people enjoying their game feast another thought.   Leche climbed up in one gentleman’s lap and took a nap!   He remarked, “She’s so friendly, soft, and warm. I’d love a big lap dog like this!”   She blends in whatever crowd she is in.   I took her into the office last week for a few hours; she greeted people and then napped on her mat.  She would make a great companion for someone that works from home, a couple that work opposite, or someone that can take a dog to their job site.  Being mindful, of course, of the safety considerations for a deaf dog.   She’s an amazing companion that follows you everywhere.  Leche does not do well with being left alone and crate training continues to be a challenge.  If she is with someone, she is golden. Passing the 2 month-mark in her current foster, while I have errands to run, she has started making herself quite comfortable with “family life” at my son’s home with their dog, cats, kids and typical household activities.   As far as getting her enough exercise, we still do short walks twice a day.  Since I don’t have a physical fence, I place a 30-foot lead on her harness, and she works out her energy chasing her ball and getting in some zoomies. Once back indoors, she turns into a couch potato!   She’s not a fan of the cold weather so she gladly wears a jacket to keep her warm.   Medically she is well and will be having her surgical consult on 12/19 regarding her spay and consideration of the lump on her head. 

(Since I’m DEAF I need home with someone home more often. Ex: work at home, retired, at home parent, work opposite, etc) 

11/5/23-Leche is the most loving dog I have ever encountered in the many years of having dogs.  She totally rocked Halloween with the grandkids!  She attended a party, dressed in her pumpkin costume, surrounded by 12 adults and 18 children ages 3-8 years old.  Leche was amazing.  She worked the room like a gentle and gracious debutant!  Greeting everyone with her soft, schmoosy boxer face and wagging little tail.  Despite the crazy kid commotion, she laid in center of the room and let the party go on around her!  Her attendance confirms my belief that she will make a great therapy dog for children.  People’s acceptance of her differences is heartwarming as they see her beauty and feel her calming and loving presence.

She has been going on visits to my son’s home where his family has 2 cats and a 12-year-old large male mixed breed dog.  Leche is very comfortable with the dog-savvy cats and seems to enjoy interacting with them. She has even shared the sofa with the cats without any issues.  Leche loves to play with her big new dog friend, but he is old and doesn’t have the same vigor as she does.  So, she politely settles to match his energy.  She also loves to run along the fence line with the neighbor’s dog.  But their dog is much older and became lame with the increased activity so that activity was discouraged.  Very unfortunate for Leche because she seems to crave the interaction and be a dog with other dogs. 

10/15/23-Despite some setbacks coming to a new foster, which is anticipated, she is gradually adjusting to a new routine nearing her third week in her new foster.  Her personality is starting to shine!  She loves to play ball and shake the “stuffies” in typical dog fashion. Her favorite is when the grandkids, ages 6 and 8, come to visit and play. To them she is a mystical unicorn with a magical blue eye and they love spending time with her. Every now and then the zoomies appear too!  Despite being a young boxer, her episodes of high energy at this point are short lived and she then reveals what a sofa-sleeping, couch-potato she really is.  She loves nothing more than to be with and snuggle next to her humans. 

She walks beautifully on a loose leash with a front lead harness.  Since she is deaf, she watches everything and sniffs the ground like a bloodhound.  The neighbors stop to see her as they are curious about “the new girl in town”.  I live on a quiet dead-end street and walk at least twice a day, in addition to back yard time.  She will sometimes let out a low growl when she spots someone on her daily walk that is not typically there. Not an aggressive growl or posture, but one of alert with a “what’s that?” attitude.  She will gradually approach looking to be pet and be new best friends.  When the neighbor children go inside, she wants to follow them and will maintain her gaze in their direction well after they go inside.  She showed interest in getting on the school bus with them one morning!   Then seemed a little disappointed when the bus drove away. We are working with positive reinforcement training and communication.  Sign language-wise, she knows “sit”, “come” if it is short distances of 20-30 feet or so, “hush”, “quiet”, “back up”, “let’s go”, “yes”.  We are working on “outside”, “ball”, “eat”, “water”, “potty”, “wait”, “stay”, “off”, “leave it”, “recall” at longer distances, “Go for a ride”, “good girl”, and “look at me”.   The toughest one at this point is getting her to lay down with a “down” hand command, but I am confident that it will come with time. While she is potty trained for outside, I am still trying to learn her signals for need to go. I think it is a whimper and going to the door, at this point, as one might expect.

 I have also been trying to get her to ring the bell at the door. For about 3 weeks . . .she is rocking it!  p.s.  She loves to ride in the car.

Leche has tremendous promise for a family who is interested in a deaf dog that has a lot of unconditional love to give.  She is an amazing testament to the world that despite a disability and different appearance, she is a true ambassador of goodwill. Dogs teach can teach us to be better people, if we open our hearts and our minds. 

 
 
10/10/23-I took Lucie to my vet yesterday for evaluation of the lesion on her head along with setting her up to spay.   My vet had never seen a lesion like this before (as rescue we have seen it on several boxers over they years).  My vet agrees with us that it warrants removal in order to prevent problems in the future and doing it during the spay sounds like a good plan.   However she feels given the size of the area it won’t close up easily & is worthy of a surgical consult with VCA in Ithaca, NY as she may need a graft or mesh. Leche has a surgical consult appointment Tuesday, December 19 with them.

 Leche is a young dog with an amazing temperament.   Deaf dogs rock!  Separation anxiety is her only set back towards being a model citizen.  I, along with phone support from both Jill and Nancy, think we may be able to get through the anxiety.  I feel that Leche, in time would make an amazing therapy dog as she loves people and is very drawn to children.   She was most loving and gentle to a severely handicapped wheelchair bound young man that I know.   I am not seeing any signs of aggression with her and she is gradually learning hand commands.  She certainly knows American Sign Language for “Stop” and “No”.  LOL. That is a lot in the short time that I have had her. 

10/1/23-Here is an update on Leche, now calling Lucie(easier to say lol).  She is such a sweet girl.  I am working on getting some well needed weight on her.  She walks well on a leash.  Is house trained.  Loves people and kids!.  Is definitely a lap dog.  I engage her in play for which she is good for about 3-5 minutes, then she stops showing interest .   She loves to ride in the car, but don’t leave her in it for a minute where she cannot see you as she will go crazy to get to where you are.   She responds fairly well to a hand command for “come” and is learning to sit with hand commands.   My command priority right now is to “look at me”.  She sniffs and intensely watches everything in her environment as one would expect for a deaf dog.  She is very compelled to go to people and other dogs.   She does not seem to understand boundaries when it comes to other dogs, and she quickly wants to enter their space which is not well received by most.  While I have not made any attempt to introduce her to anyone’s dog I have many neighbors with dogs and most people walk them in the neighborhood.  My next door neighbors’ dogs have a physical fence and bark like crazy at her through the fence.  She is compelled to go up to them, very intently watching them. Our greatest obstacle to overcome is separation anxiety, and I can understand why she has it, for a number of reasons.  If she cannot see me and I am out of her reach she starts barking, a lot. She is definitely not going to be a good city/condo/apartment dog. If I go to another place in the house, she immediately comes looking for me and rather frantically if she doesn’t see me leave.  Crating has been tough,  I feed her in the crate, put high value treats in the crate and she still is very unhappy!  I had to leave for 3 hours on Saturday & she carried on when I left but was calm when I returned 3 hours later.  I’ve contacted a trainer that I know.  She therapy dog trained Baxter and me.   She is amazing. I also will probably order a heavy duty “lion crate” type dog crate so she can’t get hurt trying to get out when left.  I am familiar with desensitizing techniques but never had to implement them.  Time, trust, patience, love, and prayers.  I have great hopes for her, she is such a loving soul. 
 
9/27/23-A volunteer that spent some time with Leche said she absolutely adores her but she had too many dogs for her to thrive there. She said she is a very chill, easy going girl. Friendly and well behaved. She is pretty content just hanging around and getting some snuggles. Leche found a foster home without other dogs & will be moving from boarding to the foster home tonight. Updates soon! 


9/17/23-To whomever this may help, I am the foster that was with Leche. She is an absolute sweetheart, and loves nothing more than to cuddle. I suspect her spats with my dog possibly came from her needing to be fixed. Other than that, she is a really good girl, that I’m sure will be better after being spayed.

9/15/23-Leche went to the vet this morning & got her shots updated & heartworm/Lyme test (all negative).  As far as people Leche is super friendly and loves to cuddle/nap. Another volunteer spent 45 minutes with her today and said she is a very nice dog. Unfortunately she had to move to a boarding kennel tonight & is in need of a new foster home asap!  She had a spat late last night with the senior dog in her foster home while they were leaving to go on a walk. Not sure if it was the high excitement that caused it, the fact the the dogs were on a coupler (so in close quarters to each other versus a separate leash) or maybe she was comfortable enough to start being bossy/not wanting to share her attention. With that said Leche needs either an only dog foster home o one with a set up to separate and do slow introductions/keep separate if needed & work on her adjusting to another dog again. Once we secure a foster home then she will need to get spayed. 

9/07/23-Leche is a very sweet about 18 month old deaf boxer girl owner surrender that came into rescue today thanks to her transport volunteer.  Her owner had a personal issue & he was suddenly no longer able to keep her. She was living alone in an empty house for about 2 weeks while a friend was going to take care of her daily. She said Leche is very sweet & used to sleep snuggled up under the blanket with her owner. Her current owner had got her on Craigslist and Leche’s original owner said she was good with kids. In that original home she lived with 10 other dogs & she was the smallest & had to fight for food. Other than this the friend helping Leche get into rescue said she doesn’t know much about her but said she deserves more then what she is able to give her. We are working on getting a spay date & have the lump on her head looked at too.  More updates soon from her foster home.