Zeke, short for Zekeapotomus, is a 10 month old Catahoula Leopard Dog who was born deaf and blind as a result of backyard breeding. At 6 months, after the last “good” puppy went to a home, the breeder decided that Zeke was too much of an inconvenience and took him to the vet to be put down. One of the employees there got the breeder to turn Zeke over to her and she posted Zeke on the rescue board of Catahoula Rescue Inc. I generally try not to open the postings unless they are asking for help with transport but, wanting to know what an “unscrupulous backyard breeder” was about, I looked. I’ll be honest, I’m a sucker for special needs dogs and I LOVE the patchwork markings on some houlas. I knew that no one else was going to want a deaf AND blind Catahoula puppy-they’re a lot of work when they have all senses-so I e-mailed the coordinator that I work with in the rescue and told her I wanted him; whether to foster or keep, I had to have him. Because of his disabilities, she said if I took him in, it was for good. We talked for about an hour or more about worst case scenarios that could happen with him and other dogs, with my dogs, with people, etc. Oddly, it just made me want him more! I took my kids out to meet Zeke on Memorial Day and that Friday he came home with me.
