The Wilson Pack
On November 24, 2009 a gorgeous Aussie boy, that I named Cool Hand Luke, was surrendered to me by his owner.
After he was vetted and neutered, on November 29th, I posted his photos on Facebook. I immediately received an email from the Wilson Family. They dropped everything and drove to my home me meet the dog and arrived within the hour!
At first, I was concerned… this 12 month old Aussie was big, strong, and had a lot of energy. I viewed him as a handful. But the moment Bill met him, he was in love. “I’m surrounded by women, I have a daughter, a wife, and two female dogs at home… I want a dog that can play with me, be rough, and watch football games with me!” It was done!
It was about two weeks later, Bill notified me that they had renamed him Nitro… Nitro Wilson. Nitro has been a gracious foster host ever since! Here’s a closer look at the Wilson family through the eyes of their daughter, Kierstin:
Written by Kierstin Wilson:
My parents both grew up in Daytona beach, where we currently live. I am their only child, so naturally I have always had pets. My freshman year of high school, my mom found Nitro on The Dog Liberator page, through a mutual friend. We had already had 2 Australian Sheperd dogs, and we felt the time is right to love another.
My parents warned me about going to meet with Nitro- typical parent stuff. “Don’t get attached he might not like us, we might not adopt him today..” etc. But of course, all of us fell in love with nitro as he did us.
On the ride back home to Daytona I sat in the backseat with Nitro, happy and excited! Nitro quickly took to our other dogs, and things became normal. About a year and half later my mom and I started to pay close attention to The Dog Liberator’s page, noticing Lethal Whites (blind/deaf) Aussie puppies.
These dogs were so beautiful yet their stories were laced with stories of heartbreak. My mom and I fell In love with Baby GaGa(So gorgeous), but the timing wasn’t right.
About 3 months later my mom spotted Fiona on Gisele’s page. Terry Watts, rescued Fiona.
Gisele put us in touch with Terri, and the deal was sealed! My mom and dad drove about 4 hours, in the middle of the night, to Tallahassee Fl to get Fiona and transport her home.
I stayed up of course and out of the car popped this little white fluff ball. All of us were fairly nervous because owning and deaf/blind dog was never something we planned. Outsiders have this vision that all deaf/blind dogs act differently or feel differently than other dogs, but we have come to know more than anyone that they certainly do not- and they certainly LOVE the same.
Fiona quickly took to hand motions and movements and trained very easily. Today, triple the size the little fluff ball once was, she is a typical mommy’s girl.
After having Fiona and leaning more about our true love of deaf/blind dogs, we agreed to foster, Chance and Indy (Dundee and Irwin). We saw photos of these dogs, our hearts hurting. Once cleaned up they too took to our pack like it was no big deal.
Dundee, now Chance, was adopted by my mothers parents in the same week – who can stop love!
Indy was also adopted a few weeks, which was one of the hardest moments of my families life.
We had never truly fostered a dog, trained them, fell in love with them and have to watch them go. It was heartbreaking, but the feeling you get when you see a dog happy because of you is like no other. But things didn’t work out with Indy, and he was returned. We decided never again, so we’ve kept Indy! He is Fiona’s (and my dad’s) best friend.
A short time after we rescued Shrek ( AKA Falcor). My mom and I drove a little while to meet him and take him home. The poor guy had a bladder infection and peed- EVERYWHERE.
Regardless, Falcor was one of my favorite dogs to foster, When he first came to the Wilson ranch he had no idea what a bed even was, and after the month with us, he became a bed hog!
Seeing him be adopted hurt a lot less; not only was he happy, he made his new family happy. My mom still gets the cutest pictures with Falcor and his forever family!
My parents and I have fostered many others for the Dog Liberator, (Lilly, Knish, Delilah), and just recently my mom and I rescued Anderson Cooper!
The day we met him was a life changing moment. Sitting in a dirty, loud, smelly animal control office was definitely short of a good time. It was heartbreaking. I sat outside with Anderson for about an hour, while my mom wheeled and dealed with paperwork so we could bring this guy home for a bath- which he needed BADLY.
Anderson was a little defensive meeting other dogs, but he got used to them, and was trained (and washed) very well. He was adopted a few weeks ago, and I’m hoping he is having the time of his life with his new family. Deaf/blind dogs are no different than other dogs and I’m wishing people would understand that.
While at the shelter with Anderson, a man came up to me and made the comment, “He’s a sweet dog, but you can tell he’s deaf so…” SO what? This should have no impact on a dogs life whatsoever.
I am going to be attending college next year and I plan on becoming a vet, and saving these animals will always be in my family’s heart. While it can be a tough thing to do, fostering, adopting, donating, ANYTHING you can possibly do help and animal in need is the most rewarding experience. A dogs love is the best-because if you love and help them, they love and help you right back. ~ Kierstin
More About Fostering:
You may or not realize that while all of the dogs that the Wilson’s have fostered may have been able to be fostered by me personally, the fact that they weren’t allowed another dog to be fostered. While Anderson Cooper was safe with the Wilsons, I was able to foster other dogs! In rescue, it’s all about funding, space, and foster experience. Space is valuable in rescue.
I don’t think that on that day, back in November of 2009, the Wilsons thought they would ever be fostering, but look at the impact that they have made. They have not only saved these gorgeous and deserving dogs, they have made many families very very happy!
Today, Jen and I are working on adding new four-legged members to our rescue! We’ll have more news in the upcoming days! Stay tuned! ~ Gisele
For more information about Deaf/Blind dogs, click on “the Chosen Ones“.
Now Available, “Deaf Dogs Hear with Their Hearts” by Gisele Veilleux
Also, Visit “Preparing your dog that is going to be blind or deaf” by Cesar Milan.
Read about ALL of our rescue’s Deaf/Blind Dogs!
Donate to Rescue a Deaf Dog!