Nina the Beana, or Girl Reno, or just "the new dog." Turns out – it doesn’t really matter since she is stone-cold deaf. Or just really good at ignoring us.

Nina has been with us for almost three weeks now and we (and by that I mean Rusty, the kids and I) totally love her. She is really sweet, loves to cuddle and is pretty smart.

The problem is I am pretty sure that Nina is not loving us all that much. 

She has been doing a lot of slinking along the walls, and hiding under shit since she has come to live with us. At first, I wrote it off as her getting used to her new home, a new schedule and bunch of new people in her face. Then, as the days went on, I noticed that she was only hiding and slinking when the kids were around.

Holy shit Rusty - is that them coming? I can't hear a god-damn thing here...

I totally get it. Trust me – there are plenty of times I have pulled the same type of things.

I used to be a heavy sleeper, and was one of those people who woke up by throwing the covers off and jumping up with a stunned look and crazy hair. Since having kids, I have managed to train myself to wake up from a dead sleep and not open my eyes or move a muscle. It all started as a sort of fucked up game of chicken between Anders and I when the kids were born, since the first one who “woke up” (which meant visible movement or breathing pattern change) had to get up with whichever baby was screaming. It was like Jedi training - both of trying to zone out the wailing baby and outlast the other and see who would snap first.

But I have to say I have really perfected this skill over the past few months. The kids have started stumbling into our room in the middle of the night and basically putting their mouths directly on my eye sockets and whispering “Momma….are you awake….Momma…can you hear me…Momma?” If I flinch or open my eyes – it is game over. I am up doing Lego and making waffles. But – by lying dead still, I have learned that they eventually give up and go try their luck on Anders side of the bed.

Anyway – bad parenting aside, I get the slinking thing Nina is doing.

We have tried getting the kids to calm down around her (good luck!) and have tried redirecting the kids attention to Rusty or something else – but Nina is so damn cute you just can’t not hug and squeeze her. So really – it is her own cute-ass fault!

How can you not squeeze that face? She brings it on herself really.

And – I am not sure how deaf she actually is. The rescue group thought she was almost completely deaf but I am not so sure about that. She is pretty clever and – much like my fake sleeping – I am starting to have suspicions that she has just mastered selective hearing.  I have been watching her when we are around and her little ears are constantly moving. And – unless she can read lips – she can somehow - and pretty miraculously - hear the words “treat” and “walk”. But when she is standing at the fence barking at people and we are yelling at her to stop - apparently she can’t hear a damn thing. 

There are signs she is starting to come around. Mainly the fact she doesn’t haul ass for under the table when the kids appear – but also the fact we found her sleeping curled up with Molly this morning. Plus, the kids are getting a bit calmer around her so that is helping. Anders - for all his grumbling - is actually starting to pet her when he thinks no one is looking.

I should also look at this whole thing from her side. One day – she is a puppy, cruising all feral and free up in Northern BC, and then BAM! She gets thrown in a crate, loaded on a plane and shipped to a place where she was thrown into an enclosed space with two wild and free three-year-olds.  I can imagine that shit is terrifying!

Poor Rusty - they look like a before and after ad.