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Hello! For those of you who don't know, I am Hayden and I have a deaf Border Collie/Aussie mix (Pinkman) who does agility, obedience, therapy work and service task work, and a new deafblind Aussie puppy (currently unnamed) who is a therapy dog prospect. Those of you who DO know that have asked me a ton of really cool questions about us and our training processes, so I decided to make a megathread for videos, questions, and updates.
Training a deaf dog:
For all of my dogs I do positive reinforcement training. The only difference with Pinkie is that the cues are visual. I use one-handed versions of standard ASL signs with her because ASL is my primary language, but your cues can really be anything you want.
Because she can't hear a clicker, we use a "thumbs up" signal as our click. I actually like this WAY better than a clicker because you always have it with you and immediately available if you want to mark a spontaneous good behavior, and you can't lose it! I will never use an actual clicker again, even with my hearing dogs.
Here are some of Pinkman's tricks! We try to learn a new trick every week or so. I have to get them all recorded and uploaded! If you want to know how I trained a specific trick please ask!
Shake
Go on a vacation!
This article has some of her agility and basic obedience at the bottom, as well as more about Pinkie!
Deafblind Dog Training:
So obviously this is a little harder and we've just started. My biggest obstacle so far has been marking spontaneous desired behavior. I need to get a "clicker" and "no" command for her and my thumbs up and ASL "NO" won't work. I am leaning towards two taps on the head = "good girl!" and one snout tap means "no."
We did learn how to sit yesterday and walk on a leash today. For sit, I tapped her little booty once and when she sat she got turkey. She is incredibly food motivated and maybe the smartest dog I've ever worked with, so this took like 3 or 4 five-minute sessions to nail. Walking on a leash was harder because she has to trust I won't run her into scary stuff. We started off in the same place, I'd pet her, take a big step, tug the leash, and pet her when she made it back to my feet. Gradually moved to stepping in different directions each time, then increased the distance until we were able to walk up and down the beach together. She is going to have a KILLER heel in a few months! I will get some video later this week!
Oh! We have also been doing a TON of desensitization work, but she is so chill. Nothing scares her. I brought her out in my coat to feed the horses and she didn't even blink when she smelled them or they licked her. Hope that stays!
Obviously all my little nuggets are works in progress, but I love training dogs and I love the challenge of adapting to their unique needs. If you all are interested, I can post some stuff about working with the various other dogs in my life, including my pitty mix and the herd at my mom's sanctuary.
Training a deaf dog:
For all of my dogs I do positive reinforcement training. The only difference with Pinkie is that the cues are visual. I use one-handed versions of standard ASL signs with her because ASL is my primary language, but your cues can really be anything you want.
Because she can't hear a clicker, we use a "thumbs up" signal as our click. I actually like this WAY better than a clicker because you always have it with you and immediately available if you want to mark a spontaneous good behavior, and you can't lose it! I will never use an actual clicker again, even with my hearing dogs.
Here are some of Pinkman's tricks! We try to learn a new trick every week or so. I have to get them all recorded and uploaded! If you want to know how I trained a specific trick please ask!
Shake
Go on a vacation!
This article has some of her agility and basic obedience at the bottom, as well as more about Pinkie!
Deafblind Dog Training:
So obviously this is a little harder and we've just started. My biggest obstacle so far has been marking spontaneous desired behavior. I need to get a "clicker" and "no" command for her and my thumbs up and ASL "NO" won't work. I am leaning towards two taps on the head = "good girl!" and one snout tap means "no."
We did learn how to sit yesterday and walk on a leash today. For sit, I tapped her little booty once and when she sat she got turkey. She is incredibly food motivated and maybe the smartest dog I've ever worked with, so this took like 3 or 4 five-minute sessions to nail. Walking on a leash was harder because she has to trust I won't run her into scary stuff. We started off in the same place, I'd pet her, take a big step, tug the leash, and pet her when she made it back to my feet. Gradually moved to stepping in different directions each time, then increased the distance until we were able to walk up and down the beach together. She is going to have a KILLER heel in a few months!
I will get some video later this week!Oh! We have also been doing a TON of desensitization work, but she is so chill. Nothing scares her. I brought her out in my coat to feed the horses and she didn't even blink when she smelled them or they licked her. Hope that stays!
Obviously all my little nuggets are works in progress, but I love training dogs and I love the challenge of adapting to their unique needs. If you all are interested, I can post some stuff about working with the various other dogs in my life, including my pitty mix and the herd at my mom's sanctuary.
