Jake seems to be deaf...

[Stiff Knees]

...and I don't just mean the selective hearing he has lived with for the last 12 years 😉. I mean properly deaf. He's not responding to voice commands and when you walk up behind him he doesn't hear you coming. He used to hear me turn on the scales to weigh out his food at mealtimes, now he doesn't even hear me call him at mealtimes. This has all seemed to come on really quite quickly, he's booked into the vets on Wednesday so they can check his ears but I don't think they'll find anything treatable, there's no bad odour, no head shaking, no gunk, just perfectly clean normal ears to the naked eye. Has anyone else any experience with a deaf dog and care to offer some advice? We're still speaking to him obvs, and also making more exaggerated facial expressions and hand gestures and he is responding well to that and we are careful not to creep up on him from behind as that startles him. He's had a lot going on just recently, with his arthritis flare up, splenic tumour, then losing Spot and I do wonder if this helps explain why he has sometimes been a bit withdrawn. I'm also prepared for the fact that there might be something sinister going on but will cross that bridge if we come to it. 🐾 Thanks for reading.

 

[teddypops]

My 18yo terrier is deaf. I have to use a really high pitched & loud voice to call him and he stays on the lead if I take him for a walk, he gets loose in my fields, but other than that, I don’t do anything different.

 

[Stiff Knees]

My 18yo terrier is deaf. I have to use a really high pitched & loud voice to call him and he stays on the lead if I take him for a walk, he gets loose in my fields, but other than that, I don’t do anything different.

Thanks Teddypops, Jake never strays far from us on a walk and we know he is safe on the farm we visit often. We will make sure he stays safe. My sister (she's quite loud, I'm softly spoken, in comparison) used a high pitch tone with him at the weekend and we thought he may have just heard her, perhaps that is the last range to go when their hearing fails. We'll keep trying that, we might just find a pitch that he can hear (wailing banshee??). We are also telling everyone that Jake comes into contact with so they can make allowances. 🐾 18 is a great age for a terrier, well done for getting him this far, who doesn't love a terrierist?

 

[TheresaW]

Our old Collie cross went deaf in her later years. She always stayed close out on walks anyway, but she was fine as long as she could see us. She did once go through a big bush and I could see her looking for me. I had to climb through it, and as I was right in the middle of it (brambles), she spotted me.

The biggest worry for us was that she slept at the bottom of the stairs, and we always worried about giving her a heart attack when we came down first thing in the morning. Whoever was first up used to come down the stairs heavier footed than normal, so she felt us coming before we were on top of her. I think she was about 16 when we first noticed her hearing had gone, and we lost her at 18.

 

[OlderNotWiser]

Our mini Daxi is going deaf, one thing he struggled with was feeling safe when he was asleep as our Doberman would often make him jump. He now has an extra little piece of vetbed under a side table in our sitting room so that he can sleep undisturbed in his man cave. Other than that it’s business as usual!

 

[satinbaze]

There is a book on training deaf dogs I think it is by a chap called Barrie Eaton.
My old CKCS went deaf at 7. She responded well to hand signals and continued to compete in agility.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Hand signals, all the way. Big dog was deaf for his last couple of years but kept an eye on where we were and still ran round the woods on his usual route. Heading for the exit of the park worked a treat! I'd just be careful to ensure you wake him gently, I think we gave him a few frights inadvertently.

 

[MyBoyChe]

Maybe try using a gun dog whistle to see if he can hear that still, if he can it might be enough to get his attention if you need to. Definitely hand signals, always useful. As long as you can keep him safe on his walks and he isnt the running off sort, a combination of the whistle(if it helps) and gestures should work a treat x

 

[Stiff Knees]

Thanks everyone for the advice. We have discovered that Jake responds when we clap so we can do that to attract his attention if his safety is at risk, we're going to get a whistle to see if he responds to that too. He's not the sort to wander off on walks, although he sometimes lags behind, but we're confident that we can keep him safe. The Yellow Peril, strangely, seems to know that something has changed and this morning she went to his bed and gently woke him and this afternoon when we visited the farm and Jake was finding a patch of grass particularly interesting to sniff, we sent her back to get him, and she did by attracting his attention and got him looking at us again. When we waved at him, he ran straight to us. Tail wagging. He smelt his dinner being prepared this evening and headed to the kitchen so I think we're going to manage ok. He greeted the Postwoman this morning with his usual tail wag and we told her about his hearing loss and she immediately understood that it would be a bad idea to creep up on him from behind. Vet check tomorrow. Fingers crossed this is just old age hearing loss. 🐾💕

 

[JennBags]

I think our 13yo Westie is starting to go deaf, and maybe a little bit senile. We have to keep our eyes on her on a walk, if we go ahead and she doesn't see us, she will panic and usually runs off in the wrong direction. Its almost like she can hear us but not work out where the voice is coming from.

 

[splashgirl45]

my friend has a westie who is 16 and he went deaf suddenly, vet couldnt find anything wrong and said it happens sometimes, very helpful. anyway she uses a whistle to get his attention and he seems to respond to that, maybe because it is so high pitched..

just read your thread jennbags, that is what my friends westie did but now she uses the whistle he seems to know where it is coming from and once he sees her hand signals he is fine..

 

[Stiff Knees]

I think our 13yo Westie is starting to go deaf, and maybe a little bit senile. We have to keep our eyes on her on a walk, if we go ahead and she doesn't see us, she will panic and usually runs off in the wrong direction. Its almost like she can hear us but not work out where the voice is coming from.

We had this issue with Spot, quite often on a walk she'd just follow the nearest set of legs and I'd have to go to her and attract her attention. She'd look at me, then at the strangers, wag her tail and follow me home 🐾😍❤️. She could hear a crisp packet being opened at 100 metres though so there was nothing wrong with her hearing!!

 

[satinbaze]

My deaf CKCS couldn’t hear a 210 gundog whistle but could hear the 212for a short while. With her it was the lower register sounds she could hear so I suggest trying different tones to see if your dog can hear any of these

 

[Stiff Knees]

My deaf CKCS couldn’t hear a 210 gundog whistle but could hear the 212for a short while. With her it was the lower register sounds she could hear so I suggest trying different tones to see if your dog can hear any of these

Thanks Satinbaze, Jake seems to react to a click of my fingers but only from up close, that's not a loud noise, So I think we need to try lots if different tones and pitches to see what he can hear close up and further away. 🐾😍

 

[Stiff Knees]

Jake had his ears checked on Wednesday and there was no sign of infection, injury or perforation so his deafness seems to be down to nerve damage due to his age. Vet couldn't entirely rule out a deeper ear infection as that area is not visible but his last lots of bloods taken only a week ago didnt show an elevated white blood cell count so it's highly unlikely. There was a test available under GA where electrodes measure brain activity relative to noise stimulus but we're not going to risk putting him through a GA at his age, he really has been through enough just recently. 🐾