Hi all, new to this site. looking for some advice on training a deaf bull terrier. I have him on trial from my local recsue centre. He has been well looked after and trained and is very laid back. He is 2 and will sit and come to signals but I really am looking for a way to get him to look at me more often. I was thinking about a vibrating collar and wondered if anyone has used one successfully? I have another young dog so that helps greatly. Just thought I'd ask and see if anyone has could help me on this. Thanks
my mum had a deaf english bull for a while and i helped her train that one. i found wot worked the best was hand signals and treats. for instance i used a cosed fist for sit and a straight hand with palms facing down for lie down. bringing your hand towards urself meant come here. its alot harder to do because they have to be looking at you but it does pay off you have to be patient. the only thing we never really mastered was recall as you can imagine although we didnt really let him off because he wasnt too friendly with oher dogs anyway. hope i helped =]
Hi, thanks for replying. Ben looks back quite a lot when we are out and I make a point now of standing still when he goes out of sight until he comes back to me (which he always has so far!) and making a fuss of him. Will try to track down a vibrating collar which might just be enough to get him to look at me. Cheers
Hi there. I tried a vibrating collar on my old boy when he went deaf - it wasn't too successful for him - but I don't think his thick rough helped - not sure that he could feel it all the time. I also wasn't confident whether it was vibrating or not from more than a few feet, so gave up with it! On a short coated dog it may work better. Don't foget to make the vibrating a good sign for him - i.e. give a treat everytime it vibrates. Equally with the 'watch me' I would keep a pocket full of tasty treats and whenever he turned to look at me, I'd give him the sign for 'good boy' (have you got a sign for this yet - some people use the thumbs up sign) and give him a treat. Hopefully before long he'll realise that looking at you is rewarding Good luck with him - I know a few people who have successfully trained deaf border collies (in fact one of the members on here, Patch, has several), but I fancy that a bullie may be a bit more challenging!
There is a site called Bullies in need, loads good advice and people on there with deaf dogs that can help too xx
