Venus

Venus, our second foster puppy, is an English Setter. Venus was named after the Venus flytrap plant and not the goddess of love, but someone "up there" certainly loved Venus and looked out for her. Venus was a stray who wound up at the house of my sister-law's neighbor. Where she came from and how she got there, no one knows.

From there, she was placed in a temporary foster home for a week, then she came to live with us. Her previous foster home didn't tell the shelter that they suspected Venus was deaf, or she would've been put to sleep. It's not that the shelter is heartless, there just aren't enough homes for healthy pets. One with a "defect" is almost impossible to place. To make matters worse, as a setter, her usual "purpose" in life is to be a hunting dog. A deaf dog can't hunt.

Several people were interested in her, but they always lost interest when they discovered that she might be deaf. She gave mixed responses, so no one could say for sure whether she really was deaf (not even a vet). It would've taken an expensive BAER test to know for sure and no one was willing or able to pay for it. Things did not look good for Venus.

Then, there was the evening when Alison (my youngest) learned how to open the front door and let Venus out. (Fortunately, my dog Tasha was too amazed by the door being wide open to escape quickly enough. All I needed was to be chasing two dogs around the neighborhood!) I discovered the open door almost immediately, but already Venus was no where to be found. How can you call a dog who probably can't hear and doesn't respond to her name? I was so worried that she would get out to the main road and be hit by a car she couldn't hear coming down the road. I kept looking out my dining room window, on the hunch that if she came back near our home, she would be attracted to the birds that liked to gather on the nearby phone wires. Deaf or not, Venus has a strong hunting instinct.

Finally, I saw Venus collapse on a neighbor's lawn to watch the birds, too exhausted to chase after them. I must've looked like an idiot, sprinting down the road in the sticky summer heat, but I had to catch her before she took off again. She was filthy, thirsty and tired, but she was safe and unhurt!

Venus must've been a cat in a former life, because she has certainly lived through more than one scrape. Fortunately her story, like Princess', has a happy ending. Venus was adopted by a student at the local university's vet school. Venus finally had her BAER test and, although she is technically considered deaf, one of her ears does respond to certain frequencies. No wonder we had such a difficult time judging her hearing.

Venus was a sweet, loving dog with typical boundless puppy energy. I hope that the rest of her life is a little more sedate!