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Do any of you have a deaf dog?


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My ASL I professor had three dogs - two were deaf and one was hearing. She used true ASL with them (since she was already fluent, it was easy for her). She said the deaf dogs would look to the hearing dog for cues and would even bark when the hearing dog would alert to a sound, even though they had no idea what they were barking at, LOL! I haven't trained on myself so I don't have a lot of advice, but wanted to say thanks of you are considering adopting a dog with deafness. My prof was always on the lookout for homes for deaf dogs in shelters since they were often harder to adopt out and put down quicker.

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If so, I'd like to hear about how you trained your dog. Specifically how you trained your dog to watch you to come when called. And, of course, anything else you can share :).

Thanks,

 

I have trained two. I started with a young puppy and a youth. With both of them, I used my hearing dog, a docile, obedient Great Dane who knew both verbal and hand signals, who came, sat, stayed, heeled, "waited" "go"ed, "jumped over" and "jumped up on" etc, and also walked all over town unleashed and waited at street corners for me. I would walk this dog every day, often for 2 hours (I was 18-22 during this time, and walked a great deal). These dogs (not trained the same year) would "tag along" with my dog. Pull his ear, chaw on his neck, etc. Old Burt would just trot along doing what he was supposed to do.

 

I carried a handful of pebbles. I would throw one at the dog, which would feel it strike and turn to look. That was the most difficult to get across. I would call my dog while the stone hit, and my dog would turn to me, and finally the pups would, too. Once I had them looking at me, I gave them both the hand signal.

 

Both were "people pleasing" breeds, BTW, and once they were grown enough to care about pleasing me (much petting and facial expression for praise....I learned a sort of bending down and making "gasping salmon" gestures with my lower jaw really made one of them happy), they caught on to keep looking at me to see if I was giving them a command. This means being very much engaged to them. (My old Burt used to "ask" for clarification. E.g. when we moved out here, the roads were cut through the forest, with no sidewalk. Walking down the middle of the road, the first time, a car came along. I call "OUT OF THE ROAD", a command he knew, but since there was no sidewalk, he turned to look at me, and I pointed to one side. That is the side he went to. After awhile he figured out I pointed to the side of the road farthest away from the side the car was on.)

 

Once the dogs worked with me, the owners started coming along with me to learn the tricks. I never read or studied anything on this....this was all just "my idea" on what to do. First I just started walking with Burt and the first puppy, and tried things. We put down a lot of shoe leather and paw-skin in the old part of Lawrence, Kansas, we did!

 

Thinking back on it, I gave them a very expensive level of training for free. I did it for the challenge, and because I was walking two hours a day with a dog anyway. Oh, the days of youth.

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my sister in law does, I know he knows some signs. I can ask her about it and get back to you- probably tomorrow.

 

That would be fantastic! Thanks!

 

I think I can handle regular signs (sit, stay, roll, etc); we've taught all our dogs with sign language that way as well as verbal. But the "come" one concerns me, especially when the nose is to the ground or the dog is preoccupied with something else and just can't hear us. I'm considering adopting a deaf dog, but that one command makes me nervous for the safety of the dog.

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She said the deaf dogs would look to the hearing dog for cues and would even bark when the hearing dog would alert to a sound, even though they had no idea what they were barking at, LOL!.

 

I was thinking this would be helpful. We already have a dog (one who admittedly has selective hearing, much like the rest of my family :glare:) who always, no matter what, will obey a sign, moreso than verbal cues.

 

My prof was always on the lookout for homes for deaf dogs in shelters since they were often harder to adopt out and put down quicker.

:) I'm hoping to avoid that very thing with a lovely Australian Shepherd mix that my dd fell in love with.

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I have trained two. I started with a young puppy and a youth. With both of them, I used my hearing dog, a docile, obedient Great Dane who knew both verbal and hand signals, who came, sat, stayed, heeled, "waited" "go"ed, "jumped over" and "jumped up on" etc, and also walked all over town unleashed and waited at street corners for me. I would walk this dog every day, often for 2 hours (I was 18-22 during this time, and walked a great deal). These dogs (not trained the same year) would "tag along" with my dog. Pull his ear, chaw on his neck, etc. Old Burt would just trot along doing what he was supposed to do.

 

I carried a handful of pebbles. I would throw one at the dog, which would feel it strike and turn to look. That was the most difficult to get across. I would call my dog while the stone hit, and my dog would turn to me, and finally the pups would, too. Once I had them looking at me, I gave them both the hand signal.

 

Both were "people pleasing" breeds, BTW, and once they were grown enough to care about pleasing me (much petting and facial expression for praise....I learned a sort of bending down and making "gasping salmon" gestures with my lower jaw really made one of them happy), they caught on to keep looking at me to see if I was giving them a command. This means being very much engaged to them. (My old Burt used to "ask" for clarification. E.g. when we moved out here, the roads were cut through the forest, with no sidewalk. Walking down the middle of the road, the first time, a car came along. I call "OUT OF THE ROAD", a command he knew, but since there was no sidewalk, he turned to look at me, and I pointed to one side. That is the side he went to. After awhile he figured out I pointed to the side of the road farthest away from the side the car was on.)

 

Once the dogs worked with me, the owners started coming along with me to learn the tricks. I never read or studied anything on this....this was all just "my idea" on what to do. First I just started walking with Burt and the first puppy, and tried things. We put down a lot of shoe leather and paw-skin in the old part of Lawrence, Kansas, we did!

 

Thinking back on it, I gave them a very expensive level of training for free. I did it for the challenge, and because I was walking two hours a day with a dog anyway. Oh, the days of youth.

 

Brilliant! Maybe when you retire from your current job, you can work your intuition and mastery with dogs! The part I bolded is spectacular - It was absolutely what I was looking for.

 

Thank you!

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my dog has become deaf in the past year. She's just the best little old dog I can imagine. When I try to get her attention in the house, I actually stomp on the floor or hit the couch hard. It must be the vibration she senses and she'll look at me. I have taught her some things on my own, like motioning her to come near, motioning her to sit, motioning her to go out by standing at the door, opening and motioning to go out, clapping my lap so she'll jump into it. She's done very well.

 

When she's outside, I just have no way of getting her attention. She's also losing her eyesight. Once she's blind AND deaf I'll probably just keep the floors clear and have to constantly monitor her.

 

Poor old gal got closed into the barn a couple of weeks ago. We were screaming at the top of our lungs (she can hear a SCREAM if you're close enough) and there was no sight of her. She never stays outside without me so when two hours went by I was devastated. I thought she went into the woods to die, or ran too fast and had a heart attack, something the vet said could happen. When we went to get the even grain ready, there was my old gal asleep in the barn. POOR THING!!!

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in obedience classes and have a dear friend with a deaf English Setter.

 

First-get the dog's hearing tested. Your local vet cannot do it-it is called a BAER test I think and most vet schools can. Also call your local kennel club to see if there is any testing going on at dog shows locally. As you likely know-hereditary deafness is not uncommon in several breeds and that service is offered to dog people to screen potential breeding stock (they can be unilaterally deaf) and in some breeds-good breeders will test all puppies very young. Anyway the reason to test is to find out if the dog has any hearing at all. Some may have partial in one ear or even be able to hear out of the human range. If this is the case-a dog whistle (found at sporting goods places that sell hunting dog stuff) can be used to get the attention of and give commands to a dog.

 

Sign language is helpful-I even took a class in it with my friend with the deaf dog to use later in helping to train deaf dogs in class. Usually, when used on dogs-you exaggerate the motions so they can be seen from a distance. I's ok to learn some signs and modify them for your use.

 

Another handy thing to have is a training collar (aka shock collar). Before you all get your knickers in a wad ;) some of the high end ones have a vibrate only setting. This is very handy for getting the attention of a dog way out in the yard or far from you. You train the dog to come find you whenever you make it vibrate by giving a treat every time it does. While in the house, as a pp mentioned, I find stomping does work too. It has been years since I had to find one of those collars and I think I got the info from a dear friend that trained police dogs-they may not have been something you could just pick up at the petsmart-though they may have been made by the same companies.

 

Some things you may need to think of with a deaf dog:

-finding ways to not startle a dog by touching it when it is not looking at you-many people stomp in the house or toss something small outside-or the vibrate collar.

-be hyper vigilant about locked fences and such and never off leash outside of a fenced area. They cannot hear you yell commands and cannot hear a car coming or even honking a horn.

-watch behavior around other dogs. Until they learn to live together, the deaf dog may be startled by other dogs just coming up to play-and there may be some fighting due to mixed signals-the deaf dog thinking the other dog just was rude-when the other dog has been using body language and such-but deaf dog wasn't looking. This usually works out with hearing dog learning to get deaf dog's attention first.

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My mother has a one year old deaf pitbull. Mom has taught Nova many hand signals. She is an amazingly smart dog who caught on really quickly to the signals, and obeys better than my kids at times, lol. I will talk to her and get back to you as well. One big thing that you have to know is not to sneak up on them or wake them abruptly. It can really startle and scare them.

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