Meet Penny! - Oh My Canine!

Meet Penny, this gorgeous lady:

In the foreground, a white arm with a black watch band reaches forward to stroke the chin of Penny, a white Catahoula leopard dog with a pink and brown freckled nose, one open blue eye, and one closed eye. Her ears hang down along her head and both have injuries on the tips. The background is blurred to obscure the permanent mess of the kitchen shelves behind Penny.

If we’re linked on Instagram, you’ve already briefly met this pretty girl. However, I’d prefer to formally introduce her and share her story with you!

However, first, a fact: I didn’t anticipate to be introducing a canine to you right this moment. In actual fact, I deliberate–and nonetheless do plan–to put in writing two posts about pet loss and grief, one particular to children shedding a pet and one particular to a cat shedding a canine greatest buddy. These posts will nonetheless come as a result of I feel they’re invaluable. And, additionally, I didn’t anticipate to undertake a brand new canine till the spring.

Why the spring? Properly, I believed housetraining within the winter could be an enormous ache. Additionally, John tore his labrum (shoulder cartilage… I feel?) and wanted to have a fairly vital surgical procedure the week between Christmas and New Yr’s. I figured on high of our common loopy life, plus his restoration (no driving for him for a month!!!), it wasn’t the precise time for a canine.

And the universe laughed.

And delivered us Penny.

Penny, the Catahoula leopard dog, with a mostly white coat and a smattering of brown spots on her hind end, reclines on a gray poof with a cream, red, and green knit blanket on top.

10 info about Penny:

She had a LONG journey to our home. Confiscated from a hoarding scenario in Alabama, she was bumped to an overcrowded shelter. Then, a non-public rescue picked her (and certainly one of her puppies) up, then she was moved to a foster who wasn’t in a position to take care of her, so she was despatched to a different rescue and one other foster, after which–lastly–to our household.
Due to her background, she’s a timid and fearful girl. We now have a LOT of skill-building to work on together with her!
Penny is bilaterally deaf (deaf in each ears) and unilaterally blind (blind in her proper eye).
She can’t get sufficient affection. Like, for those who cease patting her to take a sip of our espresso, she nuzzles you till you get again to it. She desires to climb all the way in which into your lap or push in opposition to your hip or lean in your shoulder at. all. occasions.
Penny is terrified of Newt and Ripley and provides them a WIDE berth. Which is sweet. It can assist them belief her quicker, I feel.
At her first go to to our vet, she was the most well-liked lady within the place! She soaked up all the eye, and ended up with a mostly-clean invoice of well being. She has hookworms (blech) and a bit of particles in her facet the vet thinks is a bb (grrr) however in any other case she’s in nice form.
Candy Penny doesn’t have the flexibility to stroll from room to room but. Why? No thought! She’s too scared to enter the kitchen in any respect, and she or he completely won’t stroll upstairs. We had a HUGE win when she began strolling from the bed room to the lounge on her personal. Nonetheless, she presses up in opposition to the wall and skitters between these rooms. Within the meantime, I simply carry her in all places. She’ll get it, and fortuitously I’ve tons of persistence (for animals)! 🙂
After her first week with us, Penny grew to become assured sufficient to run across the yard, and she or he is now an expert at zoomies! She has but to play with a toy, although, so we’re slowly serving to her learn to canine.
She’s listed as a Catahoula leopard canine–a breed I do know nothing about however am having fun with studying! That stated, I’m going to DNA take a look at her. Has anybody finished one just lately? Is there a most well-liked model today? I haven’t finished one since I did the Knowledge Panel with Cooper and Lucas so would love any insights!
She’s principally white with a smattering of brown spots, together with one heart-shaped spot on her hip.

A closeup of the back right hip of Penny, the Catahoula leopard dog. Her coat is mostly white except a scattering of brown spots across her back end. This closeup shows one large heart-shaped spot in the middle of several brown splotches.

As you could already know, our household is studying ASL already–our daughter, Astrid, was born hard-of-hearing and attends a sign-immersive preschool program at our state’s Deaf faculty, so we have already got a stable background. That stated, this can be a entire new problem for me as a lifelong clicker coach! I must construct new expertise as I assist Penny alongside! I acquired an incredible referral for an area coach to work with, and I’m following these movies on YouTube.

I’ll have far more to share, after all, as we get to know Penny and go on this new journey collectively. I’ve at all times written about matters associated to what I’m going by way of with my very own canine. That’s what began this weblog and the way I plan to proceed. So, whereas I coated remedy canine work with Emmett, reactive canine coaching with Lucas and Cooper, pit bull advocacy, and a lot extra particular to them, with fairly Penny, I’ve a lot extra to be taught and share. Some matters off the highest of my head that I’ll be masking: the double merle gene that causes these canine to be deaf or blind, coaching a deaf canine, coaching a partially-sighted canine, her breed data, and extra.

What would YOU prefer to find out about Penny or what normal canine matters would you want to talk about in 2024? I’d like to know what you’re interested by and what you’d like to debate!

Within the meantime, let’s join on Instagram! I’m sharing gobs and gobs of Penny pics there and can chronicle her journey extra repeatedly in that house!