“Outside of an obvious physical defect, deaf dogs are just your normal, everyday dogs,” the Deaf Dog Education Act Fund so eloquently puts it. They do have a better justification for not listening than the majority of dogs because they share our lives and are our friends and companions. “Loss of hearing or deafness in dogs, much like in humans, can lead to loneliness and isolation as well as issues with interactions.” However, if you are aware of, accept, and deal with hearing loss, it need not be an obstacle. Furthermore, not all deafness is the same:
Recognizing the condition and treating what is treatable are crucial. How to identify hearing loss in your dog’s hearing tests don’t have to be complicated or difficult. Be careful not to let the dog see what you are doing because many auditory cues may also be accompanied by a visual stimulus. Your dog should ideally be uninterested so that the only stimulus is the noise you will make:
How your veterinarian will detect hearing loss The only test that can detect electrical activity in the cochlea and hearing nerves (auditory pathways) in the brain is the BAER (brainstem auditory evoked response) test. The BEAR test functions similarly to an EKG in identifying heart electrical activity. Most veterinarians do not perform this specialized test, but it is available at a number of specialty facilities across the nation. The BAER test is most frequently used to assess congenital deafness in affected breeds. Living with a deaf dog It is undeniable that some deaf and blind dogs can make wonderful companions. (Learn more about living with blind dogs. However, given that training and behavioral modification frequently rely on external visual and auditory cues, they do present some particular challenges. Moving from verbal to visual commands and rewards is necessary when living and working with a deaf dog. Similar to verbal commands, consistency is key, so once you figure out a signal that you think will work for “Come,” “Down,” or “Don’t bark,” ALWAYS use that signal and the same praise or acknowledgement. The difficulty in training a deaf dog is not with the dog, but with the person doing the training. Making sure your non-hearing dog is not allowed to roam is the first step in protecting a deaf dog. Remember he can’t hear that oncoming truck or unwelcoming dog. (To view some of the most frequent causes of dog car accidents, click here.) (If your dog is completely deaf, keep him on a leash whenever he is outside of a fenced area. Some dogs who would normally be deaf can hear specific frequencies, like a loud dog whistle. Use this whistle and encourage your dog to respond if he is fortunate enough to have this level of hearing. You never know when it will come in handy. Lastly is the issue of identification. Ensure that all of your pets have collar tags identifying them as deaf and that they are permanently implanted with microchip identification. (Read how a microchip helped Corbin the dog get back in touch with his family, who lived 1100 miles away!)
Owners without the necessary resources and information may find living with a deaf dog to be confusing. Happily, once you do, the majority of deaf dogs can live long, fulfilling lives.
Your veterinarian is your best resource for ensuring the health and wellbeing of your pets, so you should always visit or contact them if you have any questions or concerns. Related symptoms:
How can deaf dogs understand humans?
We all know that the process of domesticating dogs has given them the ability to read our body language and gestures to the point where they make choices and act in ways that are expected of them. Dogs respond more favorably to gestures than verbal cues, according to a recent study that compared how they behave in response to basic commands like sitting, lying down, staying, and coming when called1. Despite having a significant sensory deficit, deaf dogs easily comprehend what we are trying to tell them. Contrarily, many dog trainers around the world who have worked with deaf dogs assert that these animals are even more adept at reading our body language than are hearing dogs2 This makes a lot of sense, especially for dogs with congenital sensorineural deafness, who are thought to generally have more acute development of all other senses. 3,4,5.
Many authors have also asserted, even empirically, that deaf dogs develop stronger bonds with their owners and are consequently simpler to train than hearing dogs. This may also be a result of our improved ability to observe our body language, posture, and, why not, emotional state.
Communication with deaf dogs takes place, basically, through gestures. The gestures become cues that serve as signals for a person or thing, such as a car, ball, Mom, or food, as well as for the dog to perform any behavior. The majority of deaf dog trainers and owners eventually resort to using the same signals that are already employed in the fundamental training of hearing dogs, for both basic and advanced behavior. However, the use of ASL (American Sign Language) or even original gestures is still an option.
Talking about canine deafness would be incomplete without mentioning Dalmatians. It is the breed with the highest rate of deafness, 15 percentage points higher than the second-highest breed rate. the most recent study conducted by the foremost expert in deafness, Dr. George M. According to Strain7, unilateral and bilateral deafness were diagnosed in nearly 30% of Dalmatians. Unfortunately, that number is unlikely to go down because kennels rarely stop breeding the strains that result in deaf dogs. Another way to lower this number is to alter the breed’s pigmentation pattern, as it has been demonstrated that more pigmented animals—including those with patches, which are regarded as non-standard—display a markedly lower prevalence of deafness.
My personal history is marked by the presence of Dalmatians. In the year I was born, Joaninha, my first Dalmatian, visited my home. She was deaf (blue-eyed) but could hear (according to reports, she warned my parents when I cried in the crib). I grew up with both dogs after this deaf dog was donated to a family not far from us. Sadly, no one was aware of canine deafness at the time, and Jonas was a dog with a lot of issues. He was described by the family as “unpredictable” and having a “strong temper,” and when startled while turning his back, he would attack people. He also had some touch sensitivities and was frequently quite agitated. ”.
When I finally made the decision as an adult to get my first dog, it goes without saying that my spouse and I went with a Dalmatian. Even after selecting a reputable kennel and being aware of the breed’s issues, I learned two weeks after Magali’s purchase that she was profoundly deaf. After learning the most effective ways to communicate with her, I ultimately decided to pursue a career as a professional dog trainer because I fell in love with the industry. I was finishing up my post-graduate course in animal behavior, the culmination of which would be a study on our communication, when Magali passed away from pancreatitis at the age of eight. I was unable to continue, and the work ultimately amounted to nothing more than an analysis of what we had already constructed.
Two months after losing Magali, Milka appeared in my life. Milka is a 5-year-old male Dalmatian with congenital bilateral deafness. At 56 days old, I adopted him from one of the few kennels in Brazil that openly acknowledged breeding some deaf dogs. Since I had previously spent eight years working in dog training, specifically with the training of deaf dogs, I felt much more prepared when I decided to adopt Milka. But I did not anticipate that he would exhibit compulsive behavior (he chases lights and shadows). The problem started when he was about 6 months old. Despite feeling rather helpless in the face of the circumstance, I made an effort to learn more, to grow closer to him and to invest more in our relationship and communication, which served as the main tool for all of the behavioral modification work I did with him.
I made the decision to go beyond everything I knew in terms of communication with deaf dogs based on some studies that show the unlimited learning capacity of a deaf dog, the strong bond that is established between them and humans, and my living with deaf dogs for almost 40 years.
Milka has consistently outperformed my expectations in how she responds to our daily training. He picked everything up very quickly, and all the trainers and dog owners who follow my work have always remarked on how well he could focus and connect with me. When I was discussing Milka with a trainer, he inquired as to whether I had ever used a verbal marker with him. Although I thought the idea was audacious, I chose to give it a try. Milka began to anticipate and respond with a clear positive conditioned emotional response (CER+) with only “yes” after less than four days of training, pairing the old marker (a thumbs up sign) with the new marker (“yes”). I made sure to remove all prompts throughout the procedure so that my facial expression would be the only SD visible.
From there, the range of our communication expanded into a universe of possibilities. We began with the verbal cue “senta,” which means “sit,” because I reasoned that since we had already succeeded in getting him to do that, why not try with actions that he already consistently performed with very subtle gestures? Milka was already giving a very subtle response to the motion to sit. He was lured into sitting, but I gradually lessened the force of the gesture until, eventually, he responded to even a slight movement of my hand from a distance.
“Sit” with a gesture at a distance
So I started practicing pairing using classical conditioning, only moving my mouth to say “senta” and then performing the traditional cue. For Milka to begin anticipating the gesture to sit and to carry out the behavior immediately following the verbal cue, it took a few sessions. I view this as a significant turning point in our communication because I didn’t think we would be successful. After being deeply moved, I began to explore all of my stimulus-control options to make sure that the behavior was occurring solely as a result of my lips moving.
“Sit” in a different setting with someone else while lip-reading (“senta”).
“Sit” with lip reading (“senta”) at a distance, alongside someone else, on a location
We then started with the action “deita,” which in Portuguese means “lie down.” I chose to perform it with a more noticeable difference on the lips because, if I didn’t, it would be nearly impossible to distinguish it from “senta.” Since he was anticipating the response, I began the same pairing process and then performed all of the stimulus control tests. Milka responded quickly and understood, and I quickly realized how important it was to distinguish between different lip movements for this.
“Down” with lip reading (“deita”), with initial standing position
“Down” with someone else, somewhere else, and lip reading (“deita”)
“Down” with lip reading (“deita”), with distance, on a place
The next step was quite challenging. I wanted to test the cue “vem” (which means “come”). In my experience training clients’ dogs and working with other professional trainers, this verbal cue is one of the hardest to guarantee good stimulus control because everything can be a discriminative stimulus (distance, body movements, head gestures). I ultimately took extra precautions to make sure that he only appeared as a result of my lip movements.
“Come” with lip reading (“vem”), with another person
The “spin” is being constructed right now, and it will be coupled with the split second. In the past, I attempted to mimic a sneeze with a more pronounced movement of the mouth and head, but it was evident from the stimulus control tests that there was a lot of trial and error. I currently only have three response anticipations from various training sessions. The conditioning of the two cues, in my opinion, has not yet taken place. But we are on the way!.
“Spin” with the blink of both eyes and the gesture
Why do dogs have bumps on their lower lips?
Another question you might have when thinking, “Do dogs smile?” is — “What are those bumps on their lower lips?” Have you ever noticed the finger-like protrusions lining a dog’s lower lip? No matter how deeply I dug into dog anatomy, I could not find a satisfying answer to what they are, what they’re called, or what purpose they serve. The only reliable mention I came across was in Auguste Chauveau’s The Comparative Anatomy of the Domesticated Animals (1873), which notes that the dog’s “lower lip is always scalloped on its free border near the commissures.” More on the commissures below!
A less easily understood signal is the paw raise. The paw raise is a component of the pointing behavior used by pointing breeds like the English Setter to indicate nearby prey. But outside of this situation, a raised paw frequently denotes a dog’s uncertainty or possible sense of insecurity.
None of these dog body language signals act alone. They are all part of a package. As a result, when interpreting a dog’s signals, pay attention to everything the dog does, from the height of its tail to the shape of its eyes. Your dog is “talking” to you all the time. Understanding your dog’s communication will help you build a stronger bond of trust and respect. Additionally, you’ll be able to anticipate your dog’s behavior and avoid issues before they arise thanks to your newfound comprehension of their emotional state. https://www. akc. org/wp-admin/admin-ajax. php Get Your Free AKC eBook.
By observing the eyes, you can discover a lot about your dog’s internal state. First, a dog’s eyes can be soft or hard. Soft eyes with relaxed lids occasionally appear to be squinting. They indicate the dog is calm or happy. On the other hand, hard eyes, where the eyes appear to become cold You’ll recognize them as being indicative of a bad attitude when you see them. The dog might be guarding a toy or feeling aggressive. When a dog gives something a hard stare, especially one that lasts a long time, it typically denotes danger.
AKC participates in affiliate advertising programs that give websites a way to monetize their content by promoting and linking to akc. org. If you buy something after reading this article, we might get a cut of the sale.
Dogs’ facial features resemble those of people’s, but they are not utilized in the same manner by dogs. Consider yawning. Dogs yawn when they’re stressed as opposed to people, who yawn when they’re tired or bored. On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals author Turid Rugaas claims that dogs yawn to defuse tense situations and to calm people around them, including their owners. She advises yawning at your dog to comfort him during anxious situations, such as a vet visit. But don’t be surprised if your dog yawns back. Dogs can “catch” yawns just like they can in humans because they can yawn too.
FAQ
Does a dog’s lips move when he reads?
Phoebe Buffay: Okay, so when a dog reads, his lips don’t move.
How do you tell if your dog is deaf or ignoring you?
- Disobedience. If Fido doesn’t listen to you when you tell him to put down that chicken leg or stop chasing the cat, it might be because he is deaf.
- Jumpiness. …
- Changes In Barking. …
- Changes in Sleep Patterns. …
- Behavioral Changes. …
- Tips.
Can a deaf dog hear a dog whistle?
Some dogs who would normally be deaf can hear specific frequencies, like a loud dog whistle. Use this whistle and encourage your dog to respond if he is fortunate enough to have this level of hearing. You never know when it will come in handy.
Is it possible for dogs to read?
On The Whole. Most likely, dogs can read with effective training. Your dog can memorize the shapes of the letters on the flashcard, which will be connected to the command you’re teaching even though he can’t actually read. A dog can recognize objects that they have been taught to recognize.