My new future chicken guard dog

[donrae]

So I'm having to rethink my training methods....my Eve is apparently partially deaf and can't hear normal voice tones

I usually use a combo of voice and hand signals, and she's picked right up on those commands, but we were still having trouble with the "come" command......yeah, don't think she could hear me! She can hear a whistle, though, so I'll work on using that as a come/watch me cue, and go from there. It's kind of weird feeling she's not been hearing all the verbal praise I've given her. I've never had a hearing impaired animal, so this will be an adventure!

I'm scheduling a vet appt today to discuss her overall health. I'd been open to considering breeding her in the future, but not now, I'll be scheduling a spay appt also. My interwebz research says deafness can be linked to eye abnormalities also, and she's had uneven pupils at times, so I figure we should get a baseline with the vet in case of further issues.

 

[Beekissed]

That's a shame!

I'm betting you find a way to help her adapt, though. I'm wondering about something that sends out vibrations instead of sound...I wonder if they have training tools like that and if you can adapt her training to that. I know they have collars with mild vibrations on them for training but dogs seem to not like those, so it wouldn't be good for much positive reinforcements.

Can she hear a clicker, you suppose? It's a different level of frequency than voice.

I train all my dogs to hand signals along with voice commands so they get trained on both at the same time...I find it comes in real handy at times.

 

[bobbi-j]

So I'm having to rethink my training methods....my Eve is apparently partially deaf and can't hear normal voice tones :/   I usually use a combo of voice and hand signals, and she's picked right up on those commands, but we were still having trouble with the "come" command......yeah, don't think she could hear me! She can hear a whistle, though, so I'll work on using that as a come/watch me cue, and go from there. It's kind of weird feeling she's not been hearing all the verbal praise I've given her. I've never had a hearing impaired animal, so this will be an adventure!

I'm scheduling a vet appt today to discuss her overall health. I'd been open to considering breeding her in the future, but not now, I'll be scheduling a spay appt also. My interwebz research says deafness can be linked to eye abnormalities also, and she's had uneven pupils at times, so I figure we should get a baseline with the vet in case of further issues. 

There is no doubt in my mind that you will find the best method for training your Eve. Roger doesn't always respond, either, but I'm quite sure he has more of a listening problem than a hearing problem... He's far more hard-headed than our last couple of dogs. He wanted to play the other night and ran up behind me and grabbed me right in the back of the calf with those needle-sharp little teeth! We had an immediate discussion about the error of his ways...

 

[donrae]

I know what you mean about the needle teeth! Eve's nickname is Alligator--I haven't had a puppy in so long I'd forgotten how sharp those little buggers are.

I took her to the vet today to have her hearing and vision eval'd. The vet thinks her hearing is just fine, and her vision is also good. She does have uneven pupils, but they constrict normally. Vet didn't see any reason not to breed her later, as long as it's not to another merle based dog. I'm not completely convinced on the hearing--I spend every blessed waking hour with this dog. I will get back to intensive training and see how that goes--I'd slacked after my last bone marrow biopsy had complications and I'd been pretty much out of commission for 2ish weeks. During that time I was just glad to stay on the housebreaking! But, we'll see how it goes...my thought is if we're going to get her spayed, I want to do it sooner rather than later--don't they charge by weight for the anesthesia? She's already 53 pounds....

 

[bobbi-j]

Update: Just let the Freedom Rangers out for the first time today. They are 5 1/2 weeks old, and I was a little concerned about how Ruger would react, since he has shown interest in them, looking at them through the fence. Here's what happened:


He was interested.


Probably wondering why they were out.


Walked over and sniffed one (DH was supervising)


.... and he's gone!

So far, so good. However, if we need to go somewhere he will be kenneled when the Rangers are out. I don't quite trust him yet.

 

[aart]

Cool, thanks for the update!

lol..... I expected the last pic to be of him feeding out of the trough next the chooks!!

Smart to keep him kenneled until you are sure, than to let him get into trouble before he's ready to take full responsibility.

 

[bobbi-j]

It wouldn't surprise me if he did join them at the feeder someday. He does love chicken feed!

 

[LooseyGoosey]

I got a free puppy about a year ago that is half lab, half husky. I started taking him into the coop with me and he would eat with the chickens and all that.
Now, I can trust him 100%. When he would get out of his kennel, there was not a FEATHER out of place on any of the chickens. He even got locked in my brooder room with 19 of my 2 week old chicks and they were just running around him.
On the other hand, he occasionally thinks its funny to run through the gathered chickens and watch them scatter. It scares the hell out of them, but he would not ever hurt them. He doesn't even look up when they flap by him usually, which is HARD to train that quality into a dog!
So it can be done, and is actually probably easier with some mixed breeds. Good luck with your guard dog!

 

[bobbi-j]

On the other hand, he occasionally thinks its funny to run through the gathered chickens and watch them scatter.

Yeah, we call that "chicken bowling" around here. Our last dog loved to do that! This one I don't think has discovered it yet. Our last dog was a lab and he was awesome with the chickens. This one appears to have something besides lab and golden retriever in him. Not sure what, but I don't think he's going to be a real big dog.

 

[chicksurreal]

Awesome! Thanks for the update. We're still looking for a couple of pups to train for chicken "guard duty", it's nice to see the progress of yours .