Where to start with a deaf puppy

[Dal & Mad's Mom]

We have a puppy in rescue I think she will be a small aussie and I know she is the result of a merle merle breeding. I am almost positive she is completely deaf but, she may hear some things away from the other dogs as she vocalizes very well.

 

Where do you start with training her?? Do I work with the hand commands for sit and lie down? I wont have her long enough I'm sure to work on a motion collar as she is young and adorable.

[sweet_ceana]

When we thought one of our fosters was deaf (she was actually stubburn) I was given the suggestion to clicker train with a flash light.

[Tommy Coyote]

We have a puppy in rescue I think she will be a small aussie and I know she is the result of a merle merle breeding. I am almost positive she is completely deaf but, she may hear some things away from the other dogs as she vocalizes very well.

 

Where do you start with training her?? Do I work with the hand commands for sit and lie down? I wont have her long enough I'm sure to work on a motion collar as she is young and adorable.

I don't know anything about training a deaf dog. But one of the boxers I take care of is totally deaf. They trained him by teaching him hand signals. And he depended a lot on their other boxer - watched him for cues.

 

Anyway, Cody made completely normal dog sounds. He barked and he whined. He sounded just like any other dog.

[in2adventure]

Have you checked out deafdogs.org

 

I would think hand signals and the using the light as a clicker would work great. I transported a deaf BC awhile back and she was clicker trained with a flash light (a tiny squeeze type one). I only had her for 4 or 5 days so I didn't get to do too much with her other than what she already knew. Good luck!

 

And where are the pics?!

[Root Beer]

I was given the suggestion to clicker train with a flash light.

 

That would actually be my first move with a deaf dog - to load up some kind of visual clicker, probably a flashlight.

 

That would give you a line of communication so when you star teaching the behaviors and hand signals, you have a clear way to let the dog know that she is correct.