Dog Training Tip: How to train a deaf dog. I have had the great pleasure of training a few deaf dogs and I can assure you that they are capable of learning everything that an a hearing dog can. We cant use verbal signals of course, but we can communicate with hand signals and in fact every dog I train is taught hand signals. The biggest challenge to overcome is getting the dogs attention. There are three basic ways to get the dogs attention each with pros and cons. 1. The foot stomp. In the vicinity of your dog, your tap the ground twice to alert the dog to look at you so you can give a hand signal. Extremely effective when next to your dog and on a hard surface like hardwood floors and tile, but fails miserably when on a soft surface like grass. 2. The laser light. Pointing a laser light at the ground in front of your dog and not at the dog can be highly effective and works when you are in close proximity to your dog, but is totally useless if your dog is a football field away from you. This method is not suitable with dogs that have a high prey drive as they will chase the light and lose all focus. 3. The vibration collar. This is my favourite device. A collar that vibrates just like your cell phone. The collar comes with a hand held remote device that triggers the collar and some models are effective up to a distance of 200 feet so working a dog from a distance is now possible. Note that I am talking about a vibration collar and NOT a shock collar. It is relatively easy to get your dog use to the vibration collar and I would suggest you seek the expertise of a qualified canine behaviourist to assist you in the gentle introduction of the collar to your dog. Once you are over the hurdle of alerting the dog and getting them to look at you, we use the same positive reinforcement techniques as used with any other dog. Just like humans, dogs learn to adapt and we find that when they lose one of their senses, their other senses are heightened. In my experience deaf dogs are even better at reading body language than their hearing counterparts. We must be sensible when approaching a deaf dog so as to not startle them. Do not approach them from behind, but from the front so they can read your body language and know that your intentions are friendly. If a deaf dog is sleeping they will not hear your approach and just walking up to them and touching them with the intent of petting them would startle them and could lead to a defensive bite; it would therefore be kinder and safer to tap the floor as in the floor stomp described above, to give your dog a fair warning. Always teach, never punish Tom, The Puppy Professor
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 14:47:00 +0000
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