A TOUCH OF ASTON
Our Story
Miriam is 24 years old and has been involved with dog rescue for as long as she can remember. She began fostering Aston, born deaf and blind, one week after graduating from college in 2021 with a degree in mathematics. Three months later, she officially adopted Aston. Together, Aston and Miriam prove that deafblind dogs are capable of incredible things and can live happy, full lives. Read about how they came into each other's lives below.
Aston's Beginnings
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Aston was born on March 4th, 2021 in Cordele, Georgia. He was part of an unplanned litter after Aston's dad, a cream Siberian Husky / German Shepherd mix, jumped the fence and mated with Aston's mom, a merle Beagle mix. Since Aston's dad was a hidden merle, it was a shock when several disabled double merle puppies were born.
Since Aston and his brother Martin were both born fully blind, the family reached out to their local shelter for help. They were connected with Renee Scalisi from Florida Double Merle Network, recently rebranded as M² Rescue Network, who coordinates transport and rescue for deaf and/or blind dogs, double merles, and other at-risk dogs.
Miriam's Passion for Dog Rescue
Meanwhile, Miriam was just finishing up her senior year of college at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida and had connected with Renee Scalisi a few months prior.
Miriam was very passionate about dog rescue after volunteering with her mom and sister for the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando for over a decade. Although Miriam's family had fostered over 150 puppies and dogs, one foster that really stuck with Miriam was a deaf dog named Blue from 2019.
Blue had a rough past and was not an easy foster, but Miriam was determined to help him succeed, so she researched and joined support groups for deaf dogs. During that time, she learned that Blue might be a double merle and became determined to help more double merles in the future, whether they were deaf, blind, or some combination of the two.
Connecting with Renee
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In early 2021, a few months before Aston was born, Miriam saw a Facebook post from Renee Scalisi looking for deaf dog fosters in Central Florida. Miriam and her mom reached out and learned that Renee ran the Florida Double Merle Network. When Miriam told Renee about her interest in double merles, Renee began to mentor her on the different aspects of double merle rescue and transport.
When Renee was contacted about Aston and Martin, she asked if Miriam was interested in fostering them. After talking it over with her mom, Miriam said yes! While Aston and Martin stayed with their mom for another month, Renee worked behind the scenes to coordinate their surrender to Lil Rascals Dog Rescue and transportation from Georgia to Florida. At the same time, Miriam learned all she could about blind dogs and prepared for her new fosters.
Fostering Aston and Martin​
On May 21st, 2021, one week after Miriam graduated from college, Aayush Singh with Pilots n Paws flew Aston and Martin from Georgia to an airport in Deland, Florida, where Miriam and her dad picked up the eleven-week-old foster puppies.
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During the drive home, neither puppy reacted to sound, and over the next few days it became obvious that Aston and Martin were deaf as well as blind. Luckily, Miriam knew double merles are at risk of both vision and hearing impairments, so she had already researched deafblind dogs just in case.
The next few months fostering Aston and Martin were far from easy, but they were also very rewarding and taught Miriam a lot. Despite being overwhelmed at times and sleep deprived most of the time, Miriam loved the boys and continued to learn alongside them every day as she did her best to set them up for success. In addition to the typical puppy tasks like potty training and socialization, Miriam began training Aston and Martin using touch cues. She hoped that someone would see videos of the boys learning tricks on her family's Puppy Fostering Instagram account or Facebook page, realize how smart and capable deafblind dogs are, and maybe even consider welcoming one of them into their family.
Bonding With Aston
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Miriam had no intention of adopting a puppy, but she lovingly called Aston her little teddy bear and occasionally even joked about keeping him. He was always smiling and doing silly things to make her laugh.
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In July, Martin was adopted and Miriam had a lot more time to bond with Aston one-on-one. As adoption applications started coming in for Aston, Miriam dreaded saying goodbye and was secretly relieved each time an application wasn’t the right fit. An application finally came in that checked all the boxes, but the family decided to take some time to talk things over before making a final commitment. As several days passed waiting for their decision, Miriam realized that Aston had already found his home with her and she couldn’t imagine her life without him.
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Miriam officially adopted Aston from Lil Rascals Dog Rescue on August 21st, 2021 after fostering him for three months.
Sharing their Journey Online
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The evening of Aston's adoption, Miriam created Aston's Instagram (@ATouchOfAston) to share their journey and show others how amazing deafblind dogs like Aston are. More recently, Miriam started sharing on TikTok and Facebook as well.
Through social media, Miriam and Aston have found an incredibly supportive community of dog lovers and fellow deafblind dog guardians.
Miriam's favorite part of their social media journey is receiving messages from people who have been impacted by Aston in some way, whether they developed a new perspective on disabled dogs or learned new skills to transform their relationship with their own deafblind dog.
Accomplishments and Goals
In addition to spreading deafblind awareness, Miriam and Aston love to go on sniffaris and learn new tricks together. In fact, Aston has earned several trick dog titles. In October of 2022, Aston was featured in an article by the American Kennel Club for earning his AKC Novice Trick Dog Title.
As of April 2023, Aston also has his AKC Intermediate Trick Dog Title, as well as his Novice, Novice Masters, Intermediate, and Advanced Trick Dog Titles through Do More With Your Dog. Miriam and Aston continue to share new tricks and their training process on social media and can't wait to apply for additional titles.
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Miriam feels so lucky to be Aston's mom and have the opportunity to help so many others at the same time. She receives many messages from people searching for deafblind dog tips and information, so she hopes this website will be a great resource for the deaf and/or blind dog community and anyone else hoping to learn more about life with a deafblind dog.