Deaf dog once thought to be untrainable wins champion agility title

She was born deaf, and surrendered to the Nova ScotiaSPCA as "untrainable."

But Seven, a suspected border collie who was rescued as athree-month-old puppy, recently received the Agility Trial Championof Canada title, completing a seven-year climb through the ranks ofcanine athleticism with the rescuer who became trainer and teammate.

"It was a huge sense of relief because we'd been trying so hardfor so long ... I felt the window was closing," said dog trainer andagility coach Adina MacRae. "We needed to prove that deaf dogs cando it, because that's why she was surrendered she was 'too deaf totrain.'"

First Nova Scotianpup to win title

MacRae said she adopted Seven to show the world that deaf dogscan do whatever hearing dogs can. The now nine-year-old isn't thefirst deaf dog to achieve the title, but MacRae said she believesshe's the only Nova Scotian pup to ever do so.

Agility is a dog sport in which a handler directs their caninethrough an obstacle course, aiming for both speed and accuracy. Thedogs must navigate jumps, a teeter-totter, weave poles and tunnels normally following a human partner's hand signals and verbal cues.

The Agility Trial Champion known as the ATChCis obtainedonly after achieving every other title at the starter, advanced andmasters level of competitive agility. Fittingly, MacRae and Sevenclinched their title exactly seven years and a day after theirfirst-ever qualifying score.

'Everyone goes silent' when Seven competes

It's been seven years of relatively peaceful competition, ascrowds at agility competitions tend to fall strangely silent
whenever Seven steps in the ring.

"For some reason everyone goes quiet when they're watching hercompete," said MacRae with a laugh. "We can't figure out why thatis, because she's going to be the least distracted dog on the coursewhen it comes to noises."

During a recent interview at Nova Dogsport in Harrietsfield,N.S., just outside Halifax, MacRae said she trained Seven byfiguring out what motivated the medium-sized, grey and white pupwith piercing blue eyes and it was food.

She said instead of speaking to the dog, she uses hand signalssuch as a thumbs up to indicate a job well done.

Trainer taught withhand signals

"I knew that she was starting to understand the thumbs up handsignal when she started licking her lips in anticipation of thetreat," said MacRae as a restless Seven waited at her side, pinktongue lolling from a grinning mouth, eyes darting watchfully aroundthe gym.

MacRae said using hand signals is actually a much more naturalway to communicate with dogs because canines rely heavily on bodylanguage to communicate with each other, making the training less ofa challenge than might be expected.

"So because she's never had to conform to my human way ofspeaking, I've had to conform to her way of communicating and it'sbeen a fairly easy process," said MacRae, an agility coach and dogtrainer with Sublime Canine.

"Once I taught her the obstacles like I would teach any dog theobstacles using whatever motivates them, it's just a matter ofpointing her in the right direction and teaching her the differenthand signals to guide her around the course."

'Give a deaf dog a chance'

In fact, Seven's biggest challenge has not been her inability tohear. MacRae said she used to be afraid of things like shadows andceiling fans.

She's also very friendly sometimes too friendly, she said.

"That was another one of our challenges. She would often govisit the judge or visit the ring crew and of course with a deaf dogyou can't call them back. You have to wait for them to turn aroundand make eye contact," said MacRae, who owns 11 dogs including apapillon, a borzoi, a Chihuahua and a few mixed-breeds.

Now that Seven so named because she was the seventh dog addedto MacRae and her partner's pack has achieved her championshiptitle, MacRae says she'll likely retire. But she hopes Seven's longand decorated career inspires people to adopt a rescue dog.

"I find that a lot of people can be skeptical about getting arescue dog to compete with. But give the rescues a chance. They canbe great companions as well as great dog sport performance dogs," said MacRae, adding that Seven has also worked as a therapy dog.

"If the opportunity comes along, give a deaf dog a chance. Theyhave great personalities and they can be trained just as easily ifnot more easily than the hearing dogs because there's fewerdistractions for them. They can be great family pets."