Last night Wayne and I played volleyball with a group of folks who regularly meet on Tuesday nights at this one school gym. We’d had a little hiatus due to the holidays so everyone was excited to see each other and there was a lot of catching up going on.
One of my friends, Lyn, who I also play volleyball with in another league, had gotten a dog shortly after Thanksgiving. Princess Sophia. I want to say she’s a Jack Russell but I’m not one hundred percent on that. I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her in person. I’ve only heard about her.
And last I’d heard, back at the beginning of December, was that Princess Sophia was adjusting well. She was smart, albeit hyper since she was just a puppy, but she played well with Lyn’s boys, who were smitten with their new fur-sister.
But last night when I asked about Princess Sophia, Lyn shook her head.
“Turns out she’s stone deaf. I don’t know what I’m going to do. She jumps all over me all the time and I can’t get her to stop. And then she starts whining and I don’t know what she wants or how to correct her behavior. I was going to ask if you knew anything about training deaf dogs. If it’s even possible.”
I don’t know anything about training deaf dogs. I’ve never had one. But I felt sure it was absolutely possible to train one. And that was before Wayne reminded me on the way home about our neighbor across the street. I believe his son and daughter-in-law have a deaf dog. Something I’d forgotten about until Wayne and I were talking.
I’m going to ask them how their son trained their dog. See if they did it themselves or consulted outside help. Then I’ll pass whatever info I find out on to Lyn.
But first thing this morning I also hopped online and Googled “training deaf dogs.” There’s a slew of training tips out there.
And there’s even an organization devoted to dogs with this disability: the Deaf Dog Education Action Fund. Their site has an entire section devoted to different training methods.
I learned a lot of new things today. I hope some of it will benefit my friend. And maybe you, too, Dear Reader!
Question to Readers
Have you ever owned a deaf dog? Do you have any tips I can pass along to Lyn? Either leave a comment below or share them in the forum. (See thread Anyone Ever Had a Deaf Dog?)
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