With the good, comes the sad - Page 1

So the good, this weekend was my young male earning his IPO 1.

The sad, my 12 year old lab is now deaf.  I believe she has been going deaf for quite some time, some of you may remember my questioning about the sudden concern she showed for thunderstorms, vs how she was okay with gun fire (she used to be a field working dog).   I believe she sees the lightening but was losing hearing of the thunder and that was upsetting her.

This weekend in particular I noticed I can be right up beside her calling her name and she does not even twitch or glance back at me, my husband or son.  I have used an e-collar on a very low vibration stim to "call" her back to the house when she's been out in the fenced back yard but I thought I'd ask if anyone had experience with a senior citizen deaf dog and any other pitfalls to look out for?

CONGRATS and sorry to hear

The lab down the street has also gone deaf. Her owner uses hand signs for obedience, and has taught her to focus and to look at him often.. She is so grey in the muzzle.....I think he said she's 13 this year. Her temperament is solid, so except for the obvious, it doesn't affect her much.

My first ever dog went deaf at 15 and lived to 16 1/2, it didn't really affect her at all. She always did watch me and was very responsive to me, so never even had to put her on a lead when we went out to familiar places. I also adopted a 13-14 year old rescue dog who was deaf when we got him, and he was absolutely fine too, but one of my shepherds used to round him up for me if he got a little behind!. 

The only thing I had to be very careful of was waking them up, because they didn't used to hear me come in, and it was easy to frighten them if you suddenly touched them.

The old boy I adopted I had to be really careful with, if he took off in a little gallop ahead of me, I couldn't just catch him up and grab his collar from behind him, I did it once and he literally fell over, poleaxed,  in shock. After that I always had to get ahead of him so he could see me before I touched him, if he decided on a sprint LOL.  Bless him - lovely old lad.

She will be fine, especially as she has been adapting to it for a while now.

OH;  its so sad to see them age, my almost 14 year old sammie bitch is going deaf also, very concerning as they can't hear cars coming etc, so if she is out now no more off leash work for her.  Noticed also she does startle easily and if she is sleeping she will jump and try to scramble when she gets up so I try to get her attention before I reach her so she does not feel so anxious.  My 12.3 year old also does not hear that great.  Just awful to watch them struggle, wonder if there is anything that can improve this condition for these seniors?  Great days ahead for you,  Nan

Congratulation on the IPO1.  That is fantastic. 

Growing up with hunting Labs, My dad would always put a small bell on the collar of any dog that was going deaf. That way we could hear them, even if we couldn't see them in the brush, as they still loved to go hunting(even if it was at a slower pace) right up until the end.
The dogs never really acted upset to going/being deaf. I think it's because they had time to adjust to it as they aged & gradually went deaf. They seemed to naturally pay closer attention to their humans tho...
If your dog knows that the vibration means to look for you, then I would just continue with that method as it won't be stressful or confusing to the dog.
Best of luck with your pooch...it's hard watching them get old!!


ETA: I agree with the poster that said to be mindful if coming up behind them or when they are sleeping. They will sometimes get startled easier.

Thank you, everybody for your input and words of encouragement.

I will definitely take care not to startle her and she has a nice safe fenced in yard and we live well away from any busy streets.   Took her out today for a walk and leashed her with a connector to my GSD bitch who has always doted on her and Hanni was careful not to let them get tangled in the lines.

For what its worth, the lab is coming up on 13, which I noticed was the time a couple of you mentioned as being when your older citizens went deaf.   It was a surprise because except for the deafness and having an arthritic elbow, the lab will run and try to keep up with the Shepherds when it comes to chasing a ball and she would go all day if we let her.