Deaf Dachshund Learns Sign Language
Deaf dachshund Sparky, finally had his day after he was given a permanent home at Missouri School for the Deaf.
The one-year-old dachshund Sparky, was taught to understand hand signals by prisoners at a Missouri prison before being taken in by the Missouri School for the Deaf in Fulton. Sparky was trained sign language through a program that pairs rescue dogs with prison mates. When the eight weeks of training was over, the inmates at the South Central Correctional Center in Licking decided they wanted Sparky to live with deaf students.
Today, Sparky is right at home with the school's youngsters, who have taught him additional sign language. The students continue adding to the sign language Sparky learned from the inmates. He already knows the signs for "no," "sit," "lay down," "stay," "stop" and "heel,” and s working on additional signs that mean “food” and “outside.” And a second deaf dog, a Boston Terrier named Petie, may be on his way to the school soon.
Sparky and Petie come from the Puppies for Parole program of the Missouri Department of Corrections in which inmates train animals with behavioral or other issues that make them difficult to adopt. The program saves dogs that might otherwise be euthanized and it gives inmates a constructive activity.
0 comments:
Post a Comment