The dot-com boom

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Much like the dot-com Internet companies that boomed and then crashed from 1995 to 2000, the East County’s newest Dot-Com sensation is running and crashing blindly from excitement.

Meet Dot and Com, some of the newest residents of Nate’s Honor Animal Rescue’s Ranch adoption location.

The now 12-week-old American bulldog mix puppies are both deaf and vision impaired. Although Com is completely blind, Dot can see somewhat from her left eye. The puppies’ eyes did not form properly.

“They’re very loving; they’re very affectionate,” says University Park’s Peggy Miller, who fostered the puppies until they were ready to come to the Ranch for adoption Nov. 1. “They’re just like any other puppies — very energetic.”

Nate’s Honor Animal Rescue took the puppies Sept. 26, after they were left in an empty Pampers diaper box at the steps of a Venice veterinarian’s office. Two other puppies inside the box had died by the time they were found. Sarasota Animal Services responded and placed the surviving pups with Honor.

“They were 4 weeks old when we got them,” Honor Executive Director Dari Oglesby said.

Miller watches as the puppies leap and bound into one another in a fenced-in play area at the ranch. She notes Dot uses her small bit of sight to her advantage during puppy play time, although she still doesn’t see well enough to obey hand commands.

Miller claps for their attention and then laughs. You can’t help but try calling their names to get their attention, she said.

“If you have always had dogs, you have certain things you do with them,” she says with a shrug.

Oglesby says placing the pups in the right home as quickly as possible is important to ensure the dogs are well-trained and confident as adults. However, Honor is being selective as to who can take the pups because of their unique needs.

The ideal family would have an older gentle dog to serve as a guide dog, of sorts, and an owner who has experience training deaf or blind dogs and is home most of the day. Honor prefers that the future owner has no intention of moving, so the puppies can learn their way around the home.

Future owners would have to make sure their home is a safe environment for the pups, eliminating sticks in the yard or other sharp objects that are at eye level for the animals, as well.

The female puppies each weigh about 15 pounds now, but will likely weigh between 55 and 70 pounds as adults.

”We don’t want someone to take them because they feel bad for them,” Oglesby said. “It’s all about finding the right home.”

Currently, Honor volunteers work with the puppies about eight times a day, about twice as much as the typical puppy.

“Everything needs to be a learning experience for them,” Oglesby said, adding they are working on touch therapy. Honor volunteer Greg Marshall, who adopted a deaf dog from Honor previously, has been assisting with Dot and Com’s training.

Miller said the pups already are learning and have mastered the command of sit, when she touches their rear end.

“I think it’s going to take a little more time (to train them), but they learned to sit in two sessions,” Miller said. “It’s like having a disabled child. They will get it.”

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

FUN FACT
Dr. Karen Salisbury, of Animal Eye Care, saw the puppies right away. She named them Dot (for the black dot on her nose) and Com.

ADOPTION INFO
For information about Dot and Com or Nate's Honor Animal Rescue, call 747-4900 or visit nateshonoranimalrescue.org.