The Secrets Of Training A Deaf Dog

October 22, 2008 by Richard Cross

If you have a deaf dog, chances are you are wondering how conventional training techniques will work. You can’t call out to the dog to give it commands, so how can you train it? Luckily, the basic idea behind training is the same for any dog – even one that is deaf. You need to signal to the dog when it has done something right to reinforce the good behaviour and discourage the dog from bad behaviour.

The difficulty in training a deaf dog comes in when you have to communicate with it. However while you can’t use verbal commands, hand signals can work just as well and allow you to give all the commands you need.

Just like when you use verbal commands for a dog, the hand signals need to be clear and precise. You also need to make sure all your hand signals are different enough from each other so there won’t be any confusion. The simpler the better in most cases – just make sure your signals are distinguishable at large distances.

Training A Deaf Dog – The First Step

Because your dog won’t be able to identify the pitch and tone of your voice to know when it’s done something wrong or right the first thing you need to do is teach the dog the “well done” or “yes” signal.

This is usually simple enough, just associate the signal with a treat that you give your dog for good behaviour. It will soon learn that the signal is good and he should try to see it more often!

Training A Deaf Dog – Getting Attention

As your dog is deaf you won’t have the use of his name to get his attention, so you need to come up with a hand signal for that too. This signal can be anything you like as long as it is clear and simple.

To get your dog to look at your just use a treat again. When the dog looks up perform the hand signal.

These first two steps are the foundations of training a deaf dog. Make sure you and the dog are comfortable with the “well done” and attention hand signals before moving on.

Training A Deaf Dog – Actual Commands

Now your dog knows when you’re pleased with it and you can get its attention, you have everything you need to start training. Once these basic steps are out the way, training becomes much like it would for a dog who has prefect hearing.

In short, you get the dog to perform the action you want it to and then reward it for doing it while issuing a specific hand signal.