The OH has just put in an adoption request for a little 1 year old spaniel, who is deaf. She all ready knows a few hand signals etc. (the dog not the OH)

Just wondered if anyone else has or has had a deaf dog, and how was it to train/live with?

I know it is a big commitment and we both really want to give it a great, active home where she can learn and be happy.

Any tips on what to do? anything we can get? (if all goes through that is…. fingers crossed)

We had a totally deaf Great Dane puppy that we rescued when I was a kid.
Had it far about a year before we were able to rehome it. The deafness was the least troublesome and most manageable bit of having a Great Dane charging about the house.

Our friends have just got a Great Dane, they are having all sorts of problems with it. I think it is one breed I would never get, they just seem big and dopey.

PP, so a dog being deaf would not put you off adopting it? Just it being a Great Dane would? 😉

All things being equal, it wouldn’t put me off at all. Dogs pick up huge amounts of information from body posture anyway. They cope remarkably well with deafness. You just need to occasionally stamp the floor or throw stuff at them to get their attention. The upside is that they don’t go mental at every noise they hear.

I’d think twice about another Dane though. 😀

One of our hounds was deaf in his later years, his brother was blind but you’d hardly have noticed they both coped well. Dogs respond really well to hand signals.

My Spaniel has selective deafness whenever there’s the scent of a rabbit around….