How to Train a Deaf Dog

There are several reasons for deafness in dogs and sometimes it comes as a shock when the owner of a white puppy realizes the pup is deaf. Deaf dogs and puppies oftentimes are destroyed by the breeder or end up in shelters listed as unadaptable because people don't want to bother trying to train a dog that can't hear. But with patience and understanding of the condition anyone can train a deaf dog. They have the same feelings as other dogs and need loving homes too.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Treats
• electronic training collar with vibrating pager function
• deaf dog
• patience

1. 
    
   This collar sells on ebay for $40 shipping included it has the features I like in an inexpensive training collar and should do the job nicely. Any trainer with a vibrate page function will do

   Condition your dog to the collar, let her wear it for a few days before you begin to train with it. In the house you can get her attention by stomping your foot and when she looks in the direction of the vibration you will pat your legs as you walk to her and give her a treat. This method works great for training in the house but what do you do outside? This is where the pager on the electronic collar comes in. You can get a cheap pager collar on eBay I have one and have used it to train but it does have a limited range, so it should work in the house and around the yard but probably not at the dog park.

2. Now that she is used to the collar you will begin teaching her that the pager means that she is to find and/or look at you. She should understand by this point that when you stomp your foot she is to look at you. Now you will stomp your foot and then quickly hit the page button. She may be a little confused at first but as soon as she looks at you, you will pat your legs and give her a treat. Do this several times a day then phase out the foot stomp about half the time. You still want to use the foot stomp from time to time, in case she is not wearing the collar and is indoors. If by chance she doesn't look at you when you page or stomp your foot you will need to get in front of her, page and/or stomp your foot and give her a treat. She will quickly get into the game if she is hungry and you have great treats.

3. Now you will need to figure out what hand signals you will use for her commands. For sit I hold my hand about mid chest with my fingers closed into a fist with my fingers facing the dog but you can use anything you can remember, the point is to be consistent. You will have a leash on her then give her the foot stomp or page on the collar to get her to look at you, then show her your hand signal and then place her into a sit by lifting up on the collar and using your free hand to push her rump down. Once she is sitting show her the hand signal again and give her the treat. Because she is deaf and you will be clumsy the first few times doing this it may take her a while to catch on to the idea that your signal means that she should sit. Always use the collar pager of a foot stomp to get her attention before you give the signal. Remember if she doesn't see the signal she won't know what you want.

4. Once she looks at you when you page and sits when you show her the hand signal you can go on to the next step which is training the down. Choose your hand signal for Down, most people use a shoulder to floor type downward sweep of their hand to signal the down but you can use anything you like. Just as before you will get her attention, show her the signal and then place her into a down. You do this by making her sit then using your other hand gently sweep her front legs out from under her while pushing her into the down position. Once she is down show her a shortened version of the hand signal again and immediately follow with a treat. Some dogs will not down while you try to sweep their legs out from under them so you will then need to gently rock her shoulders while pushing her down to the floor.

5. Once she understands sit and down with the hand signals you will do at least a 30 minute sit and an hour down daily. Start out in short increments. You may need to actually sit on the floor with her to keep her sitting or laying down in the beginning. Eventually you will be able to sit on the couch. The best way to do this is while you are watching a favorite movie or the evening news. Start out going from commercial to commercial. Make her sit then on the commercial you give her a treat and some free time then when the commercial is over you then ask for the down and have her stay down until the next commercial. Do not repeat signals, she knows what signal you gave last, so if she gets up, simply put her back into the position you asked for. No anger, or malice, just calmly put her back into the sit or down. It is ok to scratch her or pet her while she is sitting or laying down but do not do it as a bribe. The idea is for her to remain where she is until you tell her otherwise.

6. Regular leash training of the heel and automatic sit is the same as for a hearing dog except you do not tell them to heel. Always step off on your left foot for the heel and make her sit every time you stop, do not use the hand signal for the automatic sit. You should simply insist that she is to sit every time you stop.

7. When she is ready for the Stay command you will start out with her in heel position, walk a few steps and stop. She should then be sitting at your side. With your left hand, hand open sweep it across her face in front of her so that she has no choice but to see it. As you do so, you will pivot with your right foot, directly in front of her. Keep her sitting, encourage her to look at you by showing her a treat and drawing it up to your nose then back down to her and let her have it. Pivot back around into the heel position and step off to walk with your left foot. She will learn that if you step off with your left foot it means to "heel" if you step off with your right foot while giving her the sweeping open hand, hand signal it means to "stay".

8. By now you should have the understanding that you can train a deaf dog just as easily as you can train any other dog, you just need to make a few simple changes in your training routine. With a deaf dog, "attention" or "watch me" is the most important step to train. Once you have any dogs attention, training is easy.

Tips & Warnings

• Training a deaf dog to be a good family member and companion is not impossible, just different. All dogs can learn to follow simple obedience commands, it is just that with a deaf dog those commands are given as hand signals after the pager tells the dog to look at you.
• Do not touch a deaf dog while it is sleeping or not looking at you as you could startle her and get bitten.
• Remind children to stomp their foot before approaching a deaf dog so that the dog knows that they are nearby.
• If startled a deaf dog may lash out and bite. If this happens it is not the dog's fault. It is your fault for not letting her know that you are there!

Resources

• Riverside Dog Trainers at Meetup.com
• Code 3 offers discounted merchandise to police and fire personell

[AdirondackTrina]

on 2/10/2009 Great article, and clear instructions. You sound like a great dog trainer, I wish my dog and I could visit you. One of us (me) could use a little more training! TrinaÜ