The implications of having a deaf dog

Lorrs33

My family might be adopting a dog from the DSPCA, she's hard of hearing apparently and she's nine. A vet's family took her and brought her back for this reason. We already have a cat and dog in their early teens, which is another obstacle to consider. But I'm wondering what extra care would need to be taken in order to care for a deaf dog.

suziwalsh

Hear is some information on having a deaf dog:

Deaf Dogs

Deaf dogs can have a perfectly normal life and can be trained fairly easily once both of you have got the hang of a few basic principles – the most important of which is that you have to train using hand signals instead of verbal commands. In fact, dogs with perfect hearing actually find it easier to learn using hand signals and so being deaf shouldn't be too much of a disadvantage in most situations (the obvious exception being recalls). Outside of an obvious physical defect, deaf dogs are just your normal, everyday dogs. They do have a better excuse for not listening than most dogs, but they live in our houses, sleep on our beds, play with our children and ride in our cars. They go for walks, chase balls, bark at squirrels (yes, they do bark), and at the end of the day, they collapse in front of the TV with the rest of the family. They share our lives, and are our companions and friends.
In the past, breeders and vets were likely to recommend that deaf puppies were put to sleep, but thankfully more compassion is now shown to them and they are more often given their chance to live full and happy lives. But what is involved in looking after a deaf dog?

What can cause deafness?

Dogs can be born deaf, or it can be acquired at a later age, gradually or suddenly, as a result of injury, disease or old age. When dogs are born deaf, this is most commonly due to a lack of pigmented skin in the inner ear - the nerve endings atrophy and die off in the first few weeks of the puppy's life. This causes deafness and may occur in either one or both ears. You cannot physically see into the inner ear from the outside, and just because a dog has white ears doesn't mean that he will be deaf and deaf dogs can have ears that are coloured on the outside. Dogs that are likely to suffer from deafness often have merled or spotted coats, blue eyes or pink skin. This means that certain breeds are more likely to be deaf than others; Dalmatians, Bull Terriers, English Setters, Australian Cattle Dogs and Border Collies amongst others.

Are deaf dogs really so different?

All sorts of myths and untruths have appeared about deaf dogs over the years, but how accurate are they, or have they been used to justify such wide scale euthanasia of otherwise healthy puppies? Can deaf dogs really never live with children? If you startle them when asleep, will they attack? Are they more likely to be hit by a car? Are they incredibly difficult to train? And are they really time-bombs, just waiting to go off?
All dogs are individuals, deaf or not and so it is possible that occasionally a deaf dog may have one of these problems, however, if a deaf dog is raised properly like any other dog should be; socialised correctly, trained and cared for responsibly, there's no reason why this should be so.

A few special considerations

If you are thinking about taking on a deaf dog or puppy it will help if you have had previous experience with dogs, because there are a few extra considerations that come with the job.

If you have children, they should be old enough to understand that the dog cannot hear and be able to join in with training commands and stick to the ground rules you have laid for the dog.

If you are walking your dog in an open area, it is not a good idea to let your dog off the lead. Unless you have trained a reliable recall and are confident that the dog will watch you at all times, a flexi-lead or long line will be best.

Most deaf dogs will be a little startled if touched when they are not expecting it or are asleep, but they don't tend to bite when this happens. Their reactions tend to range from jumping, to simply turning and looking. Because it is not nice to be startled, you can train the dog to get used to it by gently touching or waking the dog and immediately giving him a treat. He soon learns that being surprised is not a bad thing.

Getting a deaf dog's attention when he isn't looking at you can be a challenge. You could try gently touching him, stamping on the ground, turning a light on and off, throwing a small soft object next to him (not hitting him), using a torch or laser pointer, using a vibrating collar (definitely not a shock collar) or simply waiting for him to turn around!

Deaf dogs can get anxious if you have left the room without them seeing, so you may need to touch the dog on your way out, so he can watch or follow where you go.

Most importantly, you will need plenty of patience and time for training – you can't get away with letting it slide like you may with other dogs, since it could mean life or death for a deaf dog. You will also need plenty of imagination, because hand-signals and facial expressions are the key to communicating with a hound that can't hear.

Hands-off! Training without touching

No dog likes to be shoved or pushed around during training – it makes it hard for them to concentrate or understand what you are wanting from them – but with deaf dogs it is even more important not to do this since you need at least one hand free for hand signals. By luring a dog into position with treats or his favourite toy and applying a hand signal, he'll soon get the idea.

There are no right or wrong hand signals – you can choose whatever you like, as long as you and your family are consistent. One of the most important signs you'll need to teach is 'good dog!' – a thumbs-up sign is commonly used. This is easily taught by showing the dog a thumbs-up and then tossing him a treat. This needs to be repeated until the dog looks expectantly for a treat when the sign is shown – then he knows what it means and the 'good dog' sign can now be used for training other commands.

It may seem odd, but you should always speak to your dog whilst using commands. Your dog will read your facial expressions as well as your hand signals. When you are signing 'good dog', if you say it whilst smiling, it'll mean much more to your dog and be so much clearer.

It may feel funny to be speaking to a deaf dog, but if you use exaggerated facial expressions at the same time, it'll help him understand and communication will be a lot easier. Physical punishment should never be used – your dog has to trust your hands and not be scared of them. A 'no' command can be taught by offering a treat and then withholding it whilst using a 'wagging' finger' sign and using a scowl. However, it is always better to show any dog (deaf or not) a positive alternative course of action, instead of telling him off for doing something wrong – for example, ask him to sit when you enter into the house, instead of him jumping up at you.

Do I Need a Vibrating Collar?

Not unless you or the dog really wants one (the majority of deaf dogs and their people do just fine without them). The vibrating collar is a paging system for the dog and its owner. It is not the same as an electronic or shock collar. We recognize that the shock from these collars is (or can be) very mild, but it's not an approach we will recommend. After all, even though a static shock from someone scuffing their feet along the carpet is not "painful," it isn't pleasant either. We want to teach the dog to "check in" with us and we want that to always be a happy thing for the dog.
The biggest drawback to the vibrating collars currently available is their weight. The collars weigh between 2.3 to 7.8 oz (65g to 221g) and are really too heavy for smaller dogs (or puppies) to wear comfortably. Think about it: if the dog weighs only 20 lbs. (9 kgs), it would be like having a 2.3 pound (1 kg) weight around the neck of a 150 lb. (68kg) person. What fun would that be?

A vibrating collar does not really teach your dog to "do" anything. It is a cue to "look at me" or "watch me." It is an attention getter (like calling the dog's name) and if you haven't established good basic training with your dog, what will you do once you get its attention?

The collars available today come with a number of available features. If you choose to use one, be sure that it will fit with your planned usage and lifestyle. If it is a combination vibration/shock system, make sure that the shock setting can be turned off. Check the range and the collar's resistance to water. Many of the collars have a tone feature that may seem pretty senseless on a deaf dog. But, just like finding your misplaced keys or TV remote, the tone can serve a purpose if you need to track down a sleeping (or otherwise occupied) pet.

There are loads of books and references about deaf dogs available even short training clips can be found on www.youtube.com

Paul91

i'm sure what i am about to say Suziwalsh has covered, but reading her post was a bit daunting at this time on a Friday night so my apologies if i repeat anything

OK our 16 year old Cairn is near enough deaf, this means in real terms you have to be carefull when she's out as she can't hear traffic/people approach, also means she can't hear when you call her - we thump the ground and she feels the vibrations, and it means she's a little scarred, especially if you come up from behind her, but don't worry she's still the boss of the house, that consists of a Boxer/Lab male, German ShepherdX female (both about 5 years) and two German ShepX pups of 17 weeks whom are twice her size! she even tries to bite my toes of -

TooManyDogs

I adopted a deaf dog from Dogs Aid, she was 5 months old and likely strayed cos she's deaf. She's a mini JRT.

The article Suziwalsh put up has very good points, here's a few more from the experience of living with a deaf dog -

- Not all deaf dogs respond to vibrations/stamping to wake them up when they're asleep, an elephant could jump up and down beside my girl and she'd happily sleep through. Likewise using food smells, doesn't always work. We nudge her bed or I gently touch her ear, so she slowly wakes up.

- They bark!!! It's instictive.

- Their ears appear to be following noises around, again it's instinctive and is just a symptom of paying attention to whatever they're watching.

- A deaf dog sleeps like the dead, so when they wake up they're fully refreshed and have tons of energy. Our girl is like the energiser bunny when she wakes up and never mind 5 minutes of madness? It's more like an hour!!!

- The most important command to teach them is a 'Watch me' command, it gets them into the habit of looking at your face to see what you want them to do.

- A vibrating collar would be handy to get their attention, when they have their back to you, you may as well not exist and a vibrating collar is the only way to get them to turn around. You can only get them small enough for medium sized dogs up, so unfortunately I can't get one for my girl.

- We lose her in the house! When we come in the other dogs greet us and often she'll be missing, cos she is so small and loves snuggling under things, it often takes a whole house search to find her! Generally we just let her wake up on her own, changes in air vibrations often alert her to the fact we're home.

- We find she picks a dog to stick to while we're out and always keeps them in her sight, so we can let her off lead no problem, having said that it's only somewhere like up the fields or down the beach where there's no roads anywhere near.

- We find it no problem to touch our girl to get her attention, I'll give her a little tap if I want her to look at me and she has no problem, she doesn't mind us waking her up with touch either, but we always touch her very gently.

- We didn't find training her much more difficult than training the other dogs, the 'watch me' command made everything else grand cos you had her attention. The weird thing we did find though was that while we use hand signals for her, we need to vocalise them to achieve consistancy. Humans seem to need to hear things for our faces to appear consistant, and dogs watch all of our body anyway so face is very important.

All in all we're delighted we adopted her, we're teaching her agility at the moment and hope to compete with her during the summer.

I'd suggest giving Siobhan from Dublin Pet School a ring, I attended a deaf dog training course she gave, it was very good. www.dublinpetschool.com

PM me if you want to meet my girl, I'm in Dublin