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March 19th 1997 Update According to the American Kennel Club, deaf dogs should be euthanized. There are many breeders and non-breeders that think this also. In some cases I agree, but I am mostly undecided. And yes, this is coming from someone that owns a deaf dog! If Cricket was put down when she was a very young puppy, I would have never had this opportunity to learn from her or love her and have her unconditionally love me. But I also feel it might of saved her and many people alot of unnecessary pain. To this day we have no idea where this wonderful creature came from. Someone owned her before she came to me, and had to of loved her. It is impossible not to love her. She was just abandoned in the middle of nowhere. Who could do such a thing? Was it someone who could not face the fact that she had to be put down? She spent her puppyhood with someone. When did they realize she couldn't hear? Why couldn't they find someone to adopt her? But then, who wants a deaf dog? Here's the story..... Adoption? There was a question I pondered for a while. Did I want a used dog? Reports in newspapers everywhere, cute Dalmatians nobody wants. The press had a field day reporting that Dalmatians might not be so cute after all. They are mostly stupid, un-trainable, hyper, strong willed, prone to violence, not at all good with children. Many who had purchased puppies for their kids or just to have one because they were cute, were reconsidering because their pets were growing into rowdy, teething, out of control adolescents. One day I broke down and called the animal shelter. "Yes, we do have Dalmatians" I was told. "Is there any reason why you want a Dalmatian?" they asked me. When I explained that I had a Dalmatian and why I was looking for another they were willing to talk about their Dalmatians. It was 2 or 3 a month they were having surrendered. All kinds of reasons. No time for training, people worked all day, they were moving, kids allergic. Excuses, excuses..........bottom line-Problem Dog. The Humane Society is leery about adopting out these Dals because most of the time they end up back at the pound or just abandoned. I was still not sure I wanted a used dog. Still talking to breeders I met someone on the internet that loved Dalmatians as much as I did. Through e-mail we talked. Off and on for weeks we mailed each other, talking about our dogs. She knew I was looking for another Dal. I admitted to her that I had called the humane society. One day she emailed me that she had received a call from a vet in her area. A Dalmatian was brought into the clinic. Found running in the country, picked up by some passers by. Middle of winter, where the temperatures drop to -30 Celsius. It is a wonder that this little girl never froze to death. What to do with her? Try and find her owners? Someone has to be looking for her. She was advertised as "Lost Dog" for 2 weeks. It was thought at first she might be hearing impaired. If no one claimed her, chances are good she'd be put to sleep. They would not adopt out a Dal with hearing problems. Day by day, I was growing attached to this dog. Thinking about her every day to the point where I couldn't sleep at night. Why has no one claimed her? I had already claimed her in my heart though I wouldn't admit it to anyone. I knew she was going to be my dog and I hadn't even seen her yet. After 2 weeks I thought, I have to go see her. Almost a 3 hour drive away. "Just going to see her" is what I told my husband. But I knew that I would be bringing her home. I had a leash and collar in my pocket just for her. At the foster home we rang the door bell. Door opens.....and there she is. She came straight to me and leaned up against my leg, like she was saying "Where have you been? Can I come to your house?". Eye's twinkling, tail wagging, I was surprised how much she resembled Harley. Her markings were the same. She could pass for his sister. Yes, I was in love and she was coming home with me. Back at the farm, so to say.....home she came. The long drive home. Not speaking and thinking oh, no, what have I done now. It felt like it took 10 hours to drive home. And there was Harley, waiting at the door. It was love at first sight. These two Dals took right to each other like long lost friends. The realization there might be something wrong came after the first two days Cricket was not responding to me. Conducting my own tests I thought maybe she is totally deaf. This is when I decided, I cannot raise a deaf dog. I don't know how to train a deaf dog. I have no experience with deaf dogs! She has to be put to sleep if she is deaf. This was what I had learned from reading articles about deaf Dalmatians. I was terrified and heart broken. After a visit to the vet we determined that Cricket had a very bad ear infection. The vet wanted to get the ear infection under control before we could say for sure, but I was almost certain she was deaf. After 2 weeks of medication, and observation by me, I knew she was deaf but it was too late. I was very attached to Cricket. It would of been easier to surrender my left arm than this dog. I finally said it "Yes, she's deaf, yes she's mine and yes I'm keeping her. How to train a deaf dog.....this is a big question. No answers to a big question. I didn't know where to start. Obviously hand signals, right? What are hand signals? When I trained Harley, I trained him with hand as well as voice commands. Easy? Yes, the basics anyway. Cricket caught on very fast. Seeing Harley knew the signals Cricket just followed. Dalmatians are such smart dogs. Cricket now knows hand commands for sit, stay, come, down. She has also learned hello, no, go see, and walk or outside. We are working now on commands for mom, dad, Harley, and fetch. I have read that many teach their deaf dogs American sign language. How? This means I would have to learn it too. The last thing I want to do is confuse the dog. So I have been making up my own signals. Is this good? I don't know. I have read as long as you are consistent it doesn't matter what the hand signals are. Her big brother.....is what we call Harley. I believe he knows she is deaf. He takes care of her. Harley is one smart dog. I started training him from day one. He was just 8 weeks when I brought him home. One of his favorite games is fetch. He was taught to fetch specific toys. Fetch ball, fetch bone, fetch rope. So when I asked him one day to "fetch Cricket" he knew. When they are out in the yard, and I call him to "fetch Cricket" he will run to her, tag her with his nose to get her attention and then he comes to me. Most of the time she follows. Once she sees me anyway. This is another problem. You can teach a deaf dog all the commands in the world, but if they won't look at you your hand commands are useless. There are times I stood throwing snowballs trying to get her attention. Yes, most of the time she obeys me, when she can see the hand commands. There are also stories on the internet about vibrating collars. What a wonderful idea. A remote collar that would get the dogs attention so you could deliver the hand command. Where do you get these? I have found no such thing. I have found electric collars or shock collars and some have used these with great success. But they are expensive. Do I really want to shock my dog? When you really think about it, do you want to rely on a collar? So many things can go wrong here. Batteries worn out, or the collar breaks, or just quits working or it gets lost. And once the dog is trained with a collar and the collar is gone can you replace it? If you can't find another collar what will you do? The dog will live maybe 15 years. Will a collar last that long? I feel the best thing is to get the dog to depend on you and to respond to you. How smart is Cricket? I would say it takes 3 to 4 days for her to learn a hand sign. Harley is a big help here. If I didn't have him it would take much longer. She relies on Harley to be her ears. It is hard to explain, but anyone with two dogs and one is deaf will understand. She will bark when she sees him bark. These dogs sleep together. She is always touching him when she is sleeping. If he moves she wakes up and looks around to make sure everything is OK. Cricket is also very sensitive to vibration. Inside the house stomping on the floor is how I can get her attention. I stomp my foot twice and she knows to look at me. Food rewards work also. Those first couple of weeks we watched for any signs that Cricket had some hearing. Loud noises she responded to. Low base sounds she responded to. But this is only through vibration. Friends and family have said "I'm sure she heard that" but she is deaf. And yes, I've tried dog whistles and other devices. Cricket is also very sight oriented. She see's things most don't see. It took me a month of observing her and watching closely to realize what she sees. To see someone walk into a room is one thing, but Cricket knows when you are coming most of the time. She will first sense vibration. Then she will see shadows and light movement. Or objects that move. For instance, plants or curtains. Which brings up to something new. If things are moving around her for any length of time and she doesn't know why, she can become upset. Example: Large vehicles or noisy vehicles outside. She will sense vibration and run to the window to "see". If she can't see what the noise is, she will do a tour of the house and become confused if she finds nothing. I have read that owners of deaf dogs have similar trouble during rain and thunder storms. The vibration from thunder can be very frightening. It is still winter here so I'll be waiting to see how Cricket responds to her first thunder storm. Wind, curtains blowing in the breeze from an open window can cause concern. Leaves outside blowing or something like a piece of plastic bag caught on a fence can send her into a barking frenzy. Being outside at night is also hard. I think Cricket might be afraid of the dark. I am afraid of the dark. She becomes upset at night outside, and barks at anything that moves. Most of the time her own shadow. We are trying to correct this problem. And all this I have learned after only 2 months? What's to come I'm not sure. I am desperate for any information I can get on deaf dogs. I have even started to research deaf children. There is more information on deaf humans than deaf dogs. And you can relate much of it to animals. Sounds silly, but it is a very interesting subject. I have read stories of deaf humans owning deaf dogs. They seem to communicate better than most hearing companions. To finish up this part of Crickets story I'd like to say I never thought I could handle a deaf dog. But I have been at it for 2 months now. Cricket has taught me much more than I have taught her. We are learning together. Update for November, 2004 In the year 2000 we bought some property at a lake. It's a lovely wooded lake side 1 acre lot that we have fenced just for the dogs. Both Harley and Cricket love spending sunny days lounging on the cottage porch and chasing chipmunks and squirrels when the mood gets them. We have also found that both Dals are great swimmers although Cricket hates being cold. She will run and play in the water, but then immediately want's to be wrapped in a towel. We visit the local fire station and there is nothing Cricket loves more than being surrounded by children. Cricket loves everyone she meets and has earned the nickname "Lickit". She loves giving kisses to anyone that will let her get close to their face. She is very healthy heading to her senior years other than the eye problem. I have no history of her breeding as she is adopted and I worry about her hips and arthritis and all those age related issues. For the most part she's getting on great. Stay tuned for another update...... Cricket's Mom |
