In two weeks, my home will be dogless. Anyone who “knows” me on here knows that I can’t live without a dog. (Don’t worry, my dog is fine. My parents will be permanently moving to their house and she is more bonded with them so she is going with them. While I am sad, it is what is best for her to cause her the least amount of anxiety.)
So, of course, I’ve been browsing through rescues and there is an absolutely beautiful dog that seems to fit into our house perfectly. He is, however, completely deaf and I have no experience with a deaf dog.
I have not met him yet and will not put in an app to meet with him and the rescue until I’m sure we can provide an adequate home for him. I will have a very hard time walking away if they deem us a good match because I just can’t so no to a dog. I know myself well enough for that.
He is a young (less than 3 years old) american bulldog mix and is in a foster home with dogs and kids and is doing very well.
So… any experience with deaf dogs? I should note that I have been around rescue dogs my whole life and am comfortable with dogs that need special care.
Yes, our dogs are mostly deaf, except for hearing high pitched noises. You just keep a close rein on them near cars, don’t let them out anywhere loose, and depend upon hand signals. For us, no big deal, we’re used to deaf dogs. We’re also used to our dogs not being too bright!
No experience, but going to recommend checking Dogster if no CCers have experience with deaf dogs. Generally, animals adapt better than humans to compensate for the missing senses.
Oh… my… gosh you can’t show me a picture/story like that and say “no”!
No, we just don’t have the money for 5 (for now…)
The other hang-up that we’re having is that he is about double the size we were going for. He is nearly 100 lb and we were hoping to get a 40-60 lb dog.
But his face and story… this is why I can’t go on Petfinder or go to adoption things until I’m ready to take one home that day.
I have had a giant breed dog before and she was wonderful. We definitely have the space and capacity for one but I think I’m a little gun shy after not being able to help giant dog up and down the stairs and car towards the end of her life due to her size. That is literally my only hang-up. Mr. R doesn’t care about the size (though neither of us want a little dog).
You both have put my fears to rest. Whether we attempt to adopt deaf doggie or not will have nothing to do with his deafness. Our dogs are never outside without a leash (unless in our fenced-in backyard) and I can’t really think of any other situations where it might be an issue.
Being partially deaf myself, I do understand some of the struggles.
I am with busdiver - 100 lb is a lot of dog to manage. Our GSD was about 110. When his back went out, I was home alone. It was a frightening experience - not being able to get him into the car. I sat on the ground and cried - it was too late to call anyone for help. If we get another dog, he will be a smaller breed.
Romani, there are zillions of dogs needing homes. If you “can’t say no” to a dog – is your husband more discerning?
Because I can tell you from experience: sometimes you have to pass up several dogs that are just not good fits for you on the way to finding “the one”-- but he special one is out there and will be found.
Many years ago my kids and I were pound-shopping, and my daughter and I were ready to adopt a border collie mix, but my son didn’t like her because the dog was just too hyper. So we put the dog on hold at the pound for 24 hours, and when we came back we found a much better match – an aussie mix who was the sweetest dog ever-- and much, much calmer. We had missed seeing her because the dog had been taken out to an adoption event the previous day, but fortunately not adopted – we were told she was the “pound favorite” and it was easy to see why.
So I’ve always been grateful to my son for his ability to think things through-- I’m sure that if we had adopted hyper dog we would have had all sorts of house training and behavior issues that would have been beyond our ability to handle, so the more mellow dog was a much better fit.
The deafness isn’t really the issue - it’s the fit that is much more important. I prefer adopting from the pound because they have more dogs I can be meeting at once, so I think that overcomes the factor of feeling obligated to take a particular dog.
After the aussie mix passed, my kids were grown and I went to the pound to check things out, and the perfect dog for me was waiting right there. I was just going to “look” and was definitely looking for an adult dog --and instead I went home with an 8 month old puppy – but she was the sweetest dog ever and a perfect match. But she also seemed lonely so 6 months later I decided to get her a companion, and that took several weeks and multiple visits before we found the one. (“We” because companion-shopping meant that dog #1 came with me to meet dog #2.)
So I would simply encourage you to try to make decisions after visiting – not based on online descriptions – and don’t feel obligated to take the first dog you see. Or perhaps rather than adopting right away, you can sign up with the rescue organization to foster? That way you can have a chance to get to know your canine companion for awhile, and also you might get a better sense of what type of dog (personality wise) is a good fit for your home and current lifestyle.
Deafness or other doggie disabilities are only factors to consider after you’ve done the personality match-- and of course it needs to be a good fit for both of you.
I have a friend who’s dog became deaf as he aged. The problem they had was that the more hearing their dog lost, the more he would bark. It became a real problem with their neighbors.
My big dog was deaf the last few years of her life. We used hand signals to get her to come and blinking the outside lights at night to get her attention. But she was old already and obviously way past needing any training. She actually barked much less then usual as she couldn’t hear when the mailman came or the doorbell rang.
I do apologize @calmom as my OP was not as clear as I meant it to be. When I said that we were a good match, I meant on both ends and that we would be perfect for each other if not for the deaf issue (which doesn’t seem to be an issue at all).
And just to be clear, there are a few dogs that are on my radar. I just meant when I find the great fit one, I will have a hard time walking away. Does that make sense?
When we adopted our next-to-last dog, we went to the shelter for almost a month before we found the perfect one. And perfect she was! (This was the GSD/Rottie mix.)
We’ve been a foster family many times over and I understand the matching process well. This will be our baby for the next decade (fingers crossed!) and I want to make sure she’s a good fit. One of the most important things for us right now is good with kids because this will be the doggie that we have when Romani Jr comes along (hopefully).
I guess I’m confused by this statement in your OP: “I have not met him yet”.
I can’t imagine figuring out doggie-fit without first meeting the dog and having an opportunity to interact and play. The shelters around here have play rooms and play yards set aside to give the dogs and prospective owners a chance to get to know one another.
It’s not just a matter of what the dogs current caretakers observe: it is how the dog interacts and responds to you and Mr. R. I think there are all sorts of unknowns there that can’t be determined without meeting the dog.
We haven’t met yet. This is if we meet and if we’re a good match.
There may be a whole slew of other reasons why we wouldn’t be a good fit. I haven’t even submitted an app yet because I wanted to get experiences with deaf dogs before even starting the process of potentially adding him to our family.
I think that deaf dogs need homes as much as any other – but there might be factors about your home or your lifestyle that could impact whether the deafness could cause problems for you. For example, my home has a nice fenced back yard, but access is through a side door – not directly into the yard. When the dogs are playing in the yard, I can’t see them from the door- it’s nice that I can just go to the door and call them – or often, they will come just when they hear me open the door. I wouldn’t want to have to walk outside every time I needed to get my dog’s attention.
My last dog went blind later in her life, and she did ok, but I needed to retrain myself to deal with a blind dog. For example, I needed to learn to give verbal directions and warnings when taking her out for a walk on leash-- she’d trip over curbs and bump into posts if I didn’t tell her to watch out. She also became hard of hearing as she aged – I don’t think she was ever totally deaf, but I do think the last year of her life was tough.
Maybe you need 2 dogs. If you adopt the deaf dog, you can get a second hearing dog to be his helper.
I think it’s easier for a dog who becomes deaf over many years…with the same owners and the same home. We have had two such pooches. They were familiar with our house and yard, and us. They just didn’t respond when we spoke to them…but it all happened gradually.
I think it would be more difficult for a pooch moving into a new home where there is less familiarity.
I think it’s wonderful that you want to adopt a dog, but I would suggest thinking carefully about this. It will definitely take more effort and care…and time…than a dog who can hear (and see).
Yes, that’s it! A hearing guide doggie for the deaf dog.
Our dog was not deaf, but he was unmoved by loud sounds. He could totally sleep through the neighbors’ blasting of illegal firecrackers. The only thing that got him excited were the fireworks that exploded in the sky - he thought they were some sort of aliens trying to descend into our yard and needed to be scared off.
You people keep tempting me with multiple dogs!! Mr. R is going to wake up one day to a house with like 6 dogs… and he probably won’t even bat an eyelash lol.
We have our current doggie on hand signals and she hears perfectly fine (when she wants to… )
Yes, definitely something to think about @thumper1.
Again, this is just something that we’re thinking about. There are definitely a few other doggies that we’re looking at, too, but I just wanted to get some info from people who had been there.
It might be that we wait until we’re a little bit more experienced and have some more money in case we do need to get pup professional help. We definitely have the funds now if needed- I wouldn’t get a dog unless I could afford proper care for her- but I don’t want to bring on extra costs necessarily if there’s another family that can absorb it more readily.
Plus Mr. R made a really good point about size (you can tell which of us is more practical when it comes to dogs…)- our car won’t comfortably hold a dog of that size. It can definitely fit a big dog but not comfortably and not if we wanted to have any one else in the back. We’re hoping to have pup ride around with us quite often because I want her to spend time with us in Ann Arbor, which is definitely outside of walking distance.
We had the aussie-mix trained for hand signals – it was funny because each family member had different signals and she knew them all… but of course we coudn’t use those any more after she went blind.
And I think Mr. R. is right… size matters in a lot of ways.
If you adopt the deaf dog, you can get a second hearing dog to be his helper. 
Mr. R is going to wake up one day to a house with like 6 dogs… and he probably won’t even bat an eyelash lol.
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