louboo

We've never used a vibrating collar for our deaf dog. She sticks pretty close to us so we walk to her and tap her back twice. At night when she's in the yard, I flip the porch light off and on and she comes running. I'm not oppose to the idea I've just never thought of trying it.

My Chevy (non-BC/Heinz 57) does 1-3. She is, however, completely deaf. She's very alert with her eyes and will stare at light/shadows and sometimes bark at them. She's the official bug hunter in the house and can spot an ant from a ridiculous distance. She's also very good at pointing out the cobwebs. Chevy definitely twirls but does not bark - it's her way of saying "I'm happy, get a move on so I can eat." My neighbor's BC-mixes constantly twirl and bark; they even bark at the holes they dig in the backyard. And since she can't hear, she sleeps like the dead... more like the living dead since she doesn't close her eyes completely. She has a milky-white membrane that covers her eyes instead of the lids and we call her Zombie Dog when she's down for the count.

We live in the same area. I have friends at the Humane Society and Shamrock Foundation - I will ask them to keep an eye out for your Fae. Fingers crossed she returns home safely and very soon.

Have you tried playing frisbee with Jack alone? He may play differently alone than with your other dogs. My dogs both enjoy frisbee. Chase, BC/ACD, would retrieve the disc while Chevy (my BDD) sat on the sidelines and once Chase had it, Chevy takes off after her and makes it a game of tug-o-war. Not good for the gums. So I took the time to teach Chevy how to catch the disc and started playing with the dogs separately. Chevy is actually quite good at playing frisbee and catches it mid- air but as soon as Chase is in the picture, she reverts back to her "pounce-mode" and waits to steal it from Chase.

I agree. Depending on where you live, sometimes neighborhood kids find it humorous let people's dogs loose. Happened to a friend of mine. We keep locks on our gates just because of kids.

I think the breeder is doing their best. Since it is the new owner's decision to do surgery, and not the breeder's, I feel that it's the owner's responsibilty to take care of payment and care. My boss is huge into showing Irish Wolfhounds and after purchasing her last show dog from an excellent bloodline, he ended up have severe leg deformities as he grew. Since she could not show him, the breeder offered to give her first pick on the next litter or refund her monies. In the end, my boss was refunded as having 3 Irish Wolfhounds can get quite expensive to care for. And Romeo does just fine - he just looks pigeon-toed.

Chase the Super Dog has started counter surfing while we're away from the house. She decided that 16 days was too long to wait and that Day 7 was the best day to consume Amish Friendship Bread batter. Licked it clean. Luckily, her stomach was just little upset but dish towels are constantly "falling" onto the living room floor while I'm at work.

Hi bottlerocket, My dogs do the same thing. We have socialized them with other dogs and people, but they get just so darn excited and "have to go." I've found that by ignoring the dog(s) and not touching them when they're excited, they don't urinate. We usually greet our house guests outside, but ask that they not pet the dogs for about 5 minutes. The dogs say hi and sniff and then begin calm down. Make's it a wet-free zone.

Name: Chase Called: Chasey-Bear, Sugar-Bear, Girl Name: Chevy Called: Chevvers, Big Sissy, BDD (Big Deaf Dog) Now that I think about it, I rarely call my dogs by their names. Huh.

My dogs never had trouble chasing a ball/disc so I've never said fetch. I do encourage them to return to me by calling them back and squatting onto their level. Once returned, I let my dog keep the toy while I pet her and say good girl. Then I hold the toy and say 'drop it'. I think if you just take the ball away, the dog will think "hey, that's mine!" and then have reservations coming to you after fetching. My hearing dog has no problem with returning and releasing as she wants to turn around and go after the disc again. But my deaf dog likes to hold onto the ball/disc and play tug with it. I've hurt my hand many times trying to take the disc from her. What I've found helpful is to keep a second ball/disc handy. When she returns, I pet her and give her a thumbs up and then show her the new ball/disc. In the beginning it took some time to convince to drop the toy in her mouth but she's caught on and now after her pet down drops the ball. I will say that catching the disc was a little harder than the ball but both Chevy & Chase love it now. I started with a soft disc (I think it was a hurl-a-squirrel) and slowly graduated to a fribee and distance. It's a favorite past time of theirs.

When our dog was a puppy, we'd say "ow" when she bit us and pull away. She eventually learned that "ow" meant to back off or we'd stop playing. One of her favorite games is "attack the hand under the blanket" and she still responds to a simple "ow".

My Chevy is very particular with light and shadows too. She watches the ceiling fan go round and round, chases moths around, anything that's moving is mesmorizing. And she doesn't like it when things are out of place. She knocked over a dining room chair the other day and barked at it until we picked it up. She knows when things are different and she's lets us know.

We adopted Chase in November 2005 and she was a few months old so she's about 4 1/2 years old. Chevy was adopted at 8 weeks in June of 2007 so she's going on 2 years. Chevy does know several signals: sit (fist), lie down (flat hand), go outside (thumb in fist), come (wave hand/arm towards self), away (extended arm w/ pointing finger), good dog (thumbs up), no (wagging finger) and gets into her crate no fuss along as she has a treat. She now knows how to fetch, catch a frisbee and release it (and I have to admit it's totally cool every time she does this). And we continue to work with her but I just have the hardest time with her leaving Chase alone. Chevy is larger at 65 pounds whereas Chase teeters between 25-30 and I've noticed she tries her dominance (being in front, biting Chase's muzzle) but then she almost always submits (she relieves herself when she sees Chase after being in the crate). Maybe I need to be trained. My doggins are below. Chase has her tongue out (post frisbee). Chevy has taken throne on the bed.

We adopted Chase, a border collie-blue heeler mix, a few years ago. She's an awesome dog and always played well with other dogs and people. I'm still amazed how darn smart she is. When she was about 2, we decided to adopt another puppy to keep her active, a play-mate of sorts. We were told Chevy was an Austrailian Shepherd mix and we thought the two mix breeds would do well together; I think she's a dalmation mix because of her body-build and short hair. Two weeks after we had Chevy (10 weeks old), we discovered she was completely deaf. They do have good play time; they enjoy playing frisbee together, wrestling on the bed when we're not looking and Chase herds Chevy around the backyard. Chevy adores Chase so much and wants to play with her all of the time but it seems that Chase can only take her in doses. If she's not in the mood, she growls and/or snaps, take's away Chevy's toy, marches in the other room, whatever she can do to "escape". I feel that Chase acts this way because of Chevy's deafness - she doesn't seem to get the clue that baring teeth means back up. This "lack of communication" is stressing me out so I can't imagine how Chase feels. We make Chevy walk away and correct her but since she's still training, we do this repeatedly. Chevy's pretty sharp but training takes a little longer and requires more patience since we rely on hand signals instead of verbal commands. We've tried spending time with the dogs alone so that they get undivided attention but once they're in the same room again, Chevy's in Chase's face. Any advice? I love both my pooches but I'm just running out of steam and ideas.