The one-year-old heading dog has had a bit of a rough start to life, surrendered to Christchurch City Council pound as a puppy before being taken in by her foster mum Rachel Johnston.
While Suki’s past is unknown, it is expected that she was born on a farm but handed over to the pound once it was discovered she was deaf.
When Suki arrived, she was very "bitey" and Johnston had to work patiently with her to train her how to behave, including teaching her sign language.
Johnston uses hand signals to communicate with Suki and has taught her sit, stay, good dog and come, although admitted that’s still a work in progress.
“I’ve never had a deaf dog ever so it was a big learning curve for me as well, you do end up talking to the dog all the time,” she said.
Johnston tried using high pitch whistles and clicker training as the vet suspects Suki can hear some loud noises. But when she didn’t respond to them Johnston made up her own hand symbols.
“I looked at a few things online ... I just went with what was easiest at the time and what made sense to me,” she said.
“She’s been my longest term. I wasn’t expecting to have her for this long,” Johnston laughed.
Fostering and rescuing dogs is second nature to Johnston, who has volunteered in India and Thailand to help care for street dogs.
Johnston also has a ridgeback shar-pei cross named Keke, rescued from the city council pound, who doesn’t mind being rounded up by Suki when they go on walks.
When Johnston throws a ball for Keke, Suki will often chase after her, running out wide and then bringing her back in, as a heading dog would do with livestock.
“I’ll definitely miss her, I will, you always do. You always miss your fosters, you always shed a tear, but I want her to have a good home.”
- Find out more about Suki here.
