Deaf Boxer .. Help

[Kayla Dawn]

Honestly, I'm at my wits end. I have a 6 year old brindle boxer .. and awhile back we took in a white boxer puppy who is deaf. At times I think she is just bad on purpose. I'm not sure what to do anymore, or honestly if we are the right home for her and that is HORRIBLE for me to think as a puppy mom. I NEVER felt this way with Apollo as a puppy. I can't see my life without Apollo but having Lotus here stresses me out and my relationship to no end.

She is smart, she is capable of learning, she knows she has to sit down and wait until we clap our hands for her to eat from her food dish when we feed her. But when we walk her she rips my arm off, chokes herself with her choke chain, we've tried a harness to. In the middle of the night she SCREAMS in her crate, if we leave her there for 20 minutes or so she will stop and go back to sleep. I'm waking up 3 times a night with her for "bathroom breaks" but she can go longer than that she is 9 months old now. If we dont get her from her crate when SHE wants she FREAKS out... Tears at the crate, screams, chews at the bars, we even tried a bark coller its gotten so bad and it doesnt phase her she barks threw it.

She still pee's on my floor even though she knows to go to the door now when she needs out .. but wont. She HARRASSES my older boxer to no end. She bites him, chases him, chews on his face, ears, legs. He gets really annoyed. I do love her, but I feel like frusterated at this point.

She eats anything off the floor she can, she jumps on my step children and us even though we push her down, she doesnt get it. She thinks it's ok to jump and nip. We've tried the waterbottle but she ignores it. We've tried a long leash in the house so she can interact with us but not have full roam of the house to destroy it. Doesnt work. Anyone with insite on deaf boxers PLEASE send some my way.

We love her, I'm just frusterated.

 

[Cami]

She is displaying 100% puppy behavior however a hearing pup, if trained correctly would be farther along with understanding commands by 9 months of age.
You didn't mention any training except that she knows to sit and wait for food.
NIX the bark collar for starters as well as the squirt bottle. Neither of which are doing any actual TRAINING.
Invest in a NO PULL HARNESS not just a standard harness that actually aids with pulling.
Contact a trainer who has experience training HUMANS how to work with a deaf dog.
You need to learn how to interact with her. She can't hear thus will not respond to anything but your body language, hand signals, treats and possibly toys. It's probably safe to say that your body language is full of frustration currently. When you factor in her inability to hear and age as well as your frustration then you have a losing battle on your hands.
There are many books available either for purchase or at your local library that will help you as well as many deaf dog specific forums you can join.
She needs to be taught differently than your hearing male was. The actions will be the same but the commands, once done with words will have to be done with singles.
You will still speak them out of habit but once incorporating something visual for her she will start to understand.
I find that deaf dogs are actually much more intuitive of their humans and surroundings. They learn to focus on US for their direction. They also tend to stay a little closer which helps all involved.
Her crate needs to be the place where she loves to enter and feels safe in. This isn't just a deaf thing. You need to train her that GOOD things happen there. Try feeding her in the crate. Utilize toys and treats in the crate. Throw toys in and get excited (clap hands, smile, etc..) when she goes in for the toy.
If you take a few days and concentrate on making sure you are not frustrated with her (I know it will be hard) you will find that good, happy energy is what she needs and she will thrive on it. Once you see the progress she makes you will be better able to keep up that energy and she will thank you for it by displaying behavior you like.
It won't happen overnight and if truth be told you are in for a long journey that will throw road blocks in your way from time to time.
Liken a deaf pup to having 10 hearing ones. It is hard but it is certainly do-able if you have the patience and persistence.
If you don't feel as if you and your family have it in you and you are not all on the same page then re-homing would be best for all involved. Just be honest with yourself. You know your capabilities better than anyone else. No one will fault you for doing what is best for her and your family.

 

[srennie]

Cami said it beautifully! Don't feel guilty if you need to rehome her. If you know you don't have the time and/or patience to put in the tremendous amount of work she needs then rehoming her is the kindest thing for her. She sounds like a normal puppy who is quite 'lost'. She doesn't know what you want. A good trainer is a must in this situation if you are going to give it a go with keeping her. Good luck!

 

[Sansal]

Where is the crate located? Sometimes it helps to have the crate located in the bedroom, she might feel safer if her humans are close by and maybe even sleep through the night. Is Apollo in the crate also? Are the crates next to each other? Also, some dogs will never like their crate. When I got my boxer puppy Sky I gave up on the crate training after a few weeks because it just did not work for her. Sky wanted to be with my other dog, Happy while we were gone. I ended up puppy proofing the living room and had them stay in there together.

You could try the no pull harness but if she is a strong puller I would recommend the gentel leader head harness. It is a training tool so you still will have to train her to walk nicely but it helps.

About the jumping: Pushing her down WILL NOT help. She will take that as an invitation for a round of rough play. Ignoring is much better. When she jumps on you turn away and ignore her until all feet are on the ground and then praise her and maybe give a treat.

Also, why exactly is the long leash in the house not working? I think it's a good idea to have her close by, possibly tethered to you, so you can redirect her appropriately before she destroys anything or eats things off the floor.

A few helpful links:

DDEAF Training Tips

Clicker Training for Deaf Dogs at My Aussies

Training a Deaf Dog: Do I Have Your Attention? - PositiveDogTraining.org

 

[Kayla Dawn]

thank you all for not judging our frusteration. we love her. i'm more at my end than my boyfriend. he said it well this morning. we could rehome her but how do we know the next people arent going to be so frusterated she is hurt or ends up in the pound. we do not want this. i'm calling around to some trainers about pricing this afternoon. i'm reading all the articles you have posted and have talked to him about some new tips on training. we do love her.

no apollo isnt crated. her crate is covered so she cant see out or she gets upset but apollo is fully trained. i'm going to try the walking away from her jumping and will tell the kids to do so as well. thanks for the encouragement. please post more suggestions we will take all to heart.

 

[Sansal]

That sounds like a really good start! We all get frustrated with the puppy training sometimes, even with the hearing ones Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[Althea]

Glad you are trying to work with her! I look forward to the day I am able to work with a deaf dog (though so often Suki appears to not hear me, so perhaps I have my wish!), but I know the challenges can be overwhelming. You have a great community here to help you along the way. Good luck, and hang in there!

 

[Kayla Dawn]

She is amazingly smart I know this. But stubborn, and so are we has humans. Where we have her tied is in our livingroom with us, she is trying and has successfully loosened her lead from around the table leg , however she can't get the leash off thank goodness. Her crate is in our dinning/livingroom area, and I left the door open with her toy in it when I got home from work. She went in there got her toy, came out and decided to shut the door to her crate . Now she is laying on the floor in the same room as us. She barked at me when I got home [already out of her crate because bf was home] and I let her outside, gave her many scratches. I even took her paw and banged it on the door before going out. She does this when out and wants in, so maybe she will do the opposite.

I will ignore the barking in her crate, because I know if I run to her she will continue. But if she is out of her crate and barks I take it as she has to go, because if she barks and I dont get her she pees on the floor. She knows when she piddles on the floor it isnt a good thing, so I know she is smart. And we do love her a lot. So I hope anyone doesnt think we dont. I even have a Lotus flower tattoo'd on my wrist for her (my other wrist says Apollo with puppy paws ) But he was just so much easier to train that is all.

 

[EAO76]

I work with Boxer Rescue & it is more difficult to find homes for the deaf ones so re-homing her won’t exactly be easy. Also much of her problems aren’t necessarily related her being deaf. It sounds more like lack of training & guidance than anything. I have met plenty of deaf boxers that a joy to be around. And these weren’t dogs that we raised by people that had any special training talents. Some dogs are more difficult than others. Your other boxer may just have had an easier personality… OR he may have come at a time when you were less stressed & more “ready” for him, so he just seemed easier.

One thing to realize is that dogs don’t speak English so (whether they hear or not) words / English is a foreign language to them. Dogs “speak” body language. That is their native tongue (whether or not they can hear). Look at how dogs interact with each other. A slight flick of the ear means a lot. Approaching a certain way, avoiding eye contact, a play bow. This is how they communicate. No words needed! Even when we think our dogs are responding to a word command many times they are actually responding to our body language. Notice how they watch you? If you stop to think about it you’ll probably notice that your hearing dog pays very close attention to your posture or body language. You might notice that you always move your hands a certain way or have a certain posture when you say “sit”? Try asking for a sit when your back is to him or standing sideways or with your hands in the air. Did he respond as quickly?

Also people always say when they discover that their dog did something wrong (tore up a pillow or whatever) that the dog “knew he did wrong”, “felt guilty”, “cowered away”, etc. 99.9% of the time the dog has no clue WHAT he did. But rather he is responding to the look on your face or the change in your body language.

So my point it that is actually EASIER for the dog to learn sign language that it is for them to learn voice commands. The voice commands are more for our (the human’s) convenience.

Good luck, stay calm, pay attention you’re your energy. She feels & sees it!

PS This is the most compressive deaf dog link you’ll find. There is SO MUCH awesome info here!!! Check out the videos at the bottom too! AlishaMSigns.com

 

[Kayla Dawn]

Thank you for those links.. I've already started reading more and watched the videos. She already knows sit command, yes/ok command and like I said she is very smart, I also know it is probably our fault, well IS our fault because of our frusteration levels. It hasnt been fair to her at all. We are going to try everything we can, it will just take more time.