Puppies are adorable and make wonderful companions. Even adding a new adopted dog to your life is a big decision and responsibility. You may have just learned that your new dog cannot hear when you bring it home. Regardless, you can learn how to train a deaf dog.
First time dog owners can be quite overwhelmed with dog training, new puppies have an abundance of energy and so much to learn in their first year of life. When teaching your new dog any skill, remember to break it down into steps. Learn and grow with your new dog by taking one step at a time.
According to the American Kennel Club about 5% – 10% of dogs in United States are deaf in one or both ears. Reasons for dogs born without hearing is most often from genetics and incorrect breeding.
Contributing factors for dogs losing hearing later in life are exposure to loud noises, age, reactions to ear medication, chronic ear issues, and reoccurring ear infections.
If you have expectations of a well-mannered and polite dog, then learning how to train a deaf dog is important to you. First, if you are uncertain if your dog has their full hearing, conduct a test at home.
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How to Train a Deaf Dog: Test for Hearing
If you are not entirely sure if your new puppy is deaf or how much your senior dog can hear, you have two options. One option is to get your dog or puppy professionally tested or another option is conducting an at-home test.
Test for Deafness. A professional hearing examination is called a Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response. It is exposing the dog to specific sounds and pitches and recording the brain’s response and electrical activity to those sounds.
An at-home test uses a series of objects from your home. Use items or sounds that your dog would normally be able to hear, such as clapping your hands, banging a metal pot, using the vacuum cleaner, or even squeaking a dog toy.
Your dog’s response to these every day noises can give you an idea if they have a loss of hearing from one or both ears. Once you confirm their hearing loss, you can begin to make changes in the way you communicate with your dog.
Dogs have an amazing ability to adapt to hearing loss and learn new ways to communicate. Usually, it is the humans that are most upset and unsure of how to proceed with their dog.
Thankfully there are solutions for how to train a deaf dog, that alleviate stress and concern. Dog owners have several ways to get their dog’s attention, teaching the dog hand signals, and teaching obedience commands such as “sit”, “down”, and even “shake” are all effective ways to communicate.
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House Training & Your Deaf Dog
How to train a deaf dog includes teaching your new puppy or dog where to eliminate. When house breaking your puppy, they will need constant guidance and supervision during the day.
How to Potty Train a Deaf Dog. You can be successful with learning how to potty train a deaf puppy. Deaf dog owners’ emphasis that it is important to either have your dog on a leash in the house or limit the areas they are allowed to roam. Baby gates and exercise pens (X-pens) used in the home are an effective way to limit space.
Keeping your dog on a leash when you take them out to eliminate will ensure they take care of business. It also allows you the opportunity to teach a hand signal for potty time.
Activity and movement are often followed up with the need to eliminate for a puppy. Know the signs that your dog needs to go outside. Those first few weeks you will be taking your puppy out to eliminate multiple times a day.
Getting Your Dog’s Attention
One skill that you will want to practice right away is how to get the attention of a deaf dog. Once you have several methods of how to get your dog’s attention, you can teach obedience commands, dog tricks, and participate in dog sports.
How to Train a Deaf Dog – Get Their Attention. It is important to establish a marker or praise signal so that your dog will know which behaviors to repeat. You can get your deaf dog’s attention by ground vibrations, collars designed to give only vibrations, using light signals and with a gentle touch to the shoulder or backend.
Visual cues, physical touch, and scent cues can all be methods for alerting your dog while they are sleeping. In case you need to leave the house or take them out for a potty break, you can establish a method of waking them without startling or scaring your dog.
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How to Train a Deaf Dog
Deaf dogs need just as much time and energy dedicated to training as dogs with hearing. You will do less talking and more visual cues such as hand signals when learning how to train a deaf dog.
How to Train a Deaf Dog with Positive Reinforcement
When you begin training your dog using hand signals, you need a way to offer up praise and reward the correct behavior. Positive reinforcement has been a successful style of training for dog’s that cannot hear well or have a loss of hearing.
Small Rewarding Treats. Keep your treats small and appealing. If your dog really likes chicken then offer up cooked chicken, whatever they think is a tasty treat.
Timing the Reward. The more accurate the timing of the delivery of the reward will allow for better reinforcement of the behavior and less confusion for the dog.
Delivery of the Reward. You will need to deliver the treat to your dog. In the case of teaching sit or down, using treats is helpful for showing the dog the correct position.
The reasoning behind positive reinforcement is rewarding your dog for behavior you want to see again. This type of training works well for deaf dogs.
How to Train a Deaf Dog with Hand Signals. Training a deaf dog requires you to use their other senses to communicate. Dogs are excellent visual learners making training with hand signals quite effective.
When teaching your dog hand signals, you have the option of using the American Sign Language hand signals, universal hand signals used in dog sports, or you can make up your own.
The key to remember is being consistent and concise with how you use the hand signals. Your dog will be watching to see if you hold up three fingers or one finger. Using several cues for “good dog” is perfectly fine, especially when it is followed up with a tasty reward.
Deaf dogs are amazing learners, they can learn hand signals for obedience skills such as sit, stay, stand, down, come, and heel. Hand signals can also be used to teach your dog to fetch a toy or go to their bed.
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How to Train a Deaf Dog to Sit, Stay and Shake. Your deaf dog welcomes a challenge and is able to put their intelligence to good use. Dogs benefit from mental stimulation by making them feel full of life and healthy. Training also is an opportunity for physical movement and building muscles.
Deaf dogs are amazing and smart. They can learn hand signals to basic commands such as sit, stay, release from the stay, and how to place their paw in your hand for a shake.
How to Train a Deaf Dog by getting outdoors. Knowing the rules of how to walk your dog will set you up for many wonderful adventures tougher. Deaf dogs need exercise and sniffy walks to keep them physical and mentally healthy.
When dog owners follow basic dog walking etiquette both dogs and people benefit. One reasonability of dog owners is cleaning up their dog’s feces whether it’s in the neighborhood or walking at the park.
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How to Train a Deaf Dog Good Manners
Dogs without hearing need to have purposeful socialization. It is not always the case, but deaf dogs can get spooked easily or become skittish. It is the dog owners’ job to expose them to the world both indoors and outdoors.
Deaf dogs can develop good manners such as walking with a loose leash and to not continuously bark. A dog that barks frequently whether it is at home or at the park, needs training and reinforcement from their dog owners.
How to Train a Deaf Dog with Early Socialization. Your deaf dog can grow in confidence with early socialization. Early socialization can be simply definedas giving your puppy careful, positive exposure to anything they might encounter as an adult dog.
Deaf dogs need exposure to all shapes and ages of people and dogs. Take them for a walk in the park or to a neighbor’s farm to introduce both wild and domestic animals. Handle your deaf dog’s ears, tail, paws, and teach them that basic grooming is part of their life.
Remember that your deaf dog’s other senses will be heightened, therefore exposing them to different textures such as sand, gravel, tile, and carpet is essential. Lastly, help your dog feel comfort with a visit to the vet or even walking through a crowd.
How to Train a Deaf Dog to Stop Barking. Deaf dogs bark for similar reasons hearing dogs’ bark. They can be frustrated, scared, or even excited. After careful observation of your dog’s body language, you can figure out what triggers your dog’s barking.
Three specific methods that work well for how to train a deaf dog to stop barking is the Trigger Method, Vibration Method, and Redirecting your dog. Each method requires at-home simulation and practice. A willing friend and tasty treats will be needed to work through the different methods to stop a deaf dog from barking.
How to Train a Deaf Dog
Once you have determined if your dog has partial or full hearing loss you can adjust your training methods accordingly. Deaf dogs thrive on structure and training just as much as other dogs.
Dog owners can learn how to potty train a deaf dog with ease. A few keys to remember are supervising your dog until they are completely reliable with house training. Puppies need frequent potty breaks, especially after playing, sleeping and eating.
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Positive reinforcement has proven to be an effective approach to training deaf dogs. Before you begin training your deaf dog with hands signals, establish a method for getting their attention. Deaf dogs learn quickly with your consistent daily training.
Lastly, deaf dogs need to have good manners in the home and outside the home. When you take the time to adequately socialize your dog and put into place the various techniques to train a deaf dog to stop barking you will have a fabulous canine companion.
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