Austin, Cincinnati, OH

Hi, my name’s Austin. Don’t let the name fool you, I’m a GIRL! 🙂

When I was a little five month old puppy, I was dumped in Northern Kentucky. No one is exactly sure how long I’d been alone on the streets. I was underweight, you could see all my ribs. But I love people so much and will run straight up to the first person I see!

A nice lady found me running down the highway, and picked me up. She took care of me for two weeks while she was trying to find my owners. When nobody stepped forward to claim me, she put an ad on Craigslist looking for my new home. My foster mom was sad that she couldn’t keep me herself, but she knew finding me a new home was best.

My mom saw the ad on Craigslist and was drawn to my big, goofy ears! She checked back, noticing the ad was still up, for almost a week. All day at work, her mind drifted to me. She emailed my foster mom and asked if she could come meet me.

When my mom showed up that evening, I ran out the front door and almost knocked her over with all my excitement and love, BOL!! I jumped on her, and gave her kisses, and wiggled all around. I knew things were going to be better from here on out.

My mom realized that I’m deaf my very first night home. My foster mom had sent me with some toys, and I chewed my stuffed bunny to shreds and had stuffing everywhere, BOL. When my mom got the vacuum out to clean up my mess, I had my back to her. When she turned the vacuum on I didn’t even flinch. Later that week she took me to the vet for my shots, and they did a few tests to confirm Mom’s suspicions.

She thinks my old family probably abandoned me because they thought I was dumb, and didn’t realize I’m deaf. I didn’t know anything when I first came to live with my new mom, but she’s taught me sign language and now I listen very well. I learned so quick! It only took about 10 minutes for me to get the hang of sit!

Now I’m much smarter, and I know sit, lay down, roll over, stay, come, NO, and hugs. I’m still learning about walking nicely on a leash, and not jumping on people, but I’ll figure it out with a little more work.

Mom just enrolled me in obedience classes to start working towards earning my CGC, and then learn about agility! She’s showed me some videos on the YouTube, and BOY, DOES THAT STUFF LOOK FUN!!! I can’t wait!

I want to help educate people, not only about BSL, but deaf dogs and Craigslist dogs. I’m trying to become a K9 Blood Donor. I would like to start doing some fundraisers for rescues and special needs dogs in the future. You can follow me on Facebook at Austin the Deaf Bull Terrier/Pit Bull!

Mom says I will forever be a part of her family, and because of me, she will always own/foster deaf dogs.

Love,
Austin

Parent: Lauren