8 minute read
CONNECTING THE DOTS
There is always one in every crowd who just has to be different! Monica Callahan poses with Disco, Orio and Quint. photos and story by Amy Barnes
In October 2019, when Zachary and Monica Callahan learned that a 4-month-old deaf Dalmatian puppy was going to be available for adoption at a local shelter, there was no hesitation. They knew they wanted him to join their family.
They also knew that unless people familiar with how to handle a Dalmatian adopted him, the puppy was likely to end up back at the shelter. With two Dalmatians already at home and with Monica being an experienced dog trainer, the Callahans were ready to face the challenges of training a deaf Dalmatian.
Zachary Callahan arrived at the shelter at 5 a.m. to be first in line. Monica joined him three hours later with their children, 7-year-old Zac and 8-year-old Zoe.
Others arrived and joined the line, but, to the Callahans’ surprise, no one else was in line for the little spotted puppy.
The puppy soon would become known as Quint and prove that he had more than a bucketload of
Monica Callahan works with a hesitant Tater during a training class. Tater is owned by Kelly Gregoire of Seville.
personality.
“He’s been wreaking havoc in our lives ever since,” Monica said, laughing.
She added that the havoc is not because he is deaf but, rather, because of his personality.
“He needs more eyes on him all of the time,” she said, as Quint went happily loping by with a toy in his mouth.
Quint is known for his bounding energy and clownlike antics. Watch Quint for more than a few minutes and it becomes obvious that not being able to hear has not quelled his adventurous spirit in the least.
Monica begins training puppies by tethering them to a piece of furniture so their range is limited and their focus is easier to maintain. It also makes it easier to immediately reward good behavior.
Most puppies are off the tether by six months old. Quint was on the tether for 14 months.
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Monica does not hesitate to admit that training deaf dogs has its own unique set of challenges.
Many people do not know how to work with a deaf dog, much less a breed known for having high energy and being rather independent in its thinking, Monica said. She said that people tend to erroneously think deaf dogs are dumb.
She laughs and shakes her head at people who approach Quint upon learning he is deaf and start signing American Sign Language to him. Quint, Monica says, will just stand there and wait for the people to stop.
Monica’s original plan was to become a veterinarian. She graduated in 2011 from the University of Findlay with a pre-vet and biology degree with a chemistry minor, but even before graduation, things were starting to change for her.
It was while training her third Dalmatian puppy, Doc, who is now 10 ½ years old, that Monica connected with dog trainer Laurie Schlossnagle and Monica’s interest began to turn away from veterinarian to trainer.
Having always been fascinated by the psychology of dogs, in 2012, Monica decided to join the world of dog training and felt she had found her purpose. Schlossnagle became Monica’s mentor.
Schlossnagle eventually moved to Utah, but brings her beagle Emme when she stays at the Callahan’s house when she is in town to judge rally classes and scent trials.
A rally class involves following a trail of
Lisa Kucharski talks to Onyx, her Aussie, in their first class with Callahan. instructions printed on signs on the ground and successfully completing each task. Scent trials are when dogs are given a specific scent to search for, mimicking the work of professional detection dogs.
Monica has loved Dalmatians since childhood and, even though deafness is prevalent in the breed, Quint is the first deaf Dalmatian she has owned. It was her love of Dalmatians that led to her developing a particular interest in working with deaf dogs and developing training techniques for them. Her background in psychology and her dog training experience have provided a solid base to build on. While she has gently trained Quint, he has patiently educated her, too, on how to work with deaf dogs. Having been educated in the clicker method at the Karen Pryor Academy, Monica knew that method would not work with a dog who cannot hear the clicker, an essential part of the training. The method uses a clicker to make a noise when a dog does something correctly, which is then followed up with a treat. (Learn more about
clicker training, here: https://bit.ly/3acGWZz )
Since a deaf dog cannot hear the clicker, it is necessary to use a visual marker instead of the clicker, Monica explained.
For Quint, that visual marker is a two-thumbs up when he does something right. He responds by offering his paw to Monica.
One of the advantages to training deaf dogs is that dogs naturally read body language, Monica said. Which is why Monica is not impressed when someone can direct a dog through hand signals. She believes it is much harder to use only verbal cues.
She said she has come to realize how much dogs ignore the babble of humans as humans tend to constantly talk to their dogs. It is something Monica tries to train people to stop doing because it is difficult for a dog to pick out a command among all of the chatter.
So, how to get a dog’s attention when it is not looking at you, and he is deaf? Stomp the floor, Monica says. The dog can feel the vibrations in the floor and will learn that those vibrations mean to look at its trainer for instructions.
Quint plays just as happily with toys by himself as he does with other dogs. He can be happily playing alone one minute, then suddenly shoot across the room to tackle another dog for a romp.
He surprised Monica one day on an agility course when he suddenly dove into one of the tunnels and popped out the other end, grinning. He had never shown interest in the tunnels before, but that is Quint. He got two thumbs up.
Quint also is a therapy dog.
She is a member of the Alliance of Therapy Dogs.
As a child, Monica did not grow up in a household with pets. Her parents were not animal people, she said. But, while she was in high school, after many years of begging her parents for a pet, she finally was given a Dalmatian who came with the name Honda. She instantly fell in love.
She met her husband, Zachary, while the two were attending Admiral King High School, now known as Lorain High School.
Zachary has had a deep interest in becoming a firefighter most of his life and, as a 12-year-old,
Quint happily plays on his own while sporting a bandana printed with: “I’m not ignoring you. I’m DEAF.” He wears a collar with a GPS box so he can be tracked if he were to ever get away since he would not hear his name being called. he often hung out at fire stations. So, it was a bit ironic that when he started dating Monica, she already had a Dalmatian, the breed known as a firehouse dog.
Dalmatians originally were guard dogs for carriages and horses but are better known now as the dog portrayed riding along in fire trucks.
One day, while the teenagers were talking on the phone, Zachary suddenly noticed Honda outside his window. Monica was sure Honda was home, but as it turned out, after having been to Zachary’s house only once before, Honda had managed to find his way there again, 2 miles away. While she was in college, Monica got her second
continued from Page 9 and third dalmatians, Delta and Doc, eventually getting her fourth, Orio.
Orio is named after Orio Palmer, the fire battalion chief who died in New York during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.
Monica said her daughter, Zoe, has been doing very well working with their dogs and competing with the dogs in agility contests.
For the past seven years, Zachary has been a Brunswick police officer. He applied to be a canine handler for the department but he was not chosen because the department already had enough handlers, Monica said.
He served as a member of the National Guard and was stationed in Kuwait, Iraq and
Afghanistan. He has a master’s degree in psychology and is a trained paramedic. He teaches life-saving classes to doctors and nurses and helps them get certified. With all of his accomplishments, his dream job still is to be a firefighter.
Focused on doing good, the Grafton residents also have raised two Labradors for Leader Dogs for the Blind, based in Rochester Hills, Michigan, which provides guide dogs for blind and blindand-deaf people. Monica said that getting the dogs ready for their future jobs involved caring for them, teaching them manners and getting them used to being out in public.
One of the Labradors, Rizzo, worked for several years in Florida and has since died. The other one, Olive, was chosen to be a breeding mom and had three litters, Monica said.
The Callahans hope to foster more dogs for the organization.
“Feeling like you’re making a difference is really nice,” said Monica.
