Terrie Hayward - A Deaf Dog Joins the Family: Training, Education, and Communication for a Smooth Transition

A Deaf Dog
Joins the Family

Training, Education, and Communication for a Smooth Transition

Terrie Hayward

M.Ed., KPA-CTP, CPDT-KA

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Author or publisher.

This book is dedicated to all of the special people who have opened their homes to dogs who hear with their hearts.

And to Jo Ann Sosa & Milena Massey who rescued our deaf dog, Blanca from the abandoned gas station in Isabella, Puerto Rico.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to:

Mark Hayward for accepting Blanca as another furry family member.

Friends & family who reviewed earlier versions of the book & helped me along the way.

The many deaf dog families who responded overwhelmingly with wonderful photo submissions of their deaf pups.

Also to Deaf Dogs Rock, The Deaf Dog Network, & My Deaf Dog groups for their support of deaf dogs globally!

CONTENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Terrie Hayward holds a Masters Degree in Bilingual Special Education, is a Karen Pryor Academy, Certified Training Partner, and holds a CPDT-KA (Council of Professional Dog Trainers-Knowledge Assessed) certification.

She continues to pursue ongoing professional development opportunities as well including the Professional Animal Training Seminar with Ken Ramirez, Contemporary Animal Training and Management, at NEI, the Living and Learning with Animals for Professionals certificate course, Behavior Works, and Canine Behavioral Evaluation Workshop, Animal Alliance.

She has worked in the rescue realm for over twenty years whilst living in Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the British Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Terrie wanted to combine her background in education and training with her passion to enable her to positively effect change in animals lives. She went back to school to become a professional, certified, positive reinforcement animal trainer and continues to learn and grow via working with people and animals.

Although previously, Terrie had never considered science one of her favorite fields, she has since discovered and concluded that the science of behavior is amazing and awe-inspiring. She has enjoyed continuing her education via many professional development opportunities, which include working with macaws at Natural Encounters, Inc., training chickens at Legacy Canine, and beluga whales at Shedd Aquarium.

Terrie works to use the least intrusive, most effective educational alternatives available. In doing so she empowers animals and people towards better communication and more confident, comfortable lives. She loves the fact that science ties all learners together and that via positive reinforcement training and the understanding of how the science of behavior functions she can work to improve lives of the animals and the caregivers that she collaborates with.

Thus, with her business, PAW-Positive Animal Wellness, she is pleased to make improving the lives, care, teaching, and learning of animals and people her career.

Additional information about Terrie and PAW can be found on her website at: www.positiveanimalwellness.com

BLANCA

In 2013, a friend named Milena had recently rescued a large, but skeletal dog from an abandoned gas station. Shed contacted me for some possible training help. The dog, who had 10 puppies the very day following her rescue, was big, strong, and exuberant. Id agreed to go by and to help to evaluate and to do some training with the mom, while assisting with puppy duty.

Although I had fostered, adopted, and cared for hundreds of dogs I had yet to have met a deaf dog in my personal or professional life.

With her all white coat, my friend named this dog, Blanca (meaning white in Spanish). Blanca responded eagerly to attention and appeared motivated to figure out how to earn small pieces of hotdog. Always armed with my treat pouch and clicker, I was ready to mark (with a click) and reinforce (with hotdog) behavior that I liked. I ignored her jumping and reinforced with a click and then some cheese for her sit. We moved around and repeated the behavior. My friend then mentioned that she thought that the dog might have trouble hearing and wondered if she was just responding to my body language. Milena had come to this conclusion as she said that in the early morning she could easily come right up to Blanca without her even stirring. Blanca seemed to ignore the hungry cries of her puppies. We also noted that while other dogs barked, or car horns honked, Blanca remained seemingly unaware.

It was a few visits later when we determined after various sound tests, that Blanca was in fact deaf. As I had never encountered this before, I started to do some research on deafness in dogs.

At first it came as a surprise to me that in many cases in the past, and perhaps even, sadly nowadays, deafness would be an immediate reason to put a dog to sleep. It was increasingly shocking to me over time as I watched this intelligent, loving dog learn, that her lack of hearing could have meant her instant death. While her deafness is a bit of an alternative training challenge and requires some modifications, I believe that her other senses (smell, peripheral vision, body language) may actually be enhanced, as often happens when humans are deaf. Although all dogs are very acutely aware of body language, deaf dogs (I believe certainly true in Blancas case) are perhaps even more keenly observant of body language and gestures.

In fact, deaf dogs may require that families focus on training the way that we certainly can for all dogs, but dont as folks rely on verbal (often not entirely effectual) communication to suffice. Deaf dogs can teach us a lot about care, compassion, and training methods, and Blanca seems ever so joyful and eager to learn and respond now that someone has taken the time to learn how to communicate with her!

DEAFNESS AND THE BASICS OF LIVING WITH A DEAF DOG

Canine deafness can be temporary or permanent and it can be congenital or acquired.

The AKC Canine Health Foundations states Deafness, in dogs as in people, is the inability to hear. Deafness can be unilateral (affecting one ear) or bilateral (affecting both ears).