[rgmallory]

My dog Comet, Cocker spaniel, has had a lot of medical issues. To make his list short I will say he has a thyroid problem & has to take pills everyday for the rest of his life. He also gets chronic ear infections, which means ear medication.

He is now deaf, how do I take care of him? Cuz putting him down (mum said that) is NOT AN OPTION!!! I hand picked him from a litter of 1 week old puppies & saw him once a month till he could come home with us. He is my baby! What do I do to make him more comftable & for him to understand what I want? Also, for me to wake him up in the morning without him freaking out.

I know vibrations are suppose to work, but it doesnt for him, unless he is laying on my bed or the sofa & one of the other dogs jumps on it or near it.

His eyesight is great for an almost 12 year old dog.

Again, WHAT DO I DO??

 

[Holly]

Well, hand signals would be good and he's not too old to learn them. As for waking him up, I always had that issue with our last dog and I have no real advice except to go slowly and watch your face so that he doesn't get startled and bite you.

As for his ears, do they hurt? Can your vet prescribe pain meds if they do? Are you still cleaning them? If your mum wanted to put him to sleep then this is probably not an option, but a surgery called a TECA can be performed if you can't get the ear issues under control and, if he's already deaf, there would be no concern of hearing loss.

 

[Rain]

Maybe wake him by waving a really smelly treat, like a small piece of mean, near his nose.

A deaf dog can be taught, I agree with Holly that you should use hand signals to retrain him what he once knew. You'll also need to get him looking to you and keeping his attention focused on you so he knows what you want. A watch me command is great for that. You can probably use a small flash light in place of a clicker to let him know that he did the right thing.

Don't give up, don't over baby him, and don't let him know if you feel sorry for him. My dog went completely blind back in Nov. and one of the hardest lessons for me to learn was to let him figure stuff out for himself and not run and rescue him.

I'd work on retraining him, and show your mom how well he still learns and obeys you.

Just like my dog adjusted to his blindness yours will adjust to his deafness if he's given a chance.

 

[crock]

Deafdogs.org has some resources.
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[Dawnben]

This is the only thing that worked for my dogs ears. I used the treatment and after 5 years of ear infections its been over a year since he had one. Read the instructions under treating infection in the article. Pellitol ointment is under a new name its called recalitol and can be purchased through this co. Recalitol | Same active ingredients as Pellitol
It was wonderful to finally find something that worked and was soothing while it worked. If you have trouble ordering it your vet can order it for you.
Chronic Ear Infections in Canine - Whole Dog Journal Article