How to Teach a Deaf Dog Basic Commands

Training a deaf dog is challenging and takes patience, but it can be rewarding for both you and your dog; it will also improve your dog's life. See the related eHow "How to Use a Pager Collar" to prepare your dog for training, then begin with the simplest commands.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Dog Bones
• Dog Food
• Dog Leashes
• Dog Training Aids
• Dog Treats

Teaching the "Down" Command

1. Start with your dog in the sit position.

2. Bend your arm at the elbow (at a 90-degree angle) with your hand held open, palm facing down. Slowly lower your hand down by your side.

3. Hold a tasty-smelling food treat next to your dog's nose and mouth at the same time you give the command, as before.

4. Keep the food treat close to your pet's nose, and slowly take the treat down to the ground between his legs. This should lure your dog into the down position.

5. Give the food treat and ample praise when the trick is accomplished.

Teaching the "Sit" Command

6. Bend your arm at the elbow (at a 90-degree angle) with your hand held open, palm facing up. Slowly raise your palm toward your shoulder.

7. Hold a tasty-smelling food treat next to your dog's nose and mouth at the same time as you give the command.

8. Keep the food treat close to your dog's nose, and slowly take the treat up and over his head. Doing so will lead the dog into a sit.

9. Let your pet nibble on the treat if he wishes, but hold tight as you lure him into position.

10. Give the food treat the instant your dog sits, and praise him by petting and making an expressive happy face.

11. Encourage your dog with treats as well as with visual and tactile reinforcement - you don't want him to give up.

Teaching the "Come" Command

12. Start inside the house and begin working over a very short distance (a few feet).

13. Page the dog to get its attention if you have a pager collar, or wait until your pet notices you.

14. Show a treat when your dog looks at you, and give the hand signal for "come" by extending your arm straight up.

15. Reward your dog when he comes to you.

Tips & Warnings

• When you first teach this command, start with your hand held level with the dog or just above his head.
• "Down" is a hard behavior to teach to some dogs, as it's the most vulnerable position a dog can be in. Be patient, and try this over and over until you both get it right.
• If you think your dog has forgotten a particular behavior, he probably didn't know it well in the first place. Go back and teach the behavior from the beginning.
• Avoid getting angry, jerking, hitting or pushing your pet for unwanted behavior. Instead, ignore it and focus on rewarding the behavior you do want.

[aintbhavnk9]

on 8/31/2008 Even though the deaf dog and not hear, by speaking to your dog, such as, sit, down.. NO... you dog will see your facial expressions and quickly learn along with the hand signs.

[debi5475]

on 9/22/2007 Umm, verbal praise won't work, my dog is deaf.
Using a sign (thumbs up) for praise.

on 11/22/2005 We had four dalmations. One was deaf and we did not have a pager collar for her. With our dog door, the dogs could come and go at will from the house to the fenced backyard. At night, if our deaf dalmation was still outside roaming our large backyard, we "called" her inside by flicking the porch light on and off. The hearing dogs also learned and responed to this and many other of the silent signals we used,

on 11/22/2005 If you touched our deaf dalmatian to wake her up, she would be disoriented and snap with a bite reaction first before she recognized it was "family". We learned to stomp our feet on the floor to wake her instead of touching her. She'd wake up, look around, see you and wag her tail.

on 8/6/2007 An important tip with using treats as rewards is to discontinue them. The purpose of this is so the dog does not get fat and overweight. When the dog has the basic concept of the command, use verbal high-pitch praise as the reward.