Anyone fostered a deaf dog?

[Brutus and Amaya's Mom]

I am picking up a new boy tomorrow to foster. He is a 5 mo old white male who is deaf. I have read up a lot on deafdogs.org and think I have the basics down- I have taught myself out, mom, dad, drive, no and good from a ASL site. I am pretty into training my own dogs (1 leg away from our CD- Go Bru May 11!) and I think I can work with this guy but it will be different. Bru and Amaya know hand signals for sit, down, stand and come. I have also asked people at my obedience club for advice.

He is by means no means our first foster-- I think he is actually number 12- but our first deaf foster.

I guess I am curious to see if any of you have fostered a deaf dog and what your experiences were?

Brutus and Amayas Mom

 

[BoxersR4me]

Hi Brutus & Amayas Mom,

One of our other volunteers (Second Chance Boxer Rescue) has an awesome site, www.askmrseamus.com and if you click on Special needs & scroll down there's tons of links with excellent info. I foster as well but never had the pleasure of having a deaf foster so good luck & keep us posted.


Rocco's Mommy

 

[adeinert]

I fostered a non-hearing boxer and he was a pure joy! He was so cute and very smart. I learned most of my signs from www.deafdogs. com and www.deafdogs.org
I also bought a book that I gave to his new family, I believe it was titled Living With a Deaf Dog. He did a fantastic job learning and following directions. A few weeks after he arrived home with his forever family he began obedience and was the teacher's pick each time she showed something because he already knew so much!
I loved watching him sleep. He seemed so calm. He was the most even keel pup! I did a boxer rescue booth with him and everyone was amazed at how centered and calm he was for a nine month old boxer.
I kept the signs real positive except for the necessary wagging finger no. As I taught the signs, I wrote them down so his new home would be able to learn them too.
Be prepared. He will most likely bond to you stronger than your other fosters, if you can even imagine that. I was told this and it was so true.
I loved that little guy so much. He is in a great home and luckily his mom is helping out with rescue and we keep in touch.
Good luck, I'd love to hear about your new guy.
Ashlie, owned by Jillian, Tulley, and Desi
www.flbr.org
Our site has a link to some white boxer sites that may be interesting. I think there was some non-hearing info there. I was under "What's New."

 

[Brutus and Amaya's Mom]

I thought I would update you all on my foster boy.

Kadin is doing great. He is a VERY well mannered puppy. He does not jump, has only had one accident in the house and is well behaved. He is adorable sleeping- I do like to wake him up from the kennel.

At first we had a hard time not talking to him. "Kadin No" does not really get us anywhere I have been working with him on sit and he is doing great. He is a fast learner and really wants to please.

He is getting along well with my dogs. I do think it is funny that a deaf dog play barks He was out with Amaya last week bowing and barking.

We did have one minor instance where Bru growled at him and since Kadin did not respond Bru pinned him- I tried to explain that he cannot hear but Bru is convinced he is rude and not listening to his elders Bru also trys to bark to get him to play and Kadin does not respond. I wonder if he will eventually give up on "talking" to him?

We are really enjoying him!

Brutus and Amayas Mom

 

[Claudia807]

Sounds like things are going fine! I have fostered a few deafies. One bit of advice I wanted to toss out is just not to go whole hog with teaching him hand signals. I know I had a tendency to do that at first. I wouldn't expect a hearing dog to learn sit, down, stay, no, come, etc. all at once so I shouldn't expect a deaf dog to learn everything at once either. It's important to make sure the dog has a complete grasp of one hand signal before moving on to another.

And don't forget to have your facial expression match your hand signal!

Claudia
Green Acres Boxer Rescue of WI

 

[adeinert]

I am glad to hear all is going so well! I was so very fond of my non-hearing foster! I remember how cute he was when he was sleeping! When I would come home, I would let mine out of the crates and he would still be sleeping so peacefully. After I opened his door, mine would rush in and wake him up. They seemed to really be excited to have him up too.
I think my signs in the first week or so were: no, come, good boy, I love you, then we added sit, car... boy I'm forgetting. I must say, sit was kind of hard to teach and then one day he just had it! He loved to come running when he saw me so come was easy and I figured was crucial. I know if neighbors saw me they would think I had gone crazy. I really acted out the words with facial features! That's alright, Colby enjoyed it!
Thanks for the update!
Ashlie

 

[amcmillan]

Hi there-
I'm an owner of a 4 year old deaf boxer and he is an absolute peach. He is so silly and has so much personality. We also have a hearing boxer who is a bit "bossy". She will sometimes growl at him and even though he can't hear her, he seems to pick up on the body language or whatever it may be. They definitely communicate and he definitely "listens" . Another useful tidbit is light works wonders. We use that to get his attention a lot. At night when he goes out, we blink the door light off and on and he then knows it's time to come in. I also do that if he's sleeping upstairs and i want him to come down. He also likes to follow me around the house WHEREVER i go. I'm sure that's not different from a lot of boxers, but he's a little bit obsessive about it. That's ok though, that's part of what makes him such a sweetie. Anyhow, good luck with your foster and i'm sure you'll soon realize that there's hardly any difference between a hearing dog or a deaf one.
Ashley