DILLIE FAQS
1. Is Dillie a wild deer?
No ! Dilie was born on a deer farm in Brewster, Ohio. She has a pedigree that shows who her parents, grand parents, and great-grand parents, and so-forth were. It is against the law in Ohio for a wild deer to be kept on a farm or as a pet.
2. Is Dillie blind?
Yes, but not completely. She was born blind, with severe cataracts: a darkness over the lens of the eye. As she got older, the dark spots lightened. In a person, she would be considered “legally blind” or “visually impaired.” She can see well enough now that she does not run into things, butdoes not see far away very well. How can we tell this? When we approach Dillie, if we do not say her name, we can tell that she is apprehensive until she recognizes us-- when we are about ten feet away.
3. Why does Dillie live in the house?
When Dillie was first brought to our animal hospital, she was so sick that she could not eat or even stand. She was too small and weak to go out into the barn on her own. We planned to take her to the barn, though, and Steve built an addition to the barn for her to live so she wouldn’t have to be with the horses. When we took her to the barn, though, Kibbles, a large thouroughbred horse, leaned over into her stall and snorted. Dillie was so terrified that she jumped up and ran straight into the barn wall.
She was so tiny and afraid that we couldn’t leave her out in the barn then. We thought we would wait til she was a little older. She got so used to being in the house with the other pets that we naturally thought it was better for her to become a “house deer.”
4. Is Dillie housebroken?
Yes ! Dillie taught herself to go outside like the dog when she has to go to the bathroom. When she cannot go outside, she has a special area in an attached garage / rec room where she goes potty on special towels and mats that we change every time she goes. She does have occasional accidents-- like any pet can, but this is very rare.
5. Does Dillie like other deer?
Dillie senses wild deer sometimes over the fence in her barnyard. She is afraid of them. She usually runs back in the house if she sneses them. It is against the law for wild deer to mix with Dillie, so we have to keep them out of her fenced in area with an 8 foot fence.
Dillie did once meet another farm deer, a white deer named “George.” “George” was rescued from an abandoned farm where he and the other animals had been left to starve to death. Only “George” survived. It was so sad. “George” stayed with Dillie a few days before he found a permanent home with another farm.
6. What does Dillie wear on her neck?
Dillie has a collar on her neck that has a "Spotlite" by Securus GPS tracking device. This is a tool about the size of a small cell phone that keeps track of Dillie’s location. We can look up Dillies location on our computer or cell phone so if she would ever get loose so we can find her. Though Dillie is not allowed to roam free-- this would be against the law-- if she were ever able to get out of the fence by an accident, she has to be located immediately. Captive deer are not allowed to mix with wild deer and if she is lost for more than 24 hours, the game warden would ask us to destroy her. Dillie is like our child and that would be devastating. So, just to be sure that if any accident ever happened we could find Dillie IMMEDIATELY, we decided to keep this GPS tracker on her.
Spotlites can be used for pets and children, too. Anything or anyone you care about ! See their website for further information.
7. What does Dillie eat?
While it is true that Dillie loves special treats like ice cream, spaghetti, and coffee, the bulk of her diet is fresh hay and a large plate of greens and fruits and even some deer pellets. She also has plenty of grazing room. She does love flowers and plants and has pretty much wiped out our landscaping ! Deer have a great capacity to derive energy from nearly every type of plant material out there -- even things that other animals cannot digest. That is how they get through the winter. Dillie does love roses, just like the said on TV-- her eyes just light up when she smells them-- and in one chmop they are gone ! Obviously, we don't feed her roses all the time-- that owuld be a little expensive ! We do grow them in our garden just for her, though.
8. Does Dillie get along with the other pets?
Very much so ! Dillie , Lady, Spaz the Cat, and Neffie the cat are / were great buddies. The cats love to curl up on the bed right next to Dillie -she is certainly the warmest spot on the bed. The cats come up to Dillie and let her groom them-- they love that. The only pet in the household that didn't like Dillie is Steve's bird Screamie. The very first day Screamie, a Sun Conutre, joined our little family, Dillie grabbed her tail feathers with her lips and tossed Screamie across the room. Since that moment, Screamie does not like Dillie ! Sadly, in the last two years we have lost our beloved poodle, Lady, Neffie the Cat, and Screamie the bird, due to age related illnesses. Now, it is just Spazz and Dillie in the house, and they are great buddies.
9. Does Dillie like wild deer?
By state law, Dillie cannot mix with wild deer, and they cannot come into her fenced in enclosure. Sometimes, she seems to sense they are in the vicinity and she gets afraid. She fluffs her tail up and runs back in the house.
10. What does Dillie do during the day?
Dillie has a fairly set routine of getting up early in the morning, and waking Steve up by licking his arm and face til he wakes up. She then goes outside for several hours, though she comes in and out as she wants to. She runs around the yard a little and sometimes will get going really fast ! She eats her breakfast, grazes her hay, and likes to chomp on her ice and have a little of her Baby's Key West coffee, with lots of creamer. Just a little ! She splashes in it more than she drinks it, but she sure has fun doing it. After that, she goes to bed for most of the morning. She gets up about 2 and comes downstairs and goes outside again, but usually only to go to the bathroom and look around. She goes back up to bed until dinner time. At dinner time, she likes to go outside until just after sunset. She plays outside in the yard and usually walks around with Steve, Lady, Spaz the Cat. This is her most active and playful time. Steve hides treats in her different piles of hay and she likes to go around and check them out. She steals Lady's toys and licks them-- this makes Lady really mad ! They play a game with the toys. In the summer, this is the time she likes the best-- when we put the solar cover on the pool. She loves jumping and playing with it. Some times we play "Toro, Toro!" with it, and she charges it like a little bull.
After dinner, she sometimes lays down in the living room while the family is watching TV. Then, she heads up to her beadroom, for the night. After we go to bed, she comes into our room and says good night to us , and she likes to go into the bathroom and jump in the tub and knock the shampoo bottles over. Sometimes, she head butts the vanity doors-- this is one of her "reindeer games".
No ! Dilie was born on a deer farm in Brewster, Ohio. She has a pedigree that shows who her parents, grand parents, and great-grand parents, and so-forth were. It is against the law in Ohio for a wild deer to be kept on a farm or as a pet.
2. Is Dillie blind?
Yes, but not completely. She was born blind, with severe cataracts: a darkness over the lens of the eye. As she got older, the dark spots lightened. In a person, she would be considered “legally blind” or “visually impaired.” She can see well enough now that she does not run into things, butdoes not see far away very well. How can we tell this? When we approach Dillie, if we do not say her name, we can tell that she is apprehensive until she recognizes us-- when we are about ten feet away.
3. Why does Dillie live in the house?
When Dillie was first brought to our animal hospital, she was so sick that she could not eat or even stand. She was too small and weak to go out into the barn on her own. We planned to take her to the barn, though, and Steve built an addition to the barn for her to live so she wouldn’t have to be with the horses. When we took her to the barn, though, Kibbles, a large thouroughbred horse, leaned over into her stall and snorted. Dillie was so terrified that she jumped up and ran straight into the barn wall.
She was so tiny and afraid that we couldn’t leave her out in the barn then. We thought we would wait til she was a little older. She got so used to being in the house with the other pets that we naturally thought it was better for her to become a “house deer.”
4. Is Dillie housebroken?
Yes ! Dillie taught herself to go outside like the dog when she has to go to the bathroom. When she cannot go outside, she has a special area in an attached garage / rec room where she goes potty on special towels and mats that we change every time she goes. She does have occasional accidents-- like any pet can, but this is very rare.
5. Does Dillie like other deer?
Dillie senses wild deer sometimes over the fence in her barnyard. She is afraid of them. She usually runs back in the house if she sneses them. It is against the law for wild deer to mix with Dillie, so we have to keep them out of her fenced in area with an 8 foot fence.
Dillie did once meet another farm deer, a white deer named “George.” “George” was rescued from an abandoned farm where he and the other animals had been left to starve to death. Only “George” survived. It was so sad. “George” stayed with Dillie a few days before he found a permanent home with another farm.
6. What does Dillie wear on her neck?
Dillie has a collar on her neck that has a "Spotlite" by Securus GPS tracking device. This is a tool about the size of a small cell phone that keeps track of Dillie’s location. We can look up Dillies location on our computer or cell phone so if she would ever get loose so we can find her. Though Dillie is not allowed to roam free-- this would be against the law-- if she were ever able to get out of the fence by an accident, she has to be located immediately. Captive deer are not allowed to mix with wild deer and if she is lost for more than 24 hours, the game warden would ask us to destroy her. Dillie is like our child and that would be devastating. So, just to be sure that if any accident ever happened we could find Dillie IMMEDIATELY, we decided to keep this GPS tracker on her.
Spotlites can be used for pets and children, too. Anything or anyone you care about ! See their website for further information.
7. What does Dillie eat?
While it is true that Dillie loves special treats like ice cream, spaghetti, and coffee, the bulk of her diet is fresh hay and a large plate of greens and fruits and even some deer pellets. She also has plenty of grazing room. She does love flowers and plants and has pretty much wiped out our landscaping ! Deer have a great capacity to derive energy from nearly every type of plant material out there -- even things that other animals cannot digest. That is how they get through the winter. Dillie does love roses, just like the said on TV-- her eyes just light up when she smells them-- and in one chmop they are gone ! Obviously, we don't feed her roses all the time-- that owuld be a little expensive ! We do grow them in our garden just for her, though.
8. Does Dillie get along with the other pets?
Very much so ! Dillie , Lady, Spaz the Cat, and Neffie the cat are / were great buddies. The cats love to curl up on the bed right next to Dillie -she is certainly the warmest spot on the bed. The cats come up to Dillie and let her groom them-- they love that. The only pet in the household that didn't like Dillie is Steve's bird Screamie. The very first day Screamie, a Sun Conutre, joined our little family, Dillie grabbed her tail feathers with her lips and tossed Screamie across the room. Since that moment, Screamie does not like Dillie ! Sadly, in the last two years we have lost our beloved poodle, Lady, Neffie the Cat, and Screamie the bird, due to age related illnesses. Now, it is just Spazz and Dillie in the house, and they are great buddies.
9. Does Dillie like wild deer?
By state law, Dillie cannot mix with wild deer, and they cannot come into her fenced in enclosure. Sometimes, she seems to sense they are in the vicinity and she gets afraid. She fluffs her tail up and runs back in the house.
10. What does Dillie do during the day?
Dillie has a fairly set routine of getting up early in the morning, and waking Steve up by licking his arm and face til he wakes up. She then goes outside for several hours, though she comes in and out as she wants to. She runs around the yard a little and sometimes will get going really fast ! She eats her breakfast, grazes her hay, and likes to chomp on her ice and have a little of her Baby's Key West coffee, with lots of creamer. Just a little ! She splashes in it more than she drinks it, but she sure has fun doing it. After that, she goes to bed for most of the morning. She gets up about 2 and comes downstairs and goes outside again, but usually only to go to the bathroom and look around. She goes back up to bed until dinner time. At dinner time, she likes to go outside until just after sunset. She plays outside in the yard and usually walks around with Steve, Lady, Spaz the Cat. This is her most active and playful time. Steve hides treats in her different piles of hay and she likes to go around and check them out. She steals Lady's toys and licks them-- this makes Lady really mad ! They play a game with the toys. In the summer, this is the time she likes the best-- when we put the solar cover on the pool. She loves jumping and playing with it. Some times we play "Toro, Toro!" with it, and she charges it like a little bull.
After dinner, she sometimes lays down in the living room while the family is watching TV. Then, she heads up to her beadroom, for the night. After we go to bed, she comes into our room and says good night to us , and she likes to go into the bathroom and jump in the tub and knock the shampoo bottles over. Sometimes, she head butts the vanity doors-- this is one of her "reindeer games".