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Nov 23, 2009, 8:42pm

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GREAT DANE forum discussion :: General Great Dane Discussion :: Our deaf/blind Danes :: How to train a deaf dog

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Topic: How to train a deaf dog (Read 160 times)

fourfurryfeet
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How to train a deaf dog
« Thread Started on Jul 1, 2008, 5:48pm »

Ok everyone, I thought I would post here since I have successfully trained several deaf dogs. Training a deaf dog is just like training a hearing dog only you get to be a little more creative. It's not a hard task and certainly there are tons of trainers out there that can help you when you become stuck. Remember, dogs don't "talk" to other dogs to get their point across. They use body language and smells etc. Your body language is going to be your BEST tool for training a deaf dog.

Please also remember, talk while you use your hand signals...if you are making a hand signal for "yes" or "good dog" let them associate the hand signal with your uplifting, exciting, happy body language. Remember, your dog can probubly read your body language better than any human.

Let's start with the basics, first you have to teach your dog that touching is going to equal a positive. It's important to teach this to any dog but a deaf dog makes it even more valued, and also please remember to teach this to anyone that will be living with your dog. Start by waiting till she falls esleep, then move towards her and touch her shoulders (very gently) then as soon as she opens her eyes to see what that was pop that treat right into her kisser!! Make it an instant reward just for not reacting by chewing your arm off, which if startled may be her first reaction. You will need to do this about 500 times before she will get the point and be greatfull and happy when you wake her.

Now lets teach "yes". I teach yes by putting my arms in the air and almost looking like you have done a happy dance on the spot. She needs to learn that this odd movement you are doing means YAHOO GOOD WORK and PLEASE do it again. After you start doing this command and she looks at you as if she is expecting a treat, she has learned this signal.

Now lets teach "sit". I use a cupped hand starting with the top of your hand at the top and then swooping it into a "u" to symbolize "sit". You can start by just putting a treat over her ears and waiting for her rump to hit the floor that very second you do your "yes" and treat her. Next step would be doing your hand signal and waiting for her to do trial and error until she gets it right. Once you have showed her how to sit she will do sit just because you have a treat in your hand. Now you associate your "sit" command and your "yes".

Teaching "watch me". Put a piece of treat in your hand and let her sniff it, then bring it up to right beside your eye and the instant she makes even something close to eye contact you do your "yes" and then give her the treat. Do this several times. Now that she knows that watching you means treats i promise you she will keep it up. Slowly move the treat away from your eye and make it harder for her each time, and each time she takes her eye off the treat and looks at you do your "yes" and pop that treat. Now make it a little harder, put the treat behind your back and turn around, she will follow your eyes since she knows that's what brings treats. When she looks at you even though she could have followed the treat she gets a "jackpot" which is feeding about 5 treats one right after the other and constantly saying yes in a high pitch and using great body language.

Now lets teach come. A dog will come to you if you seem more exciting than what ever else is around. I train deaf dogs come by making my body look like a ride at the ammusment park which is more fun than the other thing they are doing. Yes you will look silly doing this but who cares. I throw my arms in the air and start stomping on the ground and turn my arms like a ferris wheel. The very second she starts coming to you have that treat ready and do your "yes". As she gets better you can try to limit this ferris wheel rediculous looking thing into just a big arm swoop that she will notice.

Lets train stay. Please note I use a different command for stay than i do wait, this is because when I say wait, I mean wait right there don't go anywhere but you can stand, laydown, lick yourself etc. But when I say stay by golly I mean it. If I put a dog into a stay while he's sitting he gets corrected if he lays down. There easy for your dog to learn. For a wait I use a line making type sign infront of their nose, almost to show you can do what you need to do but DO NOT pass this line I just made for you. And for stay I use my hand and quickly move it very close to their nose, please don't accidently wack them in the face, it makes for hard training

That hand signal means stay right there don't move a muscle and don't even think about doing anything until I tell you you can.

*I am very strict while teaching my stay since I use this command only if absolutely needed. If I can't close the door on the car without putting something else in I will give a STAY and then they know that if they move there is BIG trouble. I use this alot in life saving situations. *

Now lets teach down. For down I put my hand in front of their nose and reach it to the floor hoping their nose will follow. This is an easy command since lots of use it already just remember to put your "yes" in there when they got the drift of what you wanted.

Ok that's the basics for today, I will do more later and if you would like video on any of these commands please let me know. I have trained Hansel to use signals and he would be happy to show you what I mean.

Remember, and this is for a deaf dog or a hearing dog. Dog's do what works and gets them the attention they want. So the key to training is mark the possitive and ignore the negative!

Happy Training

Krista

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