courtnek Posted January 25, 2004 Posted January 25, 2004 I am beginning to think Laurel may be partially deaf, as well as partially blind...the partial blindness the vet proved..her peripheral vision is bad to non-existant. but now that she's settled in I am trying to teach her some basic obedience commands, like "LIE DOWN". If I give the command verbally, she ignores me. Once I started giving it with both verbal, and hand signals, she responded and learned in 15 minutes....I used treats, cheese, but she didnt respond unless I used hand commands as well. I ususally teach them both anyway, but I noticed she didnt respond to verbal. yet if I go to the foot of the stairs and call her down, she will come. When she is outside she wil hang out outside the door where she can see me, or she'll come back when I call Freebee. she seems to hear a little, but not really well...andy suggestions for testing hearing DAL? Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted January 25, 2004 Posted January 25, 2004 Well, I'm not DAL and don't know much about deaf dogs only had one dog that was partly deaf and he managed alright, and it came with age. BUT, I'm sure your vet can do some tests for hearing. My Coaly isn't deaf in the least bit, but I find he does respond to hand commands better then verbal, I'm not sure why, he just does... Quote
DogPaddle Posted January 25, 2004 Posted January 25, 2004 In our training class the instructors indicated that some dogs just respond far better to hand signals than voice commands. They're not deaf just find the words too difficult to decode but hand signals being more like body language (which is something dogs rely on heavily between themselves) are easier for them. Wouldn't hurt to have her tested though. The easy layman test I have heard of is to start behind the dog and start quiet, snap fingers - do ears twitch etc, then move up to louder and louder precussion, clapping, stamping foot, even if the dog is ignoring you its ears should twitch for every different new noise. For more reliable results see if your vet has a test. Quote
abker17 Posted January 25, 2004 Posted January 25, 2004 Abby is the same way that Shara described Coal as being. Her hearing is fine, she just responds better to hand signals. So it is possible that Laurel is partially deaf, but it's also possible that she just responds better to hand signals. Quote
gooeydog Posted January 25, 2004 Posted January 25, 2004 This is a good site on deafness in dogs, the page below has info on telling if a dog is deaf: http://deafdogs.org/faq/#determining Also see the section immediately after the one linked to for more info on BAER testing, one of the best and most sure ways to tell if a dog is deaf. Quote
DogPaddle Posted January 25, 2004 Posted January 25, 2004 That's a nice site Goo, Kavik went through a period where he would look away from the source of any noise made or always go to the person in the room who wasn't calling him over, like he couldn't determine the source of the noise but it seemed to pass. Weird. Excellent points about vibration when testing too. Quote
courtnek Posted January 25, 2004 Author Posted January 25, 2004 thanks Gooey (and everyone!) I believe she may be partially deaf, maybe only in one ear....she was looking distracted by noise behind her, and searching for the sound... When upstairs, I have to call pretty loud before she'll respond. She is also easily startled awake by loud nosies, which makes me think she cant hear soft ones well...my son running down the stairs both sounds like a herd of elephants, and causes a lot of vibraton because his room is just above mine. She will startle awake and bay.... oh well... thanks again. :fadein: Quote
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