‘Unadoptable’ shelter puppy grows up to become Washington’s first deaf drug detection dog

Dannielle Maguire

March 2, 2018 - 3.12am

Meet Ghost.

This very good boy had a rough start to life, after being found wandering around by animal control officers in Florida as pup.

As we learned from a report from Drew Mikkelsen for King 5 News, the pit bull crossbreed was just three months old when he was picked up.

He was labelled “unadoptable” when they discovered he was deaf.

According to a report for Kiro 7 News from Maggie Wilson, Ghost was also overly energetic and showed an indifference to people.

This combination of characteristics proved a challenging case to rehome and things didn’t look good for the poor pup.

But after folk at the Swamp Haven Humane centre saw something special in Ghost, they reached out for help to give him a better future.

Eventually, he ended up on the other side of the US in Port Angeles, in the state of Washington.

He was spotted by dog trainer Barb Davenport who, for the first time in his life, didn’t see his deafness as a problem.

She saw it as something he could use to his advantage.

So she put him to work to train with the narcotics detection squad at the Washington Department of Corrections.

“It seems to make him even more focused,” Davenport said.

[Image via King 5]

Despite being hearing impaired, Ghost made it through his training and grew up to be a well-respected canine citizen.

And in January, this “unadoptable” shelter pup started his job helping Washington’s corrective services detect drugs.

Davenport says Ghost is the state’s first ever deaf drug detection dog, and could possibly be the only one in the history of the US.

And he’s already made a bust, locating illegal drugs during searches at Washington’s Department of Social and Health Services’ secure facilities

But as well as finding his calling, Ghost also found himself a forever home.

He now lives with his handler Joe Henderson, and looks set to have a very happy future.

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