Dog Names that Start with Gh

Have you ever had reason or cause to consider contributions made to society by disabled or otherwise “limited” individuals?  If you ever wish to educate yourself, it won’t take very long or a search that is very deep to uncover some interesting stories about “handicapped” lives which have contributed positively to society.  Our pop culture spotlight today is one such life, and his name is Ghost.

Ghost is a Pit Bull mix, found abandoned in Florida and designated as “unadoptable” due to a handicap - he is deaf!  While our society is doing much better at accepting humans saddled with this deficiency, we don’t accept canines with similar disabilities.  And, in Ghost’s case, not only was he deaf, but he was also an untrained, high energy dog who had the dubious honor of being a Pit mix - for Ghost, this meant “three strikes, and you’re out!”  

Estimated to have been born around September 2015, society considered this pup unadoptable though attempts were made to do so.  So deemed as unadoptable, Ghost was placed on the euthanasia list, at least initially. This placement changed when Swamp Haven Rescue organization in St. Augustine took an interest in this intelligent bundle of energy, bringing him into their facility to house him while they continued to seek a forever home for him.  The folks at Swamp Haven found the expertise of those at the Olympic Penninsula Humane Society in Port Angeles, Washington with the hope that they had options for him. Dr. Suzy Zustiak, a veterinarian associated with Olympic, did not give up hope on Ghost, despite the “three strikes” he had working against him, reaching out to an experienced narcotics detection K-9 trainer who worked in conjunction with the Washington State Department of Corrections.  

Barbara Davenport, the K-9 trainer, who had already trained over 450 dogs in narcotics detection, was asked to evaluate Ghost.  She saw two things in Ghost that got her attention: first, he was not distracted from getting the toy he sought, and second, didn’t seem to display the “startle reflex” or the fearful body language so typically found in hearing-impaired canines. Long story short, Davenport took Ghost and assigned him a handler, training both of them in narcotics detection.  Ghost excelled in this endeavor, enabling this previously branded “unadoptable” handicapped canine to contribute some very positive and useful skills to society.