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DeafDogs

DeafDogs

Alberta Region Moderator
Joined
Oct 5, 2010
Messages
1,089
Pets
3 mutts, two deaf/vi mini Dachshund
Mouse, Boo, Oliver and Munsch waiting for cookies lol. Yes, the cat likes dog treats as much as they do lol
 

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What a lovely family! they look like they belong together, who is the boss? lol
 
What a cute bunch!

Haha my cat loves dog treats too, and bones.. (she may be part dog lol)
 
What a darling family! does the cat have any sight or hearing issues??
Are you rethinking white pets and dark furniture?? lol
 
Ya Munsch is deaf... Which is one reason I chose him :) he also matches the dogs LOL Munsch is my first cat as an adult, and when I decided it was time to get a cat, I found him the third day looking! I had a huge list of criteria, of which he has met every one! He's an awesome cat, and perfect for my dogs!

I'm about to post a video of the cat and Mouse playing, with Oliver getting in on it too!
 
So cute!! Great looking bunch. I love how your kitty joins in too! Our cat starts the begging, and then the dog joins in. lol

Random question...
Is it really that different having all deaf pets? So many people say it is very difficult. I think it'd be a challenge at first, but so worth while!
 
No, it's not any different. Not really. And it's definitely not harder. I find deaf dogs easier than hearing dogs, quite honestly.

Just today I got to go see the Superdogs, ans I found out after the show hat three of he dogs in the show are deaf! They truly can do anything hearing dogs can... sometimes better!
 
Sorry about the typing mistakes. .. I'm getting used to a smart phone lol
 
That's what I thought! I honestly think it's just the owner that makes it difficult. :D
 
They are all beauties and look happy together. How do you communicate with the deaf dogs? We're they born deaf? Sorry for the questions, but I am interested.
 
crystalclear1027 said:
They are all beauties and look happy together. How do you communicate with the deaf dogs? We're they born deaf? Sorry for the questions, but I am interested.
Click to expand...

No problem! I live to educate people about deafies:)

I hate to disillusion you but your dog pays very little attention to your vice. Dogs are very visual creatures... most of the time, when you give a command, they're reading your body language and expression... your voice is only the last thing they pay attention to. It takes alot of training to get a dog to listen to a voice-only command, and even more training for you to not be giving subtle, silent cues. Very few everyday dog owners ever achieve that. Dogs communicate mainly through body language both with eachother and with us.

Now, that being said, obviously there are verbal cues needed like recall, and the dogs' name (which is a command to pay attention to the human) and and that's where having a deafie is different and can be challenging. My Doxies aren't allowed off leash in unfenced areas, however, my mom's deaf terrier is as she's been trained to check in every few seconds. In the house a stomping foot or a flicking light is enough to get their attention.

My deafies (including the cat) are trained with hand signals. And in the case of Mouse, who doesn't see well either, objects. They are clicker trained using a little LED keychain light. I have several videos of my deaf dogs doing tricks and such in the video section of this forum, if you're interested enough to look them up. I haven't figured out how to copy and paste on my phone yet so you'll have to look up the vids as I cant post links without knowing how to copy and paste lol or you can look up my YouTube channel. My username is Saranscout

Thanks for the interest!
 
Do you use ASL signals or ones you have just made up? Watson knows a few ASL signals, "water", "eat", and "outside" (although that one is hit-or-miss.)

I started teaching them because I know my sister's dog will dance at her bowl if she's hungry or thirsty, so you don't always know which she wants, and I wanted Watson to know the difference. Now, if I sign "water" and he's thirsty, he will run to his water dish!
 
I dont use asl signs... I dont know it. For the most part I use standard obedience signs and make up the signs for tricks. Oliver knows all the signs too as I'm so used to deaf dogs that, more often than not, I use signs wih him too lol dogs learn gestures and signs faster than voice commands anyway. My challenge wih Oliver has been taking the time to actually teach him he voice command lol
 
Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge, I always wondered how people would talk to their or communicate with their animals. I will certainly look at the videos.
 
That completely explains why training with hand signals only and no voice command has been doing better for us! Love it! We have (almost) completely switched over to signs - that I made up - instead of voice commands for training. The only thing we use voice commands for are "down" and recall/name.

Thank you so much for enlightening us on your training techniques! :D
 
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