New pup- one eye and deaf!

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ktb4

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Now many people may think were mad from going from 6 dogs to 7 but this one is my fault this time not my mum's!!
here's the story -
went to a local horse sales at the weekend and as we are looking around i kept seeing puppies around, then we came toa cage with 3 blue merle border collies with a sign saying girl with one eye £50 others £100. Now this little girl was smaller than the others and stuck in the corner by herself looking very scared whilst the other two played. So of course feeling sorry for her i immediatley called home where the basic answer was it was my money and my responsibility if anything is seriously wrong with her....

After taking her home i looked at her eyelid and it looks like theres no eye and she was just born without it (also confirmed by my vet last night) but as well as only having one eye she doesnt listen to anything we say, we kept testing it with different noises by herself but she just doesnt register them!!!

Vet says she IS partially deaf and there is a possibility she COULD grow out of it, but i have decided to train her like a deaf dog incase she doesnt as i have looked into it and it diesnt seem that bad.

we have never had a deaf dog before but we know our stuff about dogs and im up for the challenge but does anyone have a deaf dog and do they have any tips or anyting else i should be aware of?!?!?!?

if you got this far get yourself some cake!!
 
Sounds like you are a devil for punishment, but good on you for taking her on. I'm sure she will cope fine with only one eye. My old GSD had an eye removed aged 10 and adjusted brilliantly. Never had a dog that is deaf or nearly deaf from birth, but currently have yet another old Shepherd who is deaf as a post! She is pretty good on handsignals but if she is nt looking at me I haven't a chance. I don't let her off in open spaces any more because she tends to head off in a straight line and forget to stop. I knew of a couple of deaf dogs who did agility, again all done with hand signals, so you will hopefully not have too many problems with your pup, will just need loads of patience.
 
Wow, sounds like quite a challenge, but should be a good one. I think you can get vibrating collars so if they start running and can't see you you have some way of attracting their attention. Might be worthwhile seeing if any local dog trainers have experience with deaf dogs too.

Good luck
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Well done for providing this girl with a happy home, i have heard that with the right traning deaf dogs live a very full and happy life so good luck with that xx
 
I have a dog that is going blind in one eye due to an injury last year, and she copes very well. You wouldn't know except she can't catch a ball like she used to as she is losing her 3-dimensional vision. I'm sure a puppy blind from birth will be fine, never having known any different.

And I had a dog who went deaf in later life. She had always been good at keeping within range during her earlier life but once she went deaf we did occasionally have situations where she would disappear at speed in the wrong direction. I still remember chasing her through a thick coppiced wood, without very much clue where she had gone and no hope of calling her back. So you might have to choose where you walk your dog ... avoiding dense woodland, and opting for open spaces where she can see you and you can see her, and training her from the start to stay within close range.

It sounds like you're ready for the challenge and I wish you the very best of luck. I expect the two of you will form a close bond in those circumstances and with the high level of training you will be involved in.
 
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I'm sure a puppy blind from birth will be fine, never having known any different.

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Sorry what I meant to say was blind in one eye from birth.
 
I am sure that being blind in one eye won't affect her at all!

I have seen a deaf dog clicker trained to a high standard. Instead of the clicker, which makes a sound she could not hear, they used a light. The light coming on marked the correct behaviour. This made her more interested in looking at her owners in the first place for signals and instructions on what to do (it's interesting how often we use the voice to distact puppies and get their attention back to us, so they had to find another way to get her attention back to them). It might also be worh trying different toned sounds as there may be some sounds she can hear and you can then use these for recall off the lead.

BTW I saw her photos in the other post, she looks gorgeous!
 
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