deaf boxer puppy

[lacied22]

OK, I'm not too experienced with deaf boxers so I wanted to do some research first. My husband and I recently bought a puppy (pick him up next week). We looked for quite some time into getting another boxer and we found the perfect little guy..
now here's my delema.... our breeder's litter has one deaf puppy, for whom they haven't found a home for yet. Now I know that one boxer puppy is a handful, nevermind 2 of them. But my heart is bleeding for this poor little guy that nobody seems to want (except us!!) and I guess I figured that since we have an older boxer plus his littermate that it might make it easier on him. I want to adopt this puppy so badly but I don't want to make a decision without knowing what I'm geting into since I'm not experienced with dogs with hearing loss.
Any advice that anyone has is GREATLY appreciated, ecpecially from those with deaf boxers. (BTW- we do have a fenced in yard and plan on obedience classes) Thank you so much in advance.

 

[gmacleod]

Well, there are a number of members here with deaf dogs, so hopefully some of them will chime in with some first-hand experience and advice for you

Having a deaf boxer isn't as much work as it might appear though. They are eminantly trainable - but you need to use hand signals instead of voice commands, and (obviously) be aware that they need to be able to see you to respond to your commands. For that reason, you can't really ever let them run off leash except in securely fenced areas. But then, that's often not a good idea with a hearing boxer either so no significant change.

I would certainly think that having an older dog will be very helpful in training both youngsters. So I think that is a better situation than someone just getting two baby pups. Personally, I think getting him is a great idea, and yours sounds like an ideal situation for a baby like that. Sadly, deaf pups don't often fare so well and high numbers end up in shelters. With patient training however, they can make as good pets as their hearing siblings, so it is a real shame that more people don't put in the extra little bit of effort required to train them well :(

 

[Vela]

I don't have a deaf puppy but I was fully prepared to take my boy anyway if he had been deaf, he is white. I did lots of research and as was already stated, they are really qyite easty to train to hand signals. I taught both my dogs verbal and hand commands at the same time. If you do this your puppy can help learn the signs from the hearing dogs. I say go for it! I would if it was me.

 

[Iaboy]

I agree it would be a great idea as Max is trained to sit, lay down and stay with voice but he seems to respond better to hand gestures. He is not deaf, but I used the hand commands more than I do the voice, just my two cents worth. Good luck. We are looking for a female for Max and I would not care of a deaf dog. Hope you can get him. Take care.

Bob and Max

 

[bloving]

Deaf boxer

I love this website!! I just went last night and adopted a 1 year old deaf white boxer from the local animal control. I already have three but I just couldn't let her be in that place. I was also wondering about training. She does seem to take her cues from my other boxers. You can see her looking at me all the time. The reason she was given to the animal shelter was because the previous owner had a hard time house-training her. I think there was more to it though because you can see all her ribes. Well, she's been with me since last night and has not gone in the house or her crate once. I'm kinda treating her like a puppy and starting the house-training from scratch. My only fear is that I'm going to forget she is deaf and walk up on her and scare her to death. She sleeps very soundly, of course, because she can't hear )

 

[Scorpio]

I think its a great idea!! try using the search engine, there is quite a few threads on deaf boxers. You would surely train both with hand signals and voice.

Also bloving congrats to you too, we need more people like you guys.

 

[lacied22]

thanks

I really appreciate everyone's input, that helps alot and makes me feel alot more confident that this is something we can do ( with alot of work and training time that is ) I'm going to talk to my husband tonight when he gets home and see if they still have the little guy available.

 

[JoeBox]

Well???

Did you get him?

We brought home a little white girl, Brooke on Friday. She was perfect, we took her to our vet on Saturday - and she is deaf. My husband and I didn't have to think twice, within 20 minutes we were on the computer searching training for deaf dogs. We have a lot to learn, but we are ready!! She is still that perfect little angel that we picked up Friday!!! :o

 

[Slobber Baby]

My sister has a deaf boston terrier she got her as a pup and has trained her with sign language. When she goes out at night to potty they blink the outside light to get her attention to come back and she is a great little dog going on 3 years now. Just have patience and it will work out...

 

[hardins_girl]

new "kids" on the way ... hopefully how soon can you tell

my wife and i have found two great looking pups from a breeder north of us. one of the pups is white but we wanted another white pup. our last boxer was white and had no problems with hearing and health. but my question is how soon can you tell if there will be possible complications with a pup. of course with the pups our minds are pretty much set on the white, and kinda unsure on which of the others. but i do want to be prepaired for any thing i may need to do to make our new "children" feel at home and part of the family.