We are thinking of buying a deaf dalmatian, can anyone give advise on this ??  we have owned a Dally for 16 years until he unfortunately died last year so have experience of the breed, but not a deaf one.

Personally I wouldn't do it. A reputable breeder wouldn't sell it, anyway.

You may find this link of interest: Deaf Dogs :)

I wouldn't buy one either but if you do I know a brilliant trainer who has trained her own deaf bitch(following an accident) & is willing to help anyone with a deaf dog. She got her little bitch to Crufts in the inter regional competition in the higher classes too

In my opinion deaf dogs are a liability.  God help everyone should ever they get out, they cannot hear traffic etc. they cannot be called back.  They are HARD work work, andhave been told soooo difficult to housetrain and to get general control of.  A responsible breeder would not knowingly sell a deaf puppy, all the puppies should of been tested anyway, I would think that the breeders should keep it themselves!
Dawn.

I agree they should keep it themselves or put it to sleep.

Would it be possible to offer constructive opinions on the matter please? Anyone reading this thread, may not have given the matter to much thought and it would be helpful to state the downsides to owning a deaf dog (any breed), as well as the options for those who decide they do want the challenge :)

How can you say such nasty things about something you have obviously had no experience of? You are having a laugh, my deaf dog was 10 times easier to house train than my hearing male, she sticks to me like glue, will never go out of my sight and knows all the basic commands just as well as my hearing dog. She is a real pleasure to own and is no more work than the other one, I would say yes, get one if you have researched it well and know what it involves. Here eye sight makes up for her loss of hearing, no one would know unless I told them and yes I do let her off at the park and she runs and plays like, heavens forbid could it be possible?, a normal dog.

At the end of the day, a deaf dog is still a living, loving dog and needs a home like any other. Not everyone wants a perfect show dog.

when i was younger we had a black lab (hearing)
and my mum took in a deaf bully best dog i ever had
he followed the black lab everywhere,and was better behaved he
would be the first to come back, i think he saw that the black lab
was using selective deafness ( you know, if i  just give a shiftey look back
but carry on anyway ) i think he could see it from the body language that he had
been called and always ran back 'ah happy days both passed away a long time ago now'
BUT he did need a lot of one to one. he learnt hand signals too.

omg how could you say put it to sleep,there is always someone who will give it a lifetime of love,i know if i should ever breed a deaf dog i could never have it pts,especially not when its been lovingly reared,i know a couple of deaf dogs and they were fine to housetrain and give their owners so much love back,after all it didnt asked to be born,good luck with your decision if you go ahead and get this puppy.

I suppose it depends if you're the sort of person who abides by breed clubs' Codes of Conducts or not.

well i wouldnt put an otherwise healthy puppy to sleep and  please dont suggest im not the sort of person who doesnt abide by breed clubs codes of conduct,so you are saying youd have one of your own pts? even if it found a forever home? glad im not one of your puppies!!

Supposing its not one louzola? Supposing its half the litter.  It happens. It is hard enough finding excellent homes for full hearing dalmatians never mind deaf ones.  If you feel that your concience couldnt allow you to put the pup to sleep that is fine that would be your choice but it is a condition of being a member of all the dalmatian clubs that you agree to do so.  Assuming all members agree to this then the guest is obviously not buying of a club member.  This debate comes up on a regular basis on this forum and I dont think people will ever understand why the clubs have made this a conditon of membership but the clubs have been run by experienced members who have the breeds welfare at heart. 

I am very fortunate that I have never bred a totally deaf puppy. I have bred a couple of uni's which are deaf in one ear and these lead totally normal lives. 

I like to think I'd do the responsible thing if I was ever that unlucky. Fortunately I've never had worse than unilaterals, who make perfectly fine pets.

Why would a deaf pup be harder to housetrain? You'd still carry it outside in the same way, and once it goes outside you'd just have to substitue the verbal praise for something else surely?

I've never had a deaf pup but I have had a deaf adult dog and he coped fine learning hand signals. Certainly being off lead is the main problem though as hand signals are dependent on the dog seeing you and not running off with its back turned to you.....

Dawn you have obviously never had a deaf dog so how can you make such sweeping statements?  My trainers have two that are both trained for agility although one has now retired due to age. There are 2 people that I train with that also have deaf BC's. One is only a pup and runs off lead and is very obedient. Apparently deaf dogs don't have any of the distractions of a hearing dog which can be an advantage. One of these dogs has been doing agility and obedience for YEARS and was about 6/7 when somebody realised she was deaf. She always just appeared to be doing what her owner had asked her to when in fact she was picking up on the other dogs and some very subtle thing her owner was doing. In the morning when she was getting ready to go to work she would call the dogs from the other room to come into the kitchen and the deaf one would be the first to appear.

I know of someone with a deaf Dally - he's lovely, and far better trained than most other dallies! He is hand signal trained - BUT, he is also kept with a hearing bitch and he never strays far from her. He is also kept on a yard where his owner works and that mentally stimulates him enough, I think, to not require loads of free exercise because he trots around there all day :)

http://www.barry.eaton.clara.net/deafdog.htm

You may find the above book helpful before you make the decision.

I can recommend the above book :)

my parents have a deaf lurcher, she was born deaf and they got her from Battersea.  She was VERY easy to house train, considering they didnt get her until 16 weeks old and she had lived in a kennel she would go outside from day one to do her business.  She was very easy to train using hand signals and even has her bronze good citizen award.  As a pup she was easy to get back off lead as she would keep an eye on you, unfortunately her sighthound instincts are very strong and she chases anything that moves so is now only allowed off lead in  a enclosed area.

Any dog can ignore you, we used to have Afghans and if they were chasing something they wouldnt come back either and they werent deaf ;)

As with owning any dog you need to be dedicated. 

The people I've spoken to (in real life, not just on the net) who've had experience of both hearing and deaf dals tell me that they'd never have another deaf one, delightful though they are. The difference in quality of life between the two was apparently marked, not to mention the additional worry.

I do know a lovely deaf BC who has worked in obedience to quite a high level. SHe was rehomed at 6 months by the breeder because they just couldn't cope. THe big difference i can foresee is that collies are very motivated to be with their owners and are very trainable, watching every move the owner makes. ( i am generalising here however.) From what i am told dallies are qutie difficult to train at times as they can be quite stubborn and exhuberant.
Obviously and deaf dog, no matter what breed, is going to be hard work, harder than a hearing dog as you hyave to work harder to get their attention, and "no" isn't going to work. WHat is the reason you are thinking of purchasing the pup? Why are you considering one over a normal hearing dog? Just out of interest, i'm not saying that is bad. 

Hi Guest it depends really on how much time you are willing to comit to that dog,if you've got loads of time go for it at the end of the day they can be trained by hand signals.  Best of luck with your decision.

Warm regards Susan

If you are talking about giving a home to a deaf Dalmation, fine - but buy - no. Obviously, I don't know the circumstances but handing money over might just be encouraging people to be even more careless when they breed. I believe there is a good book about training a deaf dog by Barry Eaton, called (Ithink) Hear! Hear! training a deaf dog.

I've never had a deaf dog but my 3 respond much better to hand signals than to my voice commands! It probably is more work, but if the OP is prepared for this than why not look for a rescue dog? There must be rescue Dalmatians bred by non-reputable breeders who are in rescue because they turned out to be deaf, mustn't there? If it's such a problem in the breed that the Code of Ethics says you should put them to sleep?

Yes, they do turn up in rescue for that very reason.

I did go ahead and have now purchased my lovely dally, I am not convinced she is completely deaf, and will get her checked by our vet.  She is absolutely adorable, and I am sure everyone on this board are dog lovers, but I CANNOT understand anyone who says that a deaf dog should be ' put down '.  Does that mean if you have a baby thats not ' perfect ' it should be put down !  We can give our dally a great new home along with our two kittens, she will gets loads of love & plenty of walks ....
I understand & do appreciate all the replies, both positive & negative, but have tried to research what we are maybe taking on......but as I look at her sleeping peacefully in her basket (belly full !!), I cannot even imagine life without her now.  So - hopefully - with good training & lots of patience we will give her some quality of life many other deaf dogs seem to achieve..............

Again, many thanks to everyone who took the time to respond.....

Has she been BAER tested? That's the only way to tell if she's affected by deafness - and unless your vet has the equipment (which I doubt, as there are less than a dozen centres in the UK which do it) he won't be a lot of help! ;) Ideally all puppies are tested before sale. This site will tell you about it. With luck she's only affected unilaterally, which will make no difference to her ability to be treated as a normally hearing one. Good luck!

Many thanks for that, I didn't actually realise the vets didn't do these tests, but I will enquire & check where the nearest one to us is. 

The centres that do the hearing test are listed on this page.
:)

congratulations on your new baby,hope you have many years of fun with her,please let us all know about her tests etc and good luck.

Good luck and let us know how she gets on! :-)

Thanks for all your best wishes......she is certainly making herself at home !!  I am positive she has some hearing but will definately get this checked, best to know either way ....thanks again.