The life of Ivor was not easy especially first seven months of his life were full of confusion.
He was moved to many dog shelters and have five different owners in just one year. All the owners claimed that ”There’s something wrong with him!”, “He can’t hear!” No family was ready to keep Ivor with them and every time when he settled in somewhere he was dismissed.
At the end of 2017, Ivor had once again entered the RSPCA’s system for sheltering animals for the fifth time, he had lost his family. People who owned Ivor claimed that he was a loud dog and wouldn’t stop barking.
When the shelter decided to investigate why people don’t want to adopt Ivor, the reason was something that was really heartbreaking.
When he was returned fifth time by a family who couldn’t understand why the dog behaved so strangely then the staff at the RSPCA smell something suspicious.
When volunteers at Ivor’s dog shelter tested his hearing, they realized that he was having problems fitting in a normal home and he couldn’t hear anything. None of his previous owners had known that Ivor is deaf but luckily the animal lovers at the shelter immediately began to learn sign language to communicate with Ivor.
Fortunately, Ivor learned quickly himself.
The volunteers first taught him to come close by making him touch the palm of their outstretched hand then taught him other basic commands.
Ivor was put up for adoption once again and a girl named Ellie Bromilow would eventually become his owner. The RSPCA has taught Ivor many commands, Ellie was eager to teach him more as she wanted to help Ivor discover everything he had missed out on at other homes.
Ellie said: ”He’d already learned the sign command for “sit” and “come” from the staff at the RSPCA centre, but now he knows lots more like “lie down”, “stay”, “all gone” and he’s learning “roll over.”
“Having a deaf dog is just like having a hearing dog. We still speak to him as we sign and I chat to him a lot – even though he can’t hear a word,” she added.
A post on Ivor’s Facebook page says: ”While other dogs may miss things, my eyes are trained to observe everything. Even when I sleep, I see all, I feel the vibration of doors and footsteps and can sniff a piece of ham from a mile away.”
