Foster fail:)

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cbmcts

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You know how I said no more Rottweilers after losing two in three months? I was obviously deluded because I signed the paperwork to adopt Rotten Reggie the deaf rottie yesterday...

He's a very bright, wilful and absolutely hilarious foster dog that I picked up a day or two after losing Mac with no intention of keeping him but when it came to the rescue thinking about advertising him and starting to do a write up about him - I couldn't let him go! He is so trainable but also incredibly stubborn, a typical young (2 yrs 4 m) male. The upside of a deaf dog? You can call him Reggie 2.jpg
all the names under the sun and he can't hear you! He knows most of the usual handsignals, just chooses to ignore when it suits :) Really friendly with other dogs and good if a bit disinterested in people. Has the cat furious because he won't bow to her supreme will - he keeps on trying to play with her and since he doesn't like his face being shredded (he was nearly a blind and deaf dog at one point, I had to remove her from his head claw by claw) so now he goes in backwards - bright or what ?

Any tips on training a deaf dog? His previous owner brought him to the vets for PTS as 'he never f'ing listened'
 

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Gave me heart failure reading the title!

Friends have a BC which is totally deaf. They seem to communicate through osmosis and finger pointing ??‍♀️ One of the most obedient dogs I’ve ever met ?. It helps that it rarely takes his eyes off them, and is ball obsessed...

I’m so pleased for you all xxxx
 
You’ve made me tear up! I’m delighted for you!

Re training, harness, longline to start with, teach hand signals eg arms wide open for recall, hand flat and up for sit/stay. I wouldn’t be letting him off unless it’s a safe place and he’s used to checking in with you frequently.
 
I could see this fail happening! Lucky Reggie (and lucky you). I have a relative who has a deaf Dalmation, hand signals and another dog are their method of communication. I think Lucy can hear a whistle sometimes (or maybe it's that she could when she was younger).
 
Oh, well done you, lucky Reggie! Good luck with the training.
The only foster I ever took on, just so she could get some socialisation with kind and obedient dogs you understand! Very temporary! NOT!
As soon as the rescue said they had a viewing for her, I looked at her sleeping by the aga and said I would keep her! She is still here 11 years later!
 
lucky reggie, he looks like a nice boy, when i took my old lurcher to training classes the trainer knew there was a deaf dog in the class and asked if it was mine, i was very embarassed to say no .. the deaf one was a dalmation who was near enough the best behaved in the class..
 
How lovely. Is he stone deaf or can he hear some high frequency sounds we can't. Do vets have hearing testing like for children?
 
Nicnac said:
How lovely. Is he stone deaf or can he hear some high frequency sounds we can't. Do vets have hearing testing like for children?
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I'm not really sure. He's been checked out by a 'normal' vets and they are convinced that if he can hear anything, it's not very much at all. I could ask for a referral to a specialist but probably won't as I believe that there is nothing that can actually be done to improve hearing. His ear canals etc are totally normal with no sign of scarring so it's not congenital deafness or caused by infection. Maybe trauma? We'll probably never know.

I'm planning to try a whistle - tbh at the moment he'd probably ignore it even if he could hear it. I've also got a laser pen on order to see if he will follow a light as he does use his eyes a lot, he's like a meerkat when he sees something a distance away. A vibrating collar is for the future as he is nowhere near the stage where he'd look back at me when it buzzed. He is ferociously independent at the moment - his motto, typical of a rottie (or a terrier!) is busy, laters, whatevs when he is doing something but conversely, the attention seeking is hard work. He is happy to be in trouble rather than ignored so a lot of removing whatever he is trashing at that moment in time without comment.

I am lucky that I do have access during the summer to a secure field so he can run loose a couple of times a week. People do not exist while he is off lead so lots of work to do there and annoyingly, he is not food orientated nor have I found the toy that he really wants yet, that's where the laser pen might work. Not tried a long line on him yet either as he is probably the strongest dog I have ever handled. I cannot reliably hold him on a collar or a harness even though he is only 45kgs and I thought I was fairly strong! So he only goes out with a headcollar on - he doesn't like that so we've had more than one standoff where it's taken some time to get him to sit quietly for it to be put on. I do not wrestle rotties to go for a walk!

Luckily dog training is starting up again next week outdoors and my friend who is a dog walker allows me to take him out with various walkees. It's noticeable how much calmer he is walking with other dogs compared to walking solo. Because of that and that he has the potential to suffer separation anxiety (much improved than a month ago but still there at a very low level) I have an order in at the rescue for the unicorn of dogs - a small to medium steady bitch, 5 years or younger :) to be a friend for him. No rush on that as I'll be WFH full time until at least next year. He can already be left without crating for a couple of hours with no problems even though I do not give him access to the dog flap yet.

Very much a work in progress but he has come a long way in only a month. The cat still wants to kill him though...
 
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