Read a Story

My mom just handed me the new Ladies' Home Journal she had (May 2008 issue) because of a story she read in it.

The story is titled "Signs of Love" and it's about a white Pit Bull puppy, born deaf, named Duncan, taught American Sign Language by her then foster/now forever person, Sabrina Brini.

It's very different from teaching a dog by hand signals; Duncan's learned to watch the facial expressions of the "speaker" as well as the hand movements to pick up the meanings. It really opens up new areas of questioning what we think we understand about the intelligence of the creatures who share our lives.

I know it's different if it's the dog that's deaf, but because of Molly all of our dogs since she was a baby have understood hand signals. Uncle Fred is the first that also understands Molly's speech, so she can get him to obey her with just her voice. Most people can't understand what she says, but the big hound does.

wow... that's pretty interesting...

you never know what they can do... and it gives a new perspective on the intelligence of the animals around us...