Deaf dog training

[LeslieJones]

Hi!  I have a Jack Russell terrier mix that I rescued who is deaf.  He is 4 yrs. old and very sweet natured.  He is food aggressive and treat aggressive with other dogs but never with humans.  I recently adopted 2 female chocolate lab puppies who are 16 weeks old.  They play well with Jack and are submissive to him.  Lately he has begun attacking one of them.  At first I thought it was because I was petting the puppy.  But it is happening when I'm not around.  Any ideas?

[Adrienne]

Hi Leslie, welcome to the forums,

Ouch,  in general when a dog is food aggressive and treat aggressive, problems tend to only get worse when other dogs are added to the home. This is because these dogs are highly stressed unless the situation is very well managed as they have a strong need to feel safe and secure. Being deaf is an aggravating factor since deaf dogs may not be able to detect when other dogs approach and they may get easily startled and react more readily especially if there is food around. 

Two young puppies with little social boundaries added into the home are also a recipe for problems especially if the situation isn't managed well and the dogs are left together unsupervised. Training all of them is very important because left to their own devices, it sounds like an accident ready to happen. 

I would therefore recommend being very, very careful. Puppies and JRT mix must have their own separated feeding areas. When training, they will also need to be trained in a separated area especially when you are using treats. 

When together, they must be always carefully supervised and the puppies shouldn't be allowed to bother your older dog when he is tired, trying to relax or simply asking to be left alone. Many deaf dogs have strong startle responses when sleeping.

Keep play sessions short and fun. It would be best not giving the pups any attention in your JRT's presence as that can aggravate things.  It is also imperative watching for signs of your JRT mix getting stressed:

 https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dogs-dont-bite-blue/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/signs-fear-stress-dogs/

I hope you have prepared areas so that you can easily allow separation (baby gates/exercise pens/crates or areas for tethering.) With two puppies of the same age, you will also have your hands full because they will need individualized training due to their tendency to bond strongly to one another. This is something that requires lots of commitment and is a full-time job. You can read some information about this here:

In regards to the attack, it is difficult to say what may have happened since you weren't there. It could be the JRT was simply correcting the puppy or he is stressed. It could be the puppy go too close to something he was protecting. It could be he got startled, it could he is not very happy of these pups' arrival in the home and waited to attack when you were not around. I would suggest never leaving them alone as so many things can go wrong. It's important to always closely supervise.

Fundamental is preventing rehearsal of the problem behavior. The more a dog gets to "attack", the more it is likely for the behavior to become-habit forming. It would be important training a strong response to a cue that stops your JRT mix in his tracks at the earliest signs of things deteriorating to get his attention on you. For non-deaf dogs it could be a "leave it" or smacking sound, with deaf dogs, it could be the use of a vibration collar (not a shock collar, just a collar the vibrates made for deaf dogs).

The vibrate would tell your JRT to come to you immediately for a treat, but since he's prone to guarding food, you would need to take him to a separated area away from the pups (like in a crate that you close once he's in, in the yard or in another room) to deliver it so he could eat in peace without stress. I suggest working along with a dog behavior professional for in-person guidance on how to use a vibration collar properly and obtain a strong conditioned response to use when needed. 

Puppies can wear a short house line or leash tab (short handle that attaches to a collar) so that you can redirect them to a separate area if they are interacting in inappropriate ways. This "time-out" is not punishment, it's just to redirect them and give them a place to individually chill where they can chew on chew toys and possibly nap. Puppies can get nippy and misbehave a lot when they are tired and cranky. 

If problems persist,  I would emphasize the importance of working along with a dog behavior consultant using force-free behavior modification to identify the exact triggers that cause the attacks. 

Hope this helps,

Best,

Adrienne 

Disclaimer: If your dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping, biting) for safety, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques for direct in-person guidance. Articles, videos and general info found in the forums or course (or any online source) are not meant to replace in-person training/instruction. By using this course and forum, you are waiving any liability claims or other type of claims related to any dogs' behavior against you or others

 

[DENENE MILLER]

 I really enjoy all the info and time you put into making this course, it has helped me a lot with my other two dogs that can hear.  But How come you don’t offer more advice on tips for deaf dogs in each section or course or offer any advice on hand signals or any more of any thing in this whole course about deaf dogs???? That is the only thing this training program is missing.  I’ve been suggesting this program to everyone I know and showed them some of the cool things my dogs can do now and they are amazed so much they have gotten them selfs a membership so now it’s become a competitionbetween all of us and our dogs…. But I am now loosing cuz one of my dogs hasn’t passed elementary class yet.  So if you could help me on the deaf training for this program I’m sure it will help a lot of people also. Thanks for reading this and for making this program so easy for normal hearing dogs.. and us humans. 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there! Welcome to the forums,

It's great to hear that you are all working as a team and embracing the challenges all together! 

To answer your question, as the course was being built, we found we couldn't cover all the basis in the general course considering there are so many variables to factor in, blind dogs, deaf dogs, tripod dogs, older dogs, fearful dogs, owners with specific situations/challenges etc.  So we decided to make the course general and then create a forum to cover all the rest. So you are at the right place! 

The obedience 101 section has actually many built-in cues that use already hand gestures. For a deaf dog, of course, you would stick to those hand gestures rather than fading them/adding a verbal cue. 

Please let me know what exercise you are struggling with, we can troubleshoot and find a solution. 

This post below has some guidelines/tips for some foundational exercises:

 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Forgot to mention: if you want to do clicker training, you can replace the clicker with a flashlight or they now made a 'flicker" which is a clicker for deaf dogs. 

[DENENE MILLER]

On 3/30/2022 at 6:33 PM, Adrienne Farricelli said:

Forgot to mention: if you want to do clicker training, you can replace the clicker with a flashlight or they now made a 'flicker" which is a clicker for deaf dogs. 

Yes I have them also I ordered a bulk package and just received them.  
 

but on the part I’m having troubles with are like targeting… so when I give the hand signal for target he keeps coming to touch my hand and so we are stuck on that and I tried to use a post it but he’s not getting the connection and I’m stuck on how to communicate that to him

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Yes I have them also I ordered a bulk package and just received them.  

That's awesome! The Flicker isn't very popular, but I am glad to see people are becoming more aware of them. I think they are too underrated!

but on the part I’m having troubles with are like targeting… so when I give the hand signal for target he keeps coming to touch my hand and so we are stuck on that and I tried to use a post it but he’s not getting the connection and I’m stuck on how to communicate that to him

I am sorry, but I may not be understanding too well what you are trying to do exactly. If you are giving a hand signal for target and your dog comes to touch your hand, he is performing the exercise correctly. 

Are you trying to get him to target other objects like a sticky note on a wall?

Thanks for the extra details as we try to troubleshoot. 

[DENENE MILLER]

3 hours ago, Adrienne Farricelli said:

Yes I have them also I ordered a bulk package and just received them.  

That's awesome! The Flicker isn't very popular, but I am glad to see people are becoming more aware of them. I think they are too underrated!

but on the part I’m having troubles with are like targeting… so when I give the hand signal for target he keeps coming to touch my hand and so we are stuck on that and I tried to use a post it but he’s not getting the connection and I’m stuck on how to communicate that to him

I am sorry, but I may not be understanding too well what you are trying to do exactly. If you are giving a hand signal for target and your dog comes to touch your hand, he is performing the exercise correctly. 

Are you trying to get him to target other objects like a sticky note on a wall?

Thanks for the extra details as we try to troubleshoot. 

Yes that’s what I’m trying to do is have him target the post it and I’ve had it in my hand and he does very well with that but he’s not associating the post it with target

[Adrienne Farricelli]

18 hours ago, DENENE MILLER said:

Yes that’s what I’m trying to do is have him target the post it and I’ve had it in my hand and he does very well with that but he’s not associating the post it with target

OK, so in this case, rather than adding a verbal cue like the word "target" we would use a hand gesture, like maybe pointing at the sticky note when you

have it on your hand, and mark the nose touch with a the light and treat. 

 

We don't add verbal cues or visual prompts (like pointing) until a behavior starts happening rather predictably. So if he's reliably nose targeting when you have the post -it on your hand, right as you see him advance to nose target, point at your hand so that he associates the pointing with the action of targeting the sticky note.

 

Then we can move the sticky note to the wall and point at that, but dogs struggle a bit with generalizing so, prior to that, we can further add an intermediate step to facilitate the training, such as holding our hand with the sticky note in front of the wall, point and have him target that, then place the back of your hand against the wall, point and have him target that, and then place the sticky note on the wall with you nearby, point and see if he targets it. 

 

Otherwise, we can try using shaping. We place the sticky note on the floor or on the wall and we "flick" and treat successive approximations, with the final goal being him nose/paw targeting it. For instance, we may initially flick/treat for looking at it, then flick/treat for him walking towards it, then flick/treat for him sniffing it, then flick/treat for him nose targeting it or pawing at it. When he accomplishes this, he gets a jackpot of treats. Then, once he targets it reliably, you can start pointing at it and have the behavior on cue.

 

Here is a video that shows the process of shaping. Imagine the same process only that rather than stepping on the light he's pawing at a sticky note on the floor. Rather than clicking though you'll be flicking and rather than saying "turn on the light" you'll be pointing. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-your-dog-to-turn-on-a-light/