WE’ve ADOPTED!!!

On January 23rd, 2022, we sent in our first official application in the hopes of becoming dog mums - which, now that I think about it, wasn’t all that long ago. Fifty-nine days, to be exact.

We applied for a dog named Gnat, a medium staghound mix - and it was almost instantly devastating because the rescue we were hoping to adopt from emailed back and said that Gnat was actually already adopted. This, is Gnat - and we thought he was perfect for us.

“Why wouldn’t you just say that on his profile then” was something we asked each other, but never to the rescue. 

After that, we realized that if we were going to be applying for dogs - that must have meant that we were ready, and from then on in it was like we were loose cannons. From the moment we met each other nearly seven years ago, we have talked constantly about wanting to get a dog, but also wanted to wait until we were actually ready. Moving to Australia was the thing that made us ready, we were going to settle down (a little) and we were going to get a dog. There was no stopping us.


We frequented the site www.petrescue.com.au and obsessed over any and all dogs that we thought we may have wanted. If you look back between our texting history (my wife Lucy and I) you’d find for the last two months, not much more than dogs we want to adopt (and beach houses we want to buy). Eventually, I was tired of searching for new dogs on my own, so I set up search alerts so that any time a dog was listed that matched my needs/wants, a handy little email popped up in my inbox.

However, even though I stopped LOOKING, my wife did not. She treated www.petrescue.com.au like I treat Facebook Marketplace, spending hours and hours filtering through all our options, wondering what our life *could* look like if all were to actually go well one day.

The problem was, at the time, that it wasn't going well. We (actually, I) would write these extravagant applications for all these dogs - we would get our hopes up - and then we would just never hear back from anyone.

When we did hear back, it always went something like this: “sorry, we have already found a home for that dog”, however more often than not, we just heard nothing. 

Not a darn thing.

Looking back now, we sent each other twenty-one dogs in the span of just under two months. 

From memory, I can assume that out of those twenty-one, we actively pursued six different dogs. 

Here are a few of those dogs:

None of those dogs worked out. 

“When do you think it will work out for us”

“Why do you think it's taking so long”

“Do you think we’ll ever find our doggo”

“Are we going to have to move and get a yard with a six-foot fence and adopt two dogs at once to ever even be considered”

and,

“Why does it seem like everything is against us”

All questions that we asked ourselves when things started to feel tough.

Looking back now, I have to laugh a little. The whole process was only two months - to find our future dog. Why on earth we thought it was going to be quick and simple is beyond me.

And then one Sunday, Lucy and I headed out to an AFLW game with a couple of friends, and, for the first time in weeks, we didn’t obsess over checking our emails or stalking all the dogs on www.petrescue.com.au. We made it to the pub that night for an eggplant parma and a jug of beer, and I will never forget it. Lucy says to me “Have you heard back about any dogs”? And I said “no” - in sort of a grumpy way I’m sure - even though I was not entirely sure I had even checked.

I was just assuming the worst (also not sure why we do things like this).

I instantly grabbed my phone, which had all of 10% battery (I remember this clearly) and I checked my email. 

Instead of bad news, we had great news and I was FLOORED. Quite literally I could have been on the ground of this pub and you would have had to pick me up to show me again.

Not only had we heard back, but we heard back on the PERFECT dog. The rescue company had loved our application (they said it really stood out and this made me happy because I had done all the hard work for once) and they wanted to set up a time for a phone call.

Sorry, but what? 

Us?


The dog who, after looking back at her profile, was needing a yard and another dog, wanted to meet us??

You better believe we set up that phone call within minutes, before plowing down on our food and doing nothing more than imagining ourselves as dog mums.

This was one of Ginny’s profile photos. Ginny was being cared for by a foster mum, through an association called Hear No Evil - Australian Deaf Dogs Rescue https://deafdogrescue.com.au/. Our first step in becoming dog mums was to have a phone call with one of the staff at Hear No Evil.

I was anxious. I hate phone calls, and I hate putting on a good impression. I get sweaty and nervous and I was almost guaranteed to say something that will make me seem like a fool (in this case, a terrible candidate for adoption). Luckily for me, no one called. 

Except, I still sat there for an hour, sweating.

I ended up emailing and letting them know that we would still love to chat (because - and I didn’t say this - I still really wanted to be considered and I was hoping they hadn’t forgotten about us or chosen someone else already). 

Within minutes, the phone rang.

THEY WERE BUSY. Quite busy, in fact, doing incredible things for all these dogs.

**This is quite literally the moment where I felt bad for ever wondering why no one had been getting back to us in all our previous attempts on www.petrescue.com.au. These rescues are busy - doing VERY important things, making the lives of so many dogs better - that sometimes they don’t have the time to check their email or respond to everyone who enquires.

Lucy and I had a quick chat with a staff member at Hear No Evil (Kat, we adore you, and thank you immensely) where she told us again that our application stood out and filled us in a bit more about Ginny - an eight-month-old deaf Australian Cattle Dog X. She also told us that they were ‘backlogged’ because there was SO much interest in her. 

As we hung up the phone, we cheered, but we also got nervous. A whole lot of interest? From a whole lot of other amazing people? What was going to make them choose us?

We waited.

And in a day or so, after what felt like ten days, we got another email saying that we were still standing out in our application and that they’d love to set up a time to do a ZOOM meeting with another HNE staff member and Ginny’s foster mum.

Was it even possible that they’d go through all of that with more than one potential adoption family? How many people got to have this zoom? How can we prepare for the zoom? 

We had SO many questions.

All they said was to bring questions we have with us to the ZOOOM and they would see us there.

So instead of thinking it was really that simple, I stressed. Neither Lucy nor I slept for a good week. We stayed up late talking about how we would learn sign language for our dog, where we would put her crate, who would be responsible for what, and so on.

**In order to make it to the next step we were told that we would need to submit photos of our yard to ensure that we would be a good fit for the dog we were hoping to adopt. So much of me thought that we should lie and say we have a yard and use someone else’s yard for photos, but I just couldn’t do it. We don’t have a yard. We live in an apartment. We don’t have another dog. But what we did have was time - both of us being home full time, and we have a lot of love to give. We wanted this dog more than anything so I put a bed on the floor and sent these over as our yard photos - to which HNE was so appreciative. I figured if we lost out at this stage because of where we live, that it wasn’t meant to be. But, they loved them, and our approach with humor - and we progressed on to the next step. Above are the photos I submitted. **

February 27, 2022, was when we first heard back from HNE.

February 28, 2022, was our first call with HNE staff.

March 6, 2022, we attended a ZOOM meeting with 2 HNE staff and Ginny’s foster mum.

March 6 was the day I sweat through my T-shirt. For a non-sweaty person, I can say that this was a surprise. I had no control over it. The ZOOM meeting wasn’t even stressful - it was so good, I guess I was just beyond nervous that we would come up short to someone better. Everyone had questions for each other, but I’ll tell you that the most important question came last - from my confident wife. She says “one last question, and I understand if you can’t answer it - I’m just wondering what comes next? Are there other people you’re having these meetings with? Are there a lot of people you need to decide between?”

This is where it got real sweaty.

They said “no”. There was no one else even going through the process. Just us!!!!

The two of us, the only two.



If all goes well, we would be her mums. 

All that was next was to book a meet and greet, and then if we all agree that things should move forward, we sign the adoption papers, and she would be ours.

March 8, 2022, our first ever meet-and-greet. We drove for over an hour so we could meet Ginny for the first time. What I know now, more than I’ve ever known before, is that love, at first sight, is a legitimate thing. From the moment we laid eyes on her, we knew. 

She was meant for us, and we were meant for her. 

After leaving that initial meet-and-greet, we patiently waited for the adoption papers to come via e-mail, and we prepared our house for our new fluff ball.

What would she need? Where would we source it? What would she eat? What toys would we get her so that her brain stayed stimulated and there was no need to ever eat our brand new couch or pee on our brand new rug? Luckily for me, my wife is the queen of research, and I tend to think that I can find some pretty good things online too!

Here is a list of things we got for our dog before we even had our dog.

-Crate
-Bed
-Leash
-Harness
-Food & water bowls
-A hooded vest (HAHAHAHA, that turns out is actually way too small)
-A toy lion
-A tug of war toy
-A cactus-shaped stimulation toy
-A KONG for super chewers
-Training treats X2 (because everyone needs snacks, and we have a lot to work on).

March 15, 2022, we put her crate in the car and we headed off to pick her up. Our dog was to be coming home for the first time, and we couldn’t have been more excited. We felt prepared, but also we knew that likely we would learn everything we needed to learn once we got her home and got to know her.

What would it be like living with a deaf dog?

What would it be like training a deaf dog?

How long will it be before she sleeps through the night?

What do you think she will be feeling, leaving the only world she knows for the first time?

Will she love us right away or will it take weeks?

Do you think shes going to love going for walks?

Who will be responsible for morning routine?

How much does a dog like this eat?

How much does she weigh?

How old is she even?

What will we call her?

What have we gotten ourselves into?

Meet JUDE. Her full name is Daisy Jude, but we’re calling her Jude. 

The first night was a breeze. It took us a good twenty minutes to get Jude into the car once her foster mum left, and to see her struggle with reality at that exact moment was heartbreaking. She knew something was up, and I don’t blame her. She showed up at the park with someone she knew (as Ginny), and she left with these two strangers who she had only briefly met a week prior (as Jude).  To make matters worse for her, these strangers had a bag full of all her toys. How did they get them? Why were they all coming with her? Was she going somewhere for good? OH GOD, we imagined she was thinking, HOW CAN I GET OUT OF HERE QUICKLY?



A few treats later, and ninety minutes sleeping off the stress in the car, we arrived at home - and she loved it. Sure, she was very confused, but she settled in quickly. She loved her new crate, she loved her new home, and she was more than happy to settle down for the night and endure a peaceful nine hours of sleep.

Peaceful for her, anyway. She didn’t wake up once, but i recall there being three or four times that I woke up to see if she was making noise, and lucy checking her clock to find out what time it was. She surprised us both by making it through the night without any issues. 

Night two was the night that we all slept through the night, worry-free. Every night since then, she’s been perfect. Goes to bed with no issues, and wakes up in the morning with no issues. No whining, no crying, no nothing. At least eight hours of glorious sleep every night!

The daytime is where we came across most of our struggles. When adopting, it’s common knowledge to know that your dog might go through three stages before they feel 100% happy, comfortable, and themselves in their new environment. Its called the 3-3-3 rule, and I’ll show you an image that explains it that I’ve sourced from https://www.rescuedogs101.com

The first three days we couldn’t really get Jude to do anything while we were outside. The big city was a full-on culture shock for her, and she was completely overwhelmed with all the sights and smells that she could hardly manage to walk to the end of the block and back. She made good friends with the grassy area we’ve deemed the ‘wee spot’, but aside from that, we were almost positive that we had broken her. 

Turns out, in the first three days, this is expected in rescue dogs. We just kept going on like life was normal and we introduced her to what her new routine of life would be. And just like clockwork, on day four, she woke up a brand new dog - ready to be a dog, play, walk, and quite honestly push all of the boundaries.

We have taught her hand signals (yes, we are deep into doggy sign language) for the following actions:

-Sit (she knew this one before coming to us)
-Down (she did know this one before us but failed to ever prove it to us)
-No
-Walk (we do this before we leave the house so she knows we’re going for a longer time vs just going to the wee spot)
-Pee (we do this before we leave the house so she knows we’re simply going for a wee and then back home - helpful during the day when we’re busy or at night just before bed)
-Poo (this is helpful, and quite hilarious. 80% of the time she poops on command, and that allows us to make sure we have zero accidents inside)
-Come 
-I love you (we do this to her but honestly whether or not she understands it is unknown)
-Shake 

And there are many many more coming - but it takes a while, and we dont want to make her fat by giving her too many treats. She’s honestly so smart (its a cattle dog thing) that she picks up on things quite fast, and is happy to impress us.

It will be a long time until we have managed to master recall with Jude. Being that she is deaf, we’re learning how to teach her to come when we need her. Its not instinct for her to check in with us, or check for hand signals, so before that’s mastered, she will be on a leash for a long time. 

Unlike a hearing dog, she won’t come when you call her, and she wont hear the traffic on the road to keep her away. She simply needs more training and support than a hearing dog, and we are excited to keep learning so we can best serve her.

So far though, we would say that we really do believe we were made for her, and she was made for us. The moment we saw her, it was love at first sight. The moment we met her, we knew she was going to be ours. The fact that she is deaf does not scare us, or exhaust us. It, infact, gives us all the more reason to love on her like she truly deserves. She’s beautiful, she’s sassy, she’s insanely smart, she’s quirky, she’s extremely weird, she’s a cuddle bug, she loves to sleep, she loves to eat, and most of all - we have learned - that she loves us dearly. 

We are her people now, and in moments where she could have full freedom, she chooses to stay by our sides and make sure that together, we remain a unit.

The most perfect, beautiful, family of three.

Daisy Jude, your mummy’s love you.

You’re perfect, and we can’t stop talking about how lucky we feel to have been given a chance with you. Thank you for choosing us.

This is not the full story - there are parts that I’ve likely forgotten and parts that I want to keep to share in the future. So far, this is just our experience and I feel grateful you’ve made it this far in wanting to hear about it.

Turns out, Dunnebells doesn’t always have to be about health and wellness - we can be about life too (and all sorts of other things). Right now, our life is learning and adapting with our new deaf dog - and we’re excited to share all of it with you - our people.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

And? If you can. Adopt, don’t shop.
You might surprise yourself, and you just might find the doggo of your dreams.
(or cat, hampster, bunny, horse, dragon, or chicken of your dreams)