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Anyone have experience caring for deaf BCs or Aussie shepherds?


maggiesmommy
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We got a beautiful 3-month-old pup at our shelter today who is predominantly white with patches of her coat that are spotted like a Catahoula leopard dog. Her behavior and body structure strongly closely resemble a BC or AS. She is very high-energy and really craves work. We have her catalogued as a Catahoula/Australian shepherd cross.

 

Anyway, the vet gave her a full check-up and determined that she's completely deaf. (Although I'm tempted,) I'm not interested in adopting her myself, but I was wondering if anyone had advice on managing this sweet girl. She's clearly going to need a job, but can you train a deaf dog in agility or herding? I can just see her becoming very needy and neurotic because she has a strong drive to work but can't hear a command. If anyone has any experience handling deaf herding breeds, please share. I want to make sure she goes somewhere that can meet her needs and that we're able to meet those needs in the mean time.

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Not sure about herding since the dog should not be looking to the handler for direction (i.e. commands must be verbal since the dog should be visually focused on the sheep), but there is an almost unlimited amount of 'work' that she can do - obedience, trick training, nosework, agility, Frisbee, flyball, tracking?, etc.

 

Jovi

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Sports are no problem. An active pet would be fine, but you need good fences. If they get lost you can't exactly call them! Dogs learn hand signals really fast, so giving commands isn't a problem as long as they are focused on their handler. You do need to give them "warnings" so you don't startle them when coming from behind, or if they are sleeping. A good signal is stamping on the floor so they can feel the vibrations.

 

I wouldn't work a deaf dog on larger livestock (too dangerous), but ducks are safe.

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There's at least one board member who has kept a deaf dog; hopefully someone will share their experiences. I did know someone who trialed (sheep) a deaf dog, but I wouldn't recommend it--if things go to pieces, you've got no way to stop things if the dog isn't looking for your hand signals (and that particular dog could give a good chase if she was of a mind to, and of course there was nothing her owner could really do about it).

 

But lots of deaf dogs live perfectly happy lives; you just need to find that perfect home!

 

J.

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Sounds cute! We have a (mostly) blind Aussie right now (juvenile onset cataracts)... I'll pass along what her ophthalmologist told us - modified for the appropriate sense:

 

Being deaf (blind) from birth, she doesn't realize she is different, so don't feel sorry for her, she'll pick up on your emotions faster than anything. She still has her nose (most important sense) and eyes (third most important) so she's fine. I just ran across a YouTube video of someone running an agility dog on hand signals only... Working stock might be different for reasons mentioned above, but it sounds like it can be done. Beethoven was deaf, he did alright by music ;)

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I did know someone who trialed (sheep) a deaf dog, but I wouldn't recommend it--if things go to pieces, you've got no way to stop things if the dog isn't looking for your hand signals (and that particular dog could give a good chase if she was of a mind to, and of course there was nothing her owner could really do about it).

 

 

 

J.

Wel, I don´t really like to say it, cause I don´t like those devices, but an electronic collar could be a possibility, set on a mild vibration, not pain, and a dog trained to obey it as a stopcommand.

Not something I have any experience with, it was just something that sprang to mind reading this topic.

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Ah, I hadn´t really thought about that. In my case training a stockdog is not synonymous to trialing. I am still trying to find one to try it out, no luck so far, the only trial held this year is on the other side of Iceland, and at date I can´t afford to spend the time :rolleyes: ).

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I think there is a yahoo group for deaf dogs. When my first Border collie went deaf when he was around 10, we used hand signals. I looked into getting a vibrating collar for him, just to get his attention but it proved unnecessary as he checked in and they are more expensive than a shock collar.

 

I would suggest expanding the adoption pool to people who have experience training activities such as agility/rally/obediance etc as limiting it to experience of deaf dogs will really restrict the options. There are a number of dogs competing in agility that I have heard of.

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Dear Doggers,

Julie's right, of course, such devices aren't allowed at trials but . . . My experience is that handlers/judges/hosts are pretty reasonable. We've all seen kids running their parent's open dog in novice/novice w/o complaints and exceptions are routinely made for disabled handlers.

 

There's a difference between the National Finals and the Highland Occasional SDT. At the latter, a deaf sheepdog wearing an ecollar could run.

 

Donald McCaig

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I would suggest expanding the adoption pool to people who have experience training activities such as agility/rally/obediance etc as limiting it to experience of deaf dogs will really restrict the options. There are a number of dogs competing in agility that I have heard of.

 

I agree.

 

There's an agility handler here whose dog got to Grade 6 (out of 7) and competed successfully at Crufts before it was discovered at the age of 6 that she was completely deaf and had almost certainly been so since birth.

 

The dog had been trained by normal methods, but by a experienced trainer.

 

The dog had a BAER test, I'm assuming because they may have been thinking of breeding, which revealed the deafness otherwise they may never have known, or at least put it down to ageing if it became noticeable.

 

It shouldn't be forgotten that a dog's field of vision is far wider than ours so when we think the dog can't see us we could be very wrong. As long as the handler's body language is good a lot can be achieved.

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Wel, I don´t really like to say it, cause I don´t like those devices, but an electronic collar could be a possibility, set on a mild vibration, not pain, and a dog trained to obey it as a stopcommand.

Not something I have any experience with, it was just something that sprang to mind reading this topic.

 

Whilst a shock collar can usually be set on vibrate you can get collars that only vibrate and act as a pager for a deaf dog.

 

Calling them all ecollars gives a misleading impression. I hate the term anyway - if it's a shock collar I wish people who promote them would be honest and call it that.

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what Mum24dog said. I know people who work with deaf dogs and they usually recommend a vibrating collar for calling the dog when out of sight and other things. You can train with body language and hand signals. It would take a bit of supervision to keep a deaf dog. and sheep work aside from routine it would be difficult, but other sports would be fine

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I had considered buying some sort of vibrating collar, but the big problem is that it does not indicate direction. The dog won't know which way to go when you "call it" if there is no sound to guide it.

 

I'd love one for Megan because it would be a signal to "look for Mom". So, it might work well for some dogs. I think it's often recommended on the Yahoo deaf dog group.

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