I am so impressed

[MyDaneBaby]

I've had an interesting week getting used to the differences between a hearing & non-hearing dog. In fact I'm now starting to sign my hearing dog walk puppies (dork).

Anyhoo, for the last 4 days she's gotten pretty good about going to the door, which is wonderful. She has a loose stool which seems to make her forget the door & I saw her start to spin (she's obvious when she goes to poop) and I signed potty at her & she bolted across the house to the door. I haven't been able to tell up till this point if all my thumbs up (good) and wiggling fist (sign langage T) were making any sense to her, but I guess they are.

Wow.

Mitch

In Memory of Gabe (left), Elliott (middle) & Gus (right). Three boys that touched my heart and won't be forgotten.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...l3inspring.jpg

[Emily]

RE: I am so impressed

How cute. Do you make a "mean face" when she's in trouble?

I bet you just end up laughing at what she's done.... :P

[MyDaneBaby]

RE: I am so impressed

She spends more time looking down than up so my mean faces are falling on deaf ears (ha ha I made a funny).

I spend more time laughing at her zoomies, I'm surprised she hasn't gotten a concussion or broken bone yet, she runs into everything.

Mitch

In Memory of Gabe (left), Elliott (middle) & Gus (right). Three boys that touched my heart and won't be forgotten.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...l3inspring.jpg

[Mongo]

RE: I am so impressed

Mitch, have you had her eye sight checked out?
(being a white and all.....)

Randa

[MyDaneBaby]

RE: I am so impressed

So far she sees well except in bright sunlight. A vet looked at them and said they had starbursts?. I'll have them tested when she's a bit older since I'm assuming they will change.

Mitch

In Memory of Gabe (left), Elliott (middle) & Gus (right). Three boys that touched my heart and won't be forgotten.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...l3inspring.jpg

[Mongo]

RE: I am so impressed

I ask because the pic you posted looked like her left pupil was off center, but it just may be the pic. She may not be looking at the floor as much as you think.
Here's a great link-
http://www.ashgi.org/color/eyedefects.htm

You may want to practice very exaggerated hand signals and doing tapping signals (like two on the right shoulder for sit) for leash work later.

Randa

[MyDaneBaby]

RE: I am so impressed

Looks just like that starburst one. She see's upward fine, just usually looking down I think to avoid tripping :-).

Mitch

In Memory of Gabe (left), Elliott (middle) & Gus (right). Three boys that touched my heart and won't be forgotten.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...l3inspring.jpg

[Aggie]

RE: I am so impressed

Sounds like you are farther along with the potty than we are. Ruthie is not having many accidents, but its purely timing- if she feels the urge, she doesn't yet care where she is. Maybe a little, but not much. Doing better with the manners though, and she's got sit, down, and watch in that order or reliability.

[ElleWoodsMommy]

RE: I am so impressed

We want to meet your babies!!!! Elle and I went to the beach today... it was wonderfullll... Of course there is SNOW in the forecast for this weekend (I will cry. Seriously. There will be tears.), but next week you'll have to come meet us. Elle even went for a swim!

[MyDaneBaby]

RE: I am so impressed

I would love it. I don't have too much going on that weekend.

Mitch

In Memory of Gabe (left), Elliott (middle) & Gus (right). Three boys that touched my heart and won't be forgotten.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...l3inspring.jpg

[T]

RE: I am so impressed

Aggie,
I know you live in Buffalo right? I wonder if our boys could ever meet?!
T

[Aggie]

RE: I am so impressed

We have a 6 year old boy and a 10 week old girl. We go play at the psych center, Delaware park, Gallagher beach, Squaw Island, and lots of other spots. I'd be happy to meet up with one or both depending on your pooch's age. Email or PM me sometime when you want. Might be best once things dry out a bit more.

[blueberry]

RE: I am so impressed

Hi, We rescued a deaf white female about 18 months ago, (Lily is 7 now) and although she knew about 4 or 5 signs when she came to live with us, we also had to learn to sign. I'm not sure how many signs she knows now, but there aren't any verbal instructions we give that don't have signs, so I guess she must know quite a few!!.

We didn't realise how much we already signed with our boy (Floyd, blue, 4/18/98 - 12/23/06), just gesturing to him as we spoke to him, so the transition wasn't too difficult.

Lily has the most beautiful blue eyes, with starbursts. She can see very well, but she also has ectropia in both eyes and her third eyelids come up over the bottom third of her eyes, so we have to ensure that when we sign to her, our hands are above her eyes. We had them checked out by an opthamologist, who told us that she could fix the ectropian, but the third eyelid issue would most likely create more problems than it fixed as it's a muscle, so we elected not to operate at this time.

As long as we keep her eyes clean she has no issues with them, but we will do the surgery if the condition worsens. She is so good at responding to hand signing that few people even know she's deaf. And we've got so apept at signing and speaking at the same time that we unintentionally taught our new pup (8 month blue male, Finn) to respond to hand signing, too.

Good luck with your girl, there is just something about the level of trust you get with a deaf dog that makes your heart melt.

PS. Lily definitely know a 'mean look' when she sees one, and deliberately closes her eyes or looks away so she can play innocent!!