Anyone have experience raising/training a deaf dog?

It appears our new puppy cannot hear. I am not saying she is stubborn. I mean she really cannot hear. After doing a bunch of reading last night, I have decided to start signing with her. Anyone have any helpful hints? I'll be taking her to the vet here soon and will ask their ideas. Being that we are very attached to her, getting rid of her is not an option. The only thing that concerns me is having read that deaf dogs often go blind as well. Strange business, the reasons dogs are born deaf.

When she's old enough, start obedience school, if you can find a club that offers puppy classes, start those now, just be sure the trainer knows about her problem. I'm sure they can start teaching you the correct hand signals. In the advanced levels of obedience the dogs follow commands only given by hand signal, there is no reason why she can't learn them early. I would look for an AKC affiliated obedience club, not a petshop class, where the trainers would be more experienced. She'll pick up on it real quickly, I'm sure.
Deb

I teach them either deaf or not they can understand what I am siging to them as sit , go, outside, eat, go to room and go bed eat, drink, ready go, stop, roll, get up , hush and wait which my dog FiFi understand me more than others and still > learning what I has 2 puppies so far know sit and ready go, outside, no and hush.
Badseed you can go to Library to get the book of sign language which it has some simple to teach your puppy to get start until adult will understand you some not all of at least learn understand less 10 signs maybe more.
I used to have deaf cat never understand what I am signing to her. LOL

This message was edited Nov 9, 2004 10:11 PM

Hey Rose! I bet the cat knew just what you were saying and ignored it purposely...
Cats are like that, in any language!

~'spin!~

HI, someone at bestfriends.com might be able to put you into contact with a helper, or they may have an archive of info. I will check

Our old springer spaniel became deaf in old age. She responded well to hand signals, but I needed to stomp on the floor to get her attention, or clap. Of course, clapping was stressful for the other dogs, as that usually meant they were in trouble.

In Redrose's case, the situation is reversed. Her pets are hearing, but she is not. However, I'll bet she absolutely understands how to communicate silently with them. That's valuable information... such as the best signals that might be understood universally.

Chele, years ago I had adopted a dalmation puppy who was deaf. Samantha was just as trainable by hand signals as any other puppy by voice commands. If I held my palm down and lowered my hand she learned it meant lay, if I held it at an angle and lowered it meant sit, if I patted my chest twice it meant come, one pat on my chest told her she could jump up to sit beside me or jump up on me, and if I pointed my index finger down she knew to sit by my side. I also placed a hanging jingle bell by the door that she could nose to let ME know when she wanted to go out. ;o)

The most important part of her training was being able to maintain eye contact, and for some reason that was also the easiest part for Sam and me. The only major problem I had was Sam liked to chase squirrels and would run after them. I'd have to wait until she decided to look back at me before she seen the hand signal to come.

Training a puppy always takes time and patience whether they can hear or not. In fact, I think all of mine thought their names were NO for awhile! LOL

I thank you guys very much for reading and your comments. :) I will have to get back to answer you and ask questions when things slow down just a bit.

I want you all to know that we have been working with Tippy. We do the ASL signs with her. We show her the "walk" sign for going outside. We show her the "I love you" sign when she is good or when we want to love her. We have been showing her the "bad" or "no" sign if she potties where she should not, barks or bites. Whenever we want her attention, we show her the "see" sign so she will look at us. I believe she is learning those pretty well. The only big issue for now is getting her to come back in and getting her attention so she knows what we want. We do not let her out front anymore because of the street. She has been swimming in the pond once. LOL

Oh, by the way, I had to laugh at Crystal. I always say our cat has catittude. She can hear just fine, but who says she has to listen?? LOL

I have done lots of reading and learned lots of neat things. One thing is that dalmations are often deaf, so are Australian Sheperds which one of Tippy's parents were. Oddly enough, it has much to do with their pigment/coloring. Apparently their ears form at the same time they get their coloring. A lot of albino dogs are born deaf, as are certain dogs that are all or mostly white.

Chele sounds like you are doing great with this. I know after seeing Tippy giving her up is not an option.

The kids are so in love with her. LOL Not me, hahahahah. Is she cute or what??

That so great for you all learn ASL for your puppy and she will learn to understand you all signs to her. It is easy to learn ASL .

I have known the alphabet forever and a few actual signs. I am learning more now. :)

The cool thing is, your kids are learning sign too! Our 15 year old cat is going deaf. I have to clap my hands loudly before she will look at me. DD and I took an asl class. We really enjoyed it.

I taught one of our dogs sign language that I made up. I taught her the sign for food and out. I did not want the puppies to hear me when I asked her if she wanted to go out or if she wanted food! LOL.
The only problem was that when I signed she got so excited she started barking and then the puppies would wake up and want out of their crates.
White cats are also quite often deaf.

Oh you do BB already learn fingerspelling and some signs well that good for you so keep it up learning. =)
Have Fun!

Hey girl, that is so neat (there's a blast from the past) that you are teaching your doggie ASL. I might try that with my mutts cause they sure ain't learning the other way!
When I lived in Chicago I learned some sign language and had a little brother (2ys old through big brothers big sisters org) that could hear but the restof his family was deaf. That was quite an experience for all of us. Needless to say I have forgottem most of it.
More pics please, since you have nothing else to do.

I'll have to get a new picture of the little mutt. :) She must be over 5 pounds now. LOL I'll just have to get her to sit still.

Kind of strange with her being deaf as she is half black and half white. The stuff I read said if the dogs have white ears, they are more commonly deaf. Both of her ears are black.

Redrose, oddly enough some friends and I started signing in Jr. High. We would do all the letters of the words we were speaking, not the actual word signs. My friend got so bad, she could not talk without her hand flying. We would get so annoyed, we would grab her hand. She nearly had to relearn how to speak because if you held on to her hand, she forgot what she was saying. LOL I hope you don't find that offensive. We weren't making fun of signing, but wanted to learn it. I think she just went a bit overboard. :) I have a neice that talks with her hands, gestures actually. My great aunt would grab her hands and she couldn't talk either. Kind of funny the way the mind works.

You might want to check out
www.deafk9.com

frogs --
That is a GREAT site (with great links)! Whether your dog is deaf or not, there are some really good tips (and psychology) for training dogs. I really liked teaching to "walk nice" and others on that page. How animals learn bad habits thinking it are how things are supposed to be... I read similar once about the dog who will not wait to eat until you have filled the bowl, putting head in the way -- because he always has, he thinks it is essential to being fed!

I don't even have a dog nor anticipate having one as long as we live in the city, but loved your site!
~'spin!~

Chele, if she starts signing back to you, GET PICTURES.

LOLOLOL Gw, you are a hoot!

I learned finger spelling in JR. High too....my friends and I would communicate during class and no one was the wiser.

I had a puppy that would only sit on my foot. That's what he learned, and if I said sit, he ran over to me so he could get his bum on my foot! I also knew a woman with a deaf dog. He learned sign language just fine but you had to touch him to get his attention. In obedience classes, some hearing dogs are more sensitive to signed commands than to verbal commands. Interesting.