My 12.75 year old GSDxTimber Wolf female is losing her hearing. I have noticed this gradually over the last few months and it inspired me to write a blog that addresses hearing loss awareness for your beloved canine.

When a healthy dog that possesses fully functioning hearing, it is very reactive to its environment. Such a dog would show response to sharp sounds and/or movements with immediate attention via a movement of either or both of it’s ears and eyes towards the source of the sound(s). This should happen even if the dog is focused on something else; unless, of course, it is a well trained Schutzhund dog. I digress. Anyways, when a dog shows a weakening response to sounds or shows no response at all, these may be signs that a dog is going deaf.

What can cause deafness?

Much like with us humans, it is usually the result of natural aging. It can also be signs of an ear infection or other illness. In rare cases, it can be from frequent exposure to very loud noises. However, dogs have a natural protective reflex in their ears to protect their hearing from sudden sharp, loud noises, ie. barking. This leads most to identify causation of deafness as linked to some other element to produce this result.

Hearing loss can lead to a variety of misbehaviors such as barking at unknown or irrational things that we do not notice, or barking at shadows, strange noises. Sometimes dogs just appear to be lazy, which is a common complaint or excuse of the owner of a senior canine as the aging dog shows less ‘concern’ for noises. However the most common behavior problem is general mis-obedience. Please be patient with a disobedient dog and pay attention to clues as to why a dog would want to be disobedient. It would be unfair to get short tempered with a dog that does not listen to your commands because of hearing loss. Unfortunately, this does happen.

Testing your dog’s hearing responsiveness

Try some of the following:
-Call your dog from a far distance.
-Snap your fingers to the side of their heads with your hand just outside of their range of vision and your eyes staring at their eyes and ears.
-Make unfamiliar noises that should spark a reaction.

With a dog that has healthy hearing, a reaction to any of these tests should happen immediately. Though, reactions may differ in behavior from dog to dog. It is best if the owner already knows how their dog would normally respond to any of these sounds to determine a lack of response. It must also be noted that a zero response may be due to a lack of interest as well, which is why the calling may not always work. So, make sure to do all 3 of the tests because the closer and sharp noises are essential tests.

Ears that do not react to sounds are another telling sign that something may be off with your dog’s hearing. Ears on a dog will twitch, rotate and move around towards various sounds and noises, even while asleep. If this does not happen, even at the sound of another dog’s bark, it may be another sign that your dog is going deaf.

With the case of my senior wolf-hybrid, Angie, she is at the point where she seems tired often and a lower responsiveness is noted in greater intensity with each passing month. Though she still responds to noises outside, barking dogs or her name, she is well on her way to becoming 100% deaf. I am confident that with her it is due to her age mostly and I did speak with my veterinarian to have my suspicions confirmed. It is important to talk with a veterinarian at the first signs, in case it may be a preventable condition. In our case with Angie, she is simply aged and high in years, so just leaving her be may is probably the best medicine.

I joined the sport of Schutzhund only 3 years ago (summer 2007) without a dog capable of competing in the sport. I did have two 9 year old GSDs, though, as I always have had dogs throughout my life. However, the freedom allowed me to learn alot- by helping experienced handlers in exchange for asking questions. I would attend all of the Championship events and found the days leading up to trial were the best times to be ‘of use’ to the competitors. I offered to do run-outs, escapes, hold lines or electronic training collars, and lay tracks… Basically, I was up to do anything that gave me experience and allowed me some 1 on 1 time with the competitors.

In the early, early days, I learned very common methods for schutzhund training which included using food or (mostly) toys to get my dog to do exercises. It mostly involved baiting the dog with a schutzhund ball hidden under my armpit (healing) or under my chin (fronts). However, I secretly questioned this baiting method for months while practicing it. But I did not have access to any other training methods or knowledge except those that wanted to force the exercises through compulsion, which I did not agree with. And so, the gimmick play continued and I used ball baiting techniques to teach everything with my boy BlackJack. It did work- I was able to achieve High BH in my first ever trial in July of 2008 (1 year into Schutzhund). I was proud of my accomplishments, but still had a growing belief that my training was risky and I was following my dog down a road of a false sense of accomplishment. My dog was not working for me… rather for the ball, and his attention was clearly on it, not me, nor the exercise at hand.

The next two years of training was when this training style really began to show how it can fail and secured my thinking that it was probably NOT how the top trainers in the world currently train dogs.

This is not to argue against the use of food or toy in training. Indeed, they do play a very important role as a reward. However, I am now of the belief that food and toys should never be used as the only means to attracting attention or attracting the dog to work.

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In our area there are alot of ticks in the fields this year. For those that participate in tracking training, you should be inspecting the entire coat of your dog following every track. Here is what a tick looks like:

Deikart is a 9 month old (born Sept 2, 2009) full-black male GSD. I will allow him to settle in with me for 4 weeks to build a bond and then start training with him for the sport of Schutzhund. At the writing of this post I have had Deikart in my possession for only 3 days. Not much to say, but alot to discover! That’s the beauty of this journey… He is a blank slate right now and by the looks of his drives, he shows to be eager to learn.

Happy Training everyone!

Treat me kindly, my beloved friend, for no heart in all the world is more grateful for kindness than the loving heart of mine.
Do not break my spirit with a stick, for though I should lick your hand between blows, your patience and understanding will more quickly teach me the things you would have me learn.
Speak to me often, for your voice is the world’s sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footstep falls upon my waiting ear.
Please take me inside when it is cold and wet, for I am a domesticated animal, no longer accustomed to bitter elements. I ask no greater glory than the privilege of sitting at your feet beside the hearth.
Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst.
Feed me clean food that I may stay well, to romp and play and do your bidding, to walk by your side, and stand ready, willing and able to protect you with my life, should your life be in danger.
And, my friend, when I am very old, and I no longer enjoy good health, hearing and sight, do not make heroic efforts to keep me going. I am not having any fun. Please see that my trusting life is taken gently. I shall leave this earth knowing with the last breath I draw that my fate was always safest in your hands.

House of G’s Drago 21.10.2001 to 25.5.2010

I have been receiving a lot of interest in my canine coaching services requesting classes or boarding and training services. Since I am a premiere performance coach, I do not offer these services. I coach other dog trainers and dedicated owners how to better communicate with their canine companions. I am not a dog ‘whisperer’ as some would like to call, rather I use proven scientific training methods resulting from many hours of experiments and research originating in high level animal training, animal behaviour science and mostly from the field of animal psychology. If you are unsure of the format of training that you require, use the contact form on my website to get in touch with me. I will respond and suggest whether my program is appropriate or not and if not, I do have a network of reliable and proven service providers for the needed regiment of training.