Hearing
|
|
| I know there are quite few members here with deaf OES. Born deaf though. If the dog just went deaf all of a sudden at five years old, I would think about...was he deaf all along and you never knew? Did he have constant ear infections and maybe the medication causes some deafness? Ar you sure he is really deaf? I'm sure the experts here that have raised deaf dogs will give their opinions and advise soon! |
| Oscar was born deaf, so I don't have any experience with a dog losing his hearing. Five years old is young though. Has he/she seen a vet, to determine the level of deafness, as well as why the dog can't hear? That would be the first step - to treat whatever is causing the hearing loss, and halt it if at all possible. I would also start obedience training with hand signals right away. This is fairly easy, especially if you have already trained your dog with verbal commands. Basically, when the dog does a behavior, like "sit", on his/her own, do the hand signal you want for "sit", and give a treat immediately. It doesn't take long for the dog to understand that the behavior and the hand signal are linked, same as if you were giving a verbal command. (You can give the verbal command at the same time as the hand signal, if you like, as dogs read your face, in addition to watching your hands.) Oscar knows all of the words our hearing dog knew, like sit, stay, down, dinner, bedtime, treat, toy, etc. Also, you want to make sure not to approach your dog and touch him/her unexpectedly, while the dog is asleep or looking in another direction. A startled dog may react with a snap, especially if they haven't been desensitized to unexpected touch. (When Oscar was a puppy, we did "startle therapy" on him. It involved touching him gently when he wasn't looking, and giving him the nummiest of treats when he turned to see what was going on. Soon, he learned that an unexpected touch meant an unexpected treat, and he has never snapped at anyone, ever.) If you need to get your dog's attention, stomp on the floor, or toss a toy so that it slides across the floor past them, and gets them focused on the movement. Always approach from where the dog can see you. If the dog is sleeping, place a treat right under his/her nose, as this usually brings them to consciousness pretty quickly, and they get the treat for not reacting poorly to be startled awake. I hope some of this info is helpful. Laurie and Oscar |
| Some drugs cause deafness.....in particular buffered aspirin for along period. Could there have been an illness or injury? Or as said above, born with little hearing and now it's gone. I have an olderster with very limited hearing. She hears hi whistles and that's about it not. So we are gradually introducing hand signals which, even at 13, she's catching on quickly. |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|