b"R emington waseightmonths incidentatthedogpark.Remington The sunrise unfurled a magical skyold when his humans, Ashley wasnottakingcuesfromtheotherandBailey,foundouthewasdeaf. dogs in the park that were near him. and brought with it a gentle seaFraught with guilt, they wondered how He ignored small growls and rumbles, breeze during an early morningtheyhadmissedthesigns.The and continued playing with the dogs, photo session on St. Pete Beach. ThisAustralianShepherdhadalready as if nothing was wrong. The situation family of four had won an Instagramlearned17tricks,buthewasnt escalated,andafterthescufflewas promotion we held earlier this year.responding to basic recall commands, contained,someoneexclaimed,Is The prize: to be featured in a newnor would he look at them when they your dog deaf? print ad for TradeWinds Islandcalled to him. We thought he was just Ashley and Bailey took full respon- Resorts on St. Pete Beach.being stubborn, said Bailey. Hes an sibility of the incident at the dog park.Aussie! WeweresotakenabackbytheRemington came from a breeder in remark, that we hadnt even consideredIndiana, where Ashley and Bailey lived Remingtonmight,infact,bedeaf,before moving to Florida. After doing said Bailey. They took Remington to aresearch on Australian Shepherds, they veterinarian who treated him for an earknewthebreedwouldbeperfectfor infection. theirlifestyle.Theyhadnotdone After the infection cleared up, weresearch on the breeder. took Remington back to the veterinari-BaileygraduatedfromIndiana an, Bailey said. He was given a hearingUniversity-Purdue University Indianapolis testknownasbrainstemauditory(IUPUI) with a degree in psychology. evokedresponse(BAER),whichAshley,alsograduatedfromIUPUI detects electrical activity in the cochleawith a degree in physical therapy. She and auditory pathways in the brain. Ithad saved enough money to start her wasrightaroundthebeginningofownbusinessasaphysicaltherapist, COVID, so we werent able to be withbutendedspendingitonasurgical Remington, said Bailey, recalling howprocedure to save her cats life. Bailey anxious and worried they were aboutconvinced Ashley to join her, working their dog. Aussie siblings Indie andwith children with autism using ABA Whenthetestconfirmedthat Remington are deaf and respond toTherapy. Remingtonwasindeeddeaf,AshleyABA Therapy (Applied Behavioral andBaileywonderedhowtheywere hand signals. We watched in awe atAnalysis)involvestheapplicationof going to deal with it. But, in reality, what appeared to be the mostcertaintechniquesthatwillcausea we had already been dealing with it, beautifully choreographed pas dechangeinbehavioroveraperiodof saidBailey.Theincidentatthedog quatre, performed on a sandy stage;time. The goal of ABA is to increase park was a wake up call. We changed palm trees and seagrapes as back-good behaviors and decrease problem our lifestyle for the sake of Remington, drops. Bailey and Ashley were so intoornegativebehaviors.Throughtheir and its been great for all of us, said the moment, with each other andABA Therapy work, Ashley and Bailey Ashley.their dogs. No pretension, just sheerlearned some unofficial sign language They have become more physical enjoyment in their quiet communica-and cues.withoutdooractivitiesthatalways tion. It was one of the most calmingUsing gestures and hand signals to includes Remington. Once we started and peaceful photo sessions we'vetrain Remington was a natural instinct doing that, everything else was just a had in all our 16 years of photo-forthem.Remingtonandhismoms breeze, really, said Bailey. Were much graphing for THE NEW BARKER. weresotunedintooneanother,that more aware of our surroundings whenthe thought of him being deaf had not it comes to Remington. We watch hisoccurred to them. That is, not until an every gesture for cues, she added. Continued on the following page gwww.TheNewBarker.com THE NEW BARKER 35"