CANINE
Living and Working with Deaf Dogs In a series of articles, Morag Heirs shares her experiences of living and working with dogs who are deaf, blind or partially sighted, as well as those of the wider community of people who share their lives with these dogs. The aim is to offer insights into the way such dogs may perceive their world, and how we can create avenues of communication together
O
ur canine companions are remarkably adaptable and, based on current thinking, this ability has allowed them to take advantage of the rubbish dumps created by primitive humans and shaped the transformation from wolf-like ancestor through to domesticated dog. I often feel that their talent at interpreting our sometimes hurried and chaotic verbal language is nothing short of miraculous! In some ways then, the deaf or partially-deafened dog has an advantage over the hearing dog. Born with restricted senses, these dogs not only are largely oblivious to our verbal cues, their owners or guardians are well aware of the futility of chattering cues to their dog. While most dog trainers are comfortable
Opening the lines of communication is key with deaf dogs 30
BARKS from the Guild/April 2014
with the idea that dogs find body language easier than verbal instructions, owners can struggle to take this information on board. This makes sense. We are after all a species that communicates volubly with the spoken and the written word. Of course humans use and read body language too, but we are often less conscious of its contribution. New deaf dog owners can clearly see how easily their dog learns to respond to them despite having little or no access to the verbal cues. This was certainly the case for Farah and I. Farah was a seven-month-old bundle of deaf blue merle collie excitement when she joined my family as a companion for Finn, my older border collie. Farah was (and is) completely deaf and appears to have been so since birth. Having devoured what little literature there is on deaf dogs (see Resources on Page 32), I was keen to learn how to communicate with this little bundle of trouble. Being entirely deaf, Farah is not startled by loud noises or particular vibrations as some partially-deaf dogs are, which has been an advantage. Like most profoundly deaf dogs she sleeps very soundly and we have agreed on a simple hand on the shoulder as her