Meet Our own deaf
Dane  Ambassador
Chance
Adopted 2/1/04!

Chance and two of his new
kitty friends
Chance showing his goofy ears
and steely stare
Chance breaking in his new
bed and stuffed buddy
Chance becomes a Certified Service Dog!

I'm including a picture of Chance this winter in his
service dog vest (his outside version) to show you  how handsome he looks when all decked out.
Dear Marc,

I have some really great news about Chance that I wanted to share with you. I suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. During the summer it became evident that Chance was very tuned in to how I felt. His actions made it apparent that he was picking up on how my body was reacting to things sometimes before I even realized how I felt.  I returned to teaching this fall and my doctors felt that having Chance with me could make my disability easier to deal with.
 
In late November Chance and I took and passed our service dog certification training through PAWS. So, Chance now comes to work with me everyday as my service dog. He loves going to school every day and can not wait to hop in the car and head out each morning. He then spends most of his day hanging out by my desk and occasionally walking with my class and I from our room to the specialist's rooms.

The school district has been very supportive of both Chance and I, and parents are constantly coming up and telling me how much their child loves having Chance at school. Chance gets lots of comments whenever we take him out and we are always sharing his story of coming to us from Deaf Dane Rescue. He is such a total gentleman that people often say they didn't even realize we had a dog until they walked past and saw him laying on the floor. I thought you would really enjoy hearing how that scared and shy boy we adopted from you has turned into a star service dog.


  • Gender- male
  • Age - ~21/2 years
  • DOB - 6/17/01
  • Height  at the shoulder - ~34"
  • Weight - ~180
  • Spayed/Neutered -Yes
  • Taken in on  - 1/24/04
  • Available as of - 5/21/04
  • Housebroken - yes
  • Obedience trained - working on it
  • Good with other dogs - sort of
    •
    • with cats - probably
    • with kids - yes
    • with the elderly - yes
      •
  • Temperament - Under evaluation now




  • Comments
    •
Chance is a very sweet boy who is completely overwhelmed by the recent upheaval in his life. He is a shy sort of timid boy who is unsure of other dogs. He was picked on by the dogs in his previous home and so he is sure other dogs are going to attack or at least bully him. He has growled a few times but only when really pushed into a corner by another dog, and even then he doesn't do anything more than just growl and try to crawl into the corner.

He is unsure about people too, though not nearly as bad as with dogs. He takes some time to warm up to strangers, though he isn't at all aggressive and basically just wants to stay out of reach. If cornered he just stands there. He is not a fear biter. He is a bit retarded in his social development and has come to us untrained. Right now he has some separation issues and wants to stay close to me all the time. He is depressed right now and missing his mommy and his old life. He spent the first day here going from one window to another looking out and crying. Chance is one of those dogs that tends to be in your way a lot, especially when he is stressed out. He has a real knack for blocking your path and staying in your way. It can be pretty frustrating when you are trying hard to get to the phone or do something right away.

Update 1/31/04 - Well Chance has been with us a week now and we are finally getting to see the inner dog. He has opened up quite a bit to me and is a very sweet affectionate calm dog. He is also eager to please. I had to crate him the other day for a while and he really did not want to go in. He really does not like being crated. Later that day when Chance was out of the crate, I was trying to get another dog in the crate and Chance saw me calling the other dog. He immediately came right over and went right in the crate, thinking I was a gesturing for him to get in the crate. Though he is untrained, he tries hard to figure out what my signs mean and what I want, and he always tries to do what I am asking. He does not understand the format of training yet, but once he gets that, I believe he will be easy to train.

His potty training has been pretty good. He's had two accidents, but given the stress and turmoil in his life right now, and the complete change in schedules etc., that is really very good. He didn't want to eat for several days, but he is eating regularly now and has adapted to our feeding schedule.

He is wagging his tail a lot now, we didn't see any tail wagging for several days when he first got here. But he is putting that tail to good use now. He is also giving the occasional kiss now.  He is not cowering from all the other dogs now. He isn't interested in playing with them, but he will let them cuddle up to him and sleep on the same bed with him. If another dog gets too pushy he will snarl at them and give them plenty of warning. If they ignore his warnings he will snap, but again just as a warning, he is not trying to bite them. He seems to like the other dogs company, but is just not sure he can really trust them yet.

We are very pleased with his progress. He is clearly going to make someone a wonderful pal.

Click here to fill out an application to adopt Chance or any of the DDRI dogs.
We will post additional photos of Chance as time goes by, so check back often.
And if you have any questions about Chance or any of our dogs, email us or call us at 541-746-0863




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" Never trust a dog to watch your food." - Patrick age 10 Advice from Kids.

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