How to Train a Deaf & Rowdy Dog

By Rhomylly Forbes

Instructions

Things You’ll Need:

Collar Leash Dog treats: hot dog slices or cheese cubes Vibrating collar (not shock collar) Penlight (not laser pointer)

Step 1:
Determine training goals. The first thing you need to do is decide what you want to train your dog to do. "Be a good dog" is a normal answer, but try to break that goal down into doable steps: sit when people come in the door; walk nicely on a leash; come when called. Then, with a little perseverance and the following tips, you may eventually have the best-behaved dog on the block, hearing or no!
Step 2:
Wear down the rowdiness. There's a saying among dog trainers, "A tired dog is always a well-behaved dog." Before you can train an exuberant dog how to do anything, you need to help him get rid of his excess energy. Try to go on a long walk, play fetch or frisbee in the backyard, or find a neighborhood kid to play with your dog until he's tired and ready to pay attention to you.
Step 3:
Establish hand signals. Just because a dog can hear doesn't mean she understands human speech. Our dogs learn much faster if you pair a simple hand gesture with a spoken command--the spoken part is for you, the gesture is for your dog, so your deaf dog really isn't at any disadvantage at all versus if you have to rely solely on hand signals to communicate.

A common hand signal for "sit" is the index finger pointing up, thumb and other fingers touching below (this gesture has the added benefit of making all those extra fingers available to hold a treat for added incentive). "Down" is the same gesture but with the wrist flexed so the index finger now points down, which is where you want your dog to be. Make up your own hand gestures, but keep them simple and keep them consistent.
Step 4:
Click is out, light is in. See the Web site listed below for more information on clicker training if you aren't familiar with this highly effective form of animal training. (All the whales at Sea World, for instance, are clicker-trained--ever try to punish a whale?) Since a deaf dog obviously can't hear a clicker to mark his correct behavior, try a pen light. This is a small, pen-sized flashlight, NOT a laser pointer. Click the light on and off when he does what you want.

Also, a good signal to get your deaf dog to come in from the back yard is to turn the back porch light on and off a couple times. Dogs are so attuned to changes in their environment that he'll see it flicker, even in broad daylight.
Step 5:
Feel the vibration. You can also buy a vibrating collar for your deaf dog--NOT a shock collar--and train him to look at you every time he feels the vibration. Since you can't really call his name, this is the best way to get his attention prior to giving him a command.

Tips & Warnings

In a way, training a deaf dog may be easier because you can't expect him to understand your verbal commands, which even hearing dogs can't do. But we humans still expect our dogs to understand our language, and the dog often suffers when we "punish" him for not understanding.Once you diminish his energy through some good old-fashioned exercise and fun, the training process should be comparable to what you'd do for a hearing dog.

Resources

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