When Jolene Chernoff saw a news story about a bedraggled blind and deaf dog that was in need of adoption, she went right to the BC SPCA website and filled out an application.
“I immediately felt inclined to make him part of my family,” she said.
The five-year-old dog — named Cliff, Chernoff later learned — had just fallen into a ravine in 150 Mile House.
And while he came out of that near catastrophe OK, his particular needs didn’t make him a great fit for the Williams Lake shelter that had taken him in.
“They called me the next day … they just wanted him safe and in a home, so he could be happy,” she said, explaining she had seven years of experience with her old blind and deaf pooch, named Ollie.
Chernoff, however, lives in Penticton and the timing of the adoption didn’t align well with the weather. It was -30 C in Penticton and -40 C in Williams Lake when she got the seal of approval to adopt Cliff.
Undaunted, she went on a road trip, though admitted she took the long way there, and she’s glad she did. It’s been a great couple of weeks since their introduction.
“He’s been incredible,” she said.
“It’s wonderful, he’s a really big cuddle bug and he just wants love. He’s not very interested in the leash right now… As of right now he goes into the backyard, rolls around and comes back in.
Chernoff said that caring for Cliff has come easily, despite his challenges.
“Moving stuff around is not recommended,” she said. “He has been able to map out the place and knows where the couch is. I will leave for a few hours and he will be sleeping there.
“It’s amazing with limited eyesight and no hearing, how much his nose takes over.”
Cliff can’t hear her or see her, but he seems to be able to sense her movements.
She’s cleaned him up a lot since he went home with her.
The dog was seen falling into the ravine adjacent to an area home.
Liz Dighton, manager of the Williams Lake SPCA, said Cliff was in an even more sorry state when he came to them.
“The poor dog had clearly been neglected and was very scruffy and in desperate need of grooming,” Dighton said.
“He had weeping eyes, infected ears and is almost completely blind and deaf, so he was in a very bad way.”
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