I would very much like information on how to train a deaf dog.

I have a 15 month old English Bullterrier, and have owned him for only 41/2 months.

He was born deaf in one ear, but doesn't seem to hear much at all. He doesn't respond to his name even at very close quarters, and has no recall if off the lead. I wasn't told about the deafness when I purchased him, but when it was obvious I had the option to return him. Too late, of course, by then he was one of the family and we love him dearly.

Any advise, or reference material would be very welcome.

Hi Raymond,

you could try this site, it may help you !http://www.deafdogs.org/

Richard

Hi Raymond

You train a deaf dog very much like you would train a hearing dog - ie - by luring the dog into the position you want to train and rewarding them for following the lure.  The shape you make with the lure becomes the hand signal for the behaviour you want the dog to carry out.   Basics like Sit, Stand, Down, come, Stay, wait are standard hand signals used for hearing dogs anyway but things like Drop, Quiet, Busy are BSL or ASL signs used for communicating with people that are deaf.

For training a recall I start with Target training so that the dog gets used to touching a hand with his nose at close quarters and then extending the distance.  You can get a deaf dog's attention by either stamping on the ground (it feels the vibration) and then using your Target cue or by shining a pencil torch beam towards it.  You can also buy Vibrating collars which act like a Pager (not an ecollar) to get their attention when distant from you then give the Target cue.  Whichever method of recall you use don't let your dog off-lead in insecure places until you have trained the recall.

I have now trained 2 deaf dogs.  Whereabouts are you - I'm in the Staffordshire area.  You can PM me if you like.

Thank you - I live in Berkhamsted, Herts

Hi Raymond

Obviously Herts is too far to come and see you.

There are one or two good web sites on 'training deaf dogs'.  If you do a search on google I'm sure you'll find something.  Barry Eaton has written a book called 'Hear Hear' which could help and if you have any queries on how to teach a specific thing you can always send me a private message on this forum.

I was very impressed with a trainer I used in my area and saw first hand the excellent results she had achieved with a deaf dog.  Do take a look even if you don't take it any further. 

http://www.takingthelead.co.uk/