New home sought for deaf puppy Lobes

[Miss-Delectable]

BBC News - New home sought for deaf puppy Lobes

A new home is being sought for a deaf puppy whose owner had asked that she be put down because she was unfit to be a working dog.

Eleven-week-old female pointer Lobes is in the care of a re-homing centre in Inverness after being moved from her original home in Stornoway.

The Scottish SPCA said it was asked to step in by the vet asked to put the dog to sleep.

Lobes will need to be trained using hand signals.

Inverness centre manager Elaine Floyd said the puppy deserved a second chance.

She said: "Lobes was originally taken to the vet by her owner to be put to sleep but thankfully the vet called us to see if we could take her.

"She only has half of one of her ears although this is not the cause of her deafness.

"Pointers can be hard work to train even when they have their hearing so we are looking for an experienced dog owner who understands the needs of a deaf dog and appreciates the amount of work and commitment it will take to train and care for her."

Ms Floyd added: "Obviously deaf dogs can't respond to voice commands or clicker training, so the use of hand gestures and being able to develop a strong bond between you and the dog is very important.

"Ideally, Lobes will go to a home with an existing dog so she can learn her behaviours from the older animal as well as have some canine support when indoors and out and about on her walks."

 

[posts from hell]

Botts?

 

[CSign]

That would be quite a trip for the puppy. Hopefully someone on "that side of the pond" will step up and adopt this little puppy.

 

[Bottesini]

Botts?

Good morning. And yes it does work great if a deaf dog has another to model their behavior on.

And I have had several deaf pets and I don't think they are hard to train at all.

They are very attentive and usually have their eyes on you, unless they are asleep.

I wish more people knew this.

 

[Bottesini]

Botts?

Oh! I thought he was just asking for commentary. I have my limit. I can't take another until one of my pets dies.

And I certainly hope not for several years. We have a good pack and great dynamic going at the moment.

 

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

Wirelessly posted

Botts?

Good morning. And yes it does work great if a deaf dog has another to model their behavior on.

And I have had several deaf pets and I don't think they are hard to train at all.

They are very attentive and usually have their eyes on you, unless they are asleep.

I wish more people knew this.

It's not uncommon to cull in Europe. In Germany, it's illegal to have a litter of more than six puppies. Problem is: most large dogs have litters of 10-20. :/

 

[Bottesini]

Wirelessly posted



It's not uncommon to cull in Europe. In Germany, it's illegal to have a litter of more than six puppies. Problem is: most large dogs have litters of 10-20. :/

That's awful. And something I never new before. Although a lot of dogs are euthanized here too when people fail to spay or neuter their pets.

 

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

Wirelessly posted

It's a fair trade off to me. In Germany, dogs are unleashed.

 

[Bottesini]

Wirelessly posted

It's a fair trade off to me. In Germany, dogs are unleashed.

They were here too when I was a kid. And I don't remember problems with it.

In my neighborhood one of the dogs was a black Standard Poodle. He loved to wait at a corner mailbox, and when the mailman came he would get in the truck and ride to the end of the street. Everyday except Sunday. He was so smart to remember the day I thought.

Dogs do lose out from constant confinement. We are lucky to have a big fenced yard so our dogs can get out and explore and feel a little independent.

 

[somedeafdudefromPNW]

Wirelessly posted

Wirelessly posted

It's a fair trade off to me. In Germany, dogs are unleashed.

They were here too when I was a kid. And I don't remember problems with it.

In my neighborhood one of the dogs was a black Standard Poodle. He loved to wait at a corner mailbox, and when the mailman came he would get in the truck and ride to the end of the street. Everyday except Sunday. He was so smart to remember the day I thought.

Dogs do lose out from constant confinement. We are lucky to have a big fenced yard so our dogs can get out and explore and feel a little independent.

That's because some researcher in France found out aggressions, even toward other dogs, are non-existentant; yet with leashed dogs, bites and dog aggressions are more likely to occur.

 

[Tulessa]

BBC News - New home sought for deaf puppy Lobes

A new home is being sought for a deaf puppy whose owner had asked that she be put down because she was unfit to be a working dog.

Eleven-week-old female pointer Lobes is in the care of a re-homing centre in Inverness after being moved from her original home in Stornoway.

The Scottish SPCA said it was asked to step in by the vet asked to put the dog to sleep.

Lobes will need to be trained using hand signals.

Inverness centre manager Elaine Floyd said the puppy deserved a second chance.

She said: "Lobes was originally taken to the vet by her owner to be put to sleep but thankfully the vet called us to see if we could take her.

"She only has half of one of her ears although this is not the cause of her deafness.

"Pointers can be hard work to train even when they have their hearing so we are looking for an experienced dog owner who understands the needs of a deaf dog and appreciates the amount of work and commitment it will take to train and care for her."

Ms Floyd added: "Obviously deaf dogs can't respond to voice commands or clicker training, so the use of hand gestures and being able to develop a strong bond between you and the dog is very important.

"Ideally, Lobes will go to a home with an existing dog so she can learn her behaviours from the older animal as well as have some canine support when indoors and out and about on her walks."

Aweee poor thing.

 

[dogmom]

YES, deaf dogs can respond to clicker training - pair the clicker box with a visual signal, such as "thumbs -up" or a light flash. This might be a bit awkward, but in technical terms, it can be done.
Over time, the dog will make the association between the use of that device coupled with the visual signal, and a reward, such as food. You can fade the use of the both food and clicker and eventually have just the marker <the "thumbs-up" or other visual> as the reinforcer for known behaviors - EVENTUALLY.

national or parent breed clubs often have set rules in writing regarding culling practices. That is one reason - beside the fact that I just don't have knowledge and experience - that I could not be a breeder, because breeders who show and actually do things in their breed need to follow their clubs standards, and I wouldn't kill a pup for being deaf.

I agree with Botts - deaf dogs are not harder to train. It seems like these articles keep implying some reluctant "second-best option" as the use of visual instead voice cues - but really, dogs naturally learn/respond much better to visual cues regardless of whether they are hearing or deaf. Humans as a population seem to have this desire to use speech with their dogs and assume that dogs understand speech. As a group, dogs do not.

leashes lead to mis-understood visual signals between dogs, especially tight leashes. They can also lead to dogs feeling like they can't extricate themselves from a situation that they perceive is not going well <which humans usually do not read til someone is already bitten> I do not allow on-leash greetings between my dogs and other dogs out and about and in the classes I have taught and assisted in, often leashed greetings between dogs in the class is not allowed or at least, discouraged.