Deaf dog once thought to be untrainable wins champion agility title
HALIFAX — She was born deaf, and surrendered to the Nova Scotia SPCA as “untrainable.”
But Seven, a suspected border collie who was rescued as a three-month-old puppy, recently received the Agility Trial Champion of Canada title, completing a seven-year climb through the ranks of canine athleticism with the rescuer who became trainer and teammate.
“It was a huge sense of relief because we’d been trying so hard for so long…I felt the window was closing,” said dog trainer and agility coach Adina MacRae. “We needed to prove that deaf dogs can do it, because that’s why she was surrendered – she was ‘too deaf to train.’”
MacRae said she adopted Seven to show the world that deaf dogs can do whatever hearing dogs can. The now nine-year-old isn’t the first deaf dog to achieve the title, but MacRae said she believes she’s the only Nova Scotian pup to ever do so.