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Hearing-impaired Dhu


Joan
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Well, o-KAY, Terry. I don't have a lot of hope for reproducing the "standard" herding whistles on a field trial whistle, but I'm keeping an open mind for now. The place Chris suggested - www.dogsafield.com - has a large selection of whistles. I'll let you know how things go!

 

I play music and have a good ear, but something happens between my ear and my mouth. I can't make my mouth reproduce the whistle that I hear someone else making. It helps me to have a little verbal thing in my head. For example, there's a common 3-note whistle that I have trouble with. If I think "I LOVE you" in my head, I can produce the whistle. Denise came up with that one for me, and Robin has come up with some, too.

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Originally posted by Joan:

I don't have a lot of hope for reproducing the "standard" herding whistles on a field trial whistle, but I'm keeping an open mind for now.

*********

LOL

And you'd probably get a lot of looks from people expecting to hear a herding whistle...and probably from your dog, too. I imagine it would work better as a fresh start than as a replacement. Some things just aren't meant to be replaced.

 

If you had the time and the druthers, you could chain the new sound to the old sound, same as when a dog goes from a verbal down to a hand or whistle down. But that's pretty much a season of retraining....

Chris O

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Hi Joan,

 

Glen's Pat here. Remind me again how old Dhu is and when/how you found out about her impairment. I had Glen out on sheep the other day and it's clear his hearing has degenerated. Plus, I think that the "I know I'm supposed to be doing something, but I don't know what it is and this is making me shut down" thing is operating, too. It was kind of a disaster. Meanwhile, he's having a grand old time watching TV, playing ball, and running in the parks, etc. I'll be getting a vibrating collar soon, to train him on a recall for when his hearing totally goes.

 

I say this, not to be discouraging, but to keep you sensitive to the fact that there will come a time when continuing to work Dhu will be more stressful and upsetting to her than not working her. I know it's extraordinarily painful and sad, but there you are. And I know ultimately, you want what's best for her.

 

That said, you should contact Dave Fetterman who has Leah who is deaf (e-mail me privately and I'll send you his address). He's working with two electronic collars (actually one collar but two receivers -- one on the right side of Leah's neck and the other on the left. He has them in vibrating mode only, and he's training her to take "come-bye" when the left one vibrates and "away to me" for the right. Then I think both are a lie-down or some such thing. It's not perfect and limited in terms of subtlety and variations, but it's an option. Of course, the issue will be whether your sanctioning organization lets you trial her this way or not. But if you just want to work her for fun and/or maybe run her non-compete, it would allow you both to still have fun at it.

 

Pat

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Originally posted by tumblehome:

Originally posted by Joan:

If you had the time and the druthers, you could chain the new sound to the old sound, same as when a dog goes from a verbal down to a hand or whistle down. But that's pretty much a season of retraining....

Chris O

Might be easier to "chain" the new whistle sounds to verbal commands at a closer distance, then play with them at longer distances, rather than chain 2 whistles together, assuming you still use verbals with her to some extent...
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Originally posted by laurie etc:

Might be easier to "chain" the new whistle sounds to verbal commands at a closer distance, then play with them at longer distances, rather than chain 2 whistles together,

**********

Good point.

If the original whistles aren't working, no sense in adding to the confusion.

Chris O

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