Nick has come to the conclusion that Daisey can't hear anymore. How he figured this out, I really don't know. You see, Daisey is the kind of dog who is extremely smart. So smart to the point that if you tell her to do something she looks at you for a few seconds and then decides on her own if she's going to do it or not (especially when it's me telling her what to do). She listens to Nick for the most part which is probably why he was the one to notice that she was deaf. Anyway, I guess he kept on sneaking up on her and he was also noticing that she was ignoring him more than usual (I noticed no change). To prove his theory, we performed some highly technical tests that should really only be done under a vet's supervision. For example, we hid behind the couch and called her name, threw toys at her, put her at one end of the house and hid to see if she could find us. Intense stuff like that. :) Although I think that our testing was skewed by the input of three other little creatures, who will remain nameless at this time for their own protection. We decided that Daisey was in fact deaf when she did not come running when Nick hid in the hallway and squeaked her squeaky toy. We mentioned this (of course not including our unofficial testing) to the vet on her next visit and in a very matter of fact and unimpressed tone of voice, he told us that almost all dogs over the age of 12 are deaf. Oh. Didn't know that. So now Nick (and mom, for that matter) finds it highly entertaining to sign to Daisey with large elaborate movements what he wants her to do. Daisey is of course playing it up and loving every minute of the extra attention and Minnie stares at her loathingly as she plans her next move to overtake Daisey as queen of the house. The saga continues. Don't feel too sorry for Daisey and her loss of hearing. She's getting older but she's not that old. She can still tell time, she knows exactly when it's 4:30 and when it comes to going out or playing she jumps around like a young spring chicken. Long live the queen.
