A Cocker Spaniel Female named Aqua

Aqua is presently Adopted

Not all blind dogs are the same – Aqua most certainly has her own personality traits. For Aqua, her individuality is shown in her moxie and feistiness. She is definitely the most daring of the trio and Aqua‘s blindness in no way hampers her sense of adventure. At only two months, she is always up for venturing out to discover new things. As you can see by her photos with her paw always extended, she is checking out her surroundings. Like her sisters, she relies on her sense of hearing, smell, and touch to guide her. No doubt, she will depend on your voice and footsteps to guide and reassure her. With the help of her guardians, Aqua will eventually develop a mental map of her world. Training a puppy requires patience and positive reinforcement and this is especially true of a blind puppy. There are many websites with tips and tricks for living with a blind dog. Since Aqua has known nothing else, she will adapt and make the best of her life as a beloved pet. After all, she is a dog – she wags her tail, sniffs the grass at every opportunity, and is always ready for a belly rub! Are you the family who will assist Aqua in navigating through life. Please fill in the Adoption Form if you feel that she is the dog for you.

More Details About Aqua
Status:	Adopted	Children:	Over 8 years old
Breed:	Cocker Spaniel	Grooming:	Medium
Size:	Small	Energy:	Medium
Age:	2 months	Cat friendly:	Yes
Gender:	Female	Dog friendly:	Yes

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Members Comments

- Françoise
- posted on February 20, 2012
Aqua .. I am sure there is someone who will fall in love with you .. you and your sisters are adorable little girls , Good luck ..
- Raquel
- posted on February 20, 2012
I’m crying now. I want to bring them all home. :-(

I have to ask. You say the blindness is a result of a backyard jerk breeder. How did the ‘breeding’ itself cause the blindness? I ask only because I want to educate myself.
- Youki
- posted on February 21, 2012
Hi Raquel,
la cécité est une tare génétique liée au croisement de deux “bleus merles”.
Ce croisement est normalement interdit car il conduit à de graves problèmes de santé : cécité, microphtalmie, surdité etc…
Ces personnes ont raisonné égoïstement, sans penser aux conséquences de leurs actes…
Honte sur eux !
J’espère que ces pauvres bébés trouveront rapidement une famille…Good Luck Aqua, Azure & Skye :o)
- Megan Jones
- posted on February 21, 2012
You are right Youki!

To explain a little further (all copied from the internet, I couldn’t paste the actual link) ...

Merle is a dilution gene, that is, it lightens whatever the coat color would otherwise have been. The lightening is not spread evenly over the coat, but leaves patches of undiluted color scattered over the dog’s body. Also, the lightening seems to work primarily on the black pigment in the coat, so any tan on the face stays even. Merle also acts on the black pigment in the iris of the eye just as it does on the coat, so merle dogs often have part or all of the eye blue.

There are always two copies of a gene, alike or different, in any dog. If we call the merle gene M and the non-merle gene m, any given dog can be mm, Mm or MM. The mm dog is the normal, full-colored tri, bi-black, or sable in Shelties, or liver (red) in Australian Shepherds. The Mm Sheltie is a blue merle or sable merle, depending on what color it would have been without the merling gene. An MM dog, often called a double merle or a homozygous merle, will be mostly white and usually deaf or blind and often with other physical problems. Some MM puppies are born completely without eyes.

And where the “breeder” went wrong ...

On average over a large number of litters, breeding merle to merle will produce one fourth full colored dogs, one half merles and one fourth double merles, with a high probability of being defective whites. Breeding merle to full color will produce one half full color and one half merles, but no defective whites. The merle to full color breeding, then, produces just as many merles as does the merle to merle breeding, and without the danger of defective puppies. The safe breeding for a merle, then, is to a non-merle mate. This breeding should produce all healthy puppies, and about half will be merles.

Note: cockers are not supposed to be merle!!

Hope that helps!
- Françoise
- posted on February 21, 2012
Megan thanks for the information .. In the mean time good luck to you three adorable furbabies .you three like others are in good and loving hands at ANIMATCH .
A vous Ann-Gaelle bonjour de Dorval Quebec ...
- Youki
- posted on February 21, 2012
Thank you Megan for this explanation, it’s very interesting!
Many unreliable breeders make this crossing for the money, generally the borders collies and Australian shepherds are the most affected by these defects…
I had still never seen that on cocker spaniels!
Another example of the human stupidity…

Hi Françoise, how are you today ?
- Viviane
- posted on February 21, 2012
Bonjour Anne-Gaelle, et merci pour les informations. Hi Megan! Nice to read from you. Thank you for your explanations about the merle breeding. And I too think that the so called breeder should have a fine. But on the other hand, a breeder without scruples would probably eliminate such puppies in order to avoid the fine… I guess this is a neverending story… Wish there was a solution!!!
And Megan, great painting of Mac you put on Fan Mail! Happy 2nd anniversary to all of you!
- Megan Jones
- posted on February 21, 2012
I understand the genetics behind the merle pretty well but I’m curious to know how they got the merle into the cockers in the first place. Does anyone know? Could they cross a cocker with a merle aussie and then back cross to cockers for many generations?

Thank you, Viviane!
I can’t believe it has already been 2 years. It’s crazy how fast time flies. I’m taking him up into the mountains while he still has his puppy energy. I’m scared to blink and Mac will be a senior!!!

My painting should be arriving at my doorstep any day now. I can’t wait to see it hanging proudly on my wall
- Youki
- posted on February 21, 2012
Bonjour Viviane, de rien ce n’est pas grand chose

Megan, your painting is very attractive!
Mac is beautiful!
- Myriam
- posted on February 22, 2012
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about these girls. I am resisting a very strong urge to bring Aqua home! I can only imagine how doted-on she would be by my three dogs!

Such a sad story, but the past is the past, their future awaits them! I know that they will end up enriching the lives of the families who adopt them.
- Kat & Maeggi
- posted on March 01, 2012
Congratulations little beauty, you are already RESERVED!! I’m so happy for you sweetheart - I’m sure you will Wow your new family!
- Debbie
- posted on March 02, 2012
SWEET!!!! Way to go Aqua~ Be happy precious little soul! Have a wonderful life. xxoo
- Françoise
- posted on March 02, 2012
SO happy for you little Aqua .. We all hope happiness for the rest of your life ..
- Youki
- posted on March 02, 2012
Very happy for you Aqua
I wish you a lot of happiness with your new family!
Good luck small treasure <3
- Brenda Rosevear
- posted on March 03, 2012
I have a lump in my throat and my eyes are watery. Dear God please give Aqua the owner she deserves. The little sweet heart deserves a patient, calm and loving owner to give her the life she deserves.
Thank you Animatch for giving her a chance. You are all a bunch of angels!
- Gen
- posted on March 03, 2012
we are talking in the 80’s, I was about 7 years old but I do remember my uncle and aunt had a shit zhu mix or some mix breed dog they found on the street and he was blind. They named him Baron. He lived the life of indeed a baron once they took him in. The only thing I remember of Baron is that he was blind and that was just part of him, otherwise just a cool normal dog. Baron lived well and normally till the end. so it should not be a show stopper for anyone wanting to adopt !
- Billie Gloria
- posted on March 12, 2012
Aqua… What a beautiful name and dog. Just like her sisters. She is just sooooo cute!!!!!!! I am in love with her! She is too cute to be true! i posted this for her sisters and other dogs too, but I have to post it again!
***********************************
Are there any crazy dog lovers out there? Are there any of you that want to make a change? I mean about saving/helping dogs that are hurt, lost and neglected… Well… If there are.. you must read this…
********************************
I was looking at the animatch video, and I clicked on another, and another. Until I had tears in my eyes… (a lot) I also saw pictures of dogs that were very skinny, hurt, and abandoned. Then I said to myself ” I want to make a change.” But how? I am only one person. So I need your help. With one person, not much can happen, but with 20, things are more possible. Then by telling your family and friends, it can build up to 50, 100, 1000. Who knows what can happen. Any age, gender it does not matter. You can be the change. have any of you herd about Free the Children? It started with one person, Krieg Kielburger, when he was around 10, and his brother, and now there are 10000 people that have joined. They help kids that are starving in Africa, Haiti, Asia…and even more. This is what can happen. Maybe you think it is weird, making a club for this reason, but imagine being that dog that is suffering and is abandonned.If you would like to help me, just send me an email to bkamke01@lbpearson.qc.ca.
Thanks for reading this, and tell as many people as possible.
Billie

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