Thousands of deaf puppies are born each year. Many become deafer as a result of age, illness, trauma or drug reaction. So far the facts are not that different from the reasons as to why humans are born or become deaf but while humans whether deaf, blind or handicapped are gradually integrated into the society deaf, blind or handicapped animals are routinely destroyed because they are rumoured to be brain damaged, aggressive and untrainable or simply because their quality of life is believed to be somehow diminished. Humans tend to forget that animals experience the world through their nose (primarily) then their eyes and then with their ears. As humans we often rely on sound but nobody asked a deaf person how they experience the world. It has been named as the silent world but to them it’s no different than ours. Their world entails more details, more emotion and no fake feelings. Deaf animals are exactly the same. They sense the vibe and energy around everyone and read into it and act accordingly. So what if YOUR dog is deaf?
A person with a deaf dog has a great opportunity to communicate with their dog as the animal they are. Dogs communicate through energy and body language. For example you cannot be smiling and trying to teach your dog to behave as the dog will get the wrong signal for when he is bad.
To housetrain a deaf dog you may use hand signals, energy and most importantly body language to communicate your instruction (sit, down, lay down etc etc). I will not go on saying how easy it is because it’s not. But it’s not that different from housetraining your non deaf dog. The important lesson your deaf dog will teach you will be to be in tune with YOUR emotions and more importantly learn to control your anxiety and stress. Like a new-born baby learning to go to the toilet instead of wearing a diaper; it takes time and effort and there is no reason to think that a dog being housetrain is any different; deaf, blind or neither. As all living beings on this planet, everyday routine get to be a routine through the course of time and not from day 1 to day 2.
We should always remember that when a living being is born without one of his senses cannot miss what it did not know in the first place so we should not treat them any differently. Missing one sense does not make one less worthy to be loved and cared for. On the contrary it makes them even more vulnerable and in need of guidance to face the world. Deaf beings have a more accurate scent and definitely more accurate sight. They rely on their eyes and nose to feel the world and understand the commands they are given. For example; my dog a 2year old female Labrador (the love of my life) while she has all her 5 senses she just cannot cross the road as she does not feel the danger of cars. I have to instruct her not to move until I move to cross the street. And I cannot see the difference with a deaf or a blind dog. I would say a deaf dog would pay attention to the fact that we cross the street when the cars are not moving while a blind dog would take the noise as a sign to stop.
So what if YOUR dog is deaf?
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