Gus uses tons of eye contact..
A deaf dog does not feel voice vibrations..I do not think anyhow
but they can sure feel floor vibrations..
Gus uses eye contact all the time. he is always watching me..maybe looking for cues to do something..he is great great with hand signs..got that figured out fast..

in a couple of hours the other 4 dogs here have really caught on to the hand signs..just the basic ones..like come and sit and so on..but they caught on fast. I have a pocket full of treats this am..lol for a reason..

NOT sure Gus cares about not talking to him much..but..the other dogs..they are pawing at me all the time here..today..already and this is only a few hours in...

took Gus out for a short walk here...and he is great on a leash. Deaf dogs usually are great for walking..he is always looking at you when you walk him. he is awesome for a walk.. I came back in and no talking..and the dogs were all excited and so on....but when I did not say anything else..they just went off and did their own things..

back to some more hand signs and sooooooooooooon get to plug up MY ears....I will only use them for a hour or two and I get to watch the dogs expressions....should be interesting..
will give me some idea what Gus feels like when that is what he does all the time..is reads the other dogs for communication...and their posture..

I would get another deaf dog though..they are truly a great companion and very much in your face and LOVE the bully eye contact..Gus best feature is his eyes.

senior (rescue) and has very selective hearing LOL, but she has had damage due from untreated ear infections. I started teaching Duke hand signals for sit, lay, stay just for fun and to see if he was as smart as I thought he was. Actually he responds better to them then he does my voice command.
You said that Gus is staying very close to you, does he watch your face alot and do you think he notices that your not speaking? What about voice vibrations? Really interesting stuff. Your doing great.

yes it will be very hard to not talk to them for the morning..
but this will end and life goes back to normal..
already see a big change in a couple of hours with the hearing dogs here
hope to be able to help other deaf dogs out there..
especially other deaf bulldogs..
Gus is hanging really close this am. not sure why..maybe he wanders when he does not see me talking..
tons of eye contact..

will keep you updated..as the morning changes..

YEA should be interesting to see how this goes..
The deaf dog Gus is already looking at me kinda strange..been about 2 and half hours into this and..he is following me everywhere.

the other dogs are being taught some FAST handsigns..LOL really fast..
come..and sit and so on..they are catching on fast..
with 4 that hear fine..this is the biggest challenge..
part of the experiment is too see how owners react around deaf dogs and I have to treat them all as deaf dogs..
so here I am 5 deaf dogs for the morning..

thanks for your response..
will keep you posted..

Hard NOT TO talk though...even though it is only me and the dogs in the house..LOL and a cat
had to also turn off the radio too..no noise

http://www.network54.com/Forum/42436/message/1262524729/That%27s+great+what+your+doing+for+these+deaf+dogs.

it sounds like a very interesting experiment. I don't know if I could not talk. I really want to know what the dogs do by afternoon to get you to talk. And will the deaf one notice that you're not talking. Or are your body gestures going to change and the deaf dog will pick up on that?

part of this was to treat all the dogs as if they were deaf...so that meant..they could not hear me..so no talking..
amazing how they responded to the whole experience..
hand signs were picked up really quick..treats helped..mind you only a few of them..but still ...they picked them up. all 5 of the dogs here can do at least 3 or more now..

the plugs in the ears was really neat too.. with myself not hearing anything..I COULD put myself in Gus shoes for a bit..
was really weird..I got to learn to read DOGS fast too..

good for you making it thru the whole day. I think it's interesting that the hearing dogs quickly learned sign language. Aren't dogs amazingly smart?

almost done here for this test..
plugs in the ears..
wow soo strange..NO NOISE
can see how Gus feels..
I am not sure if it easier to loose your sight or loose your hearing..both are not good.
well learned lots and lots today and got some good material for the vet...
soooooooooooon I can SCREAM..hahhahaha and back to my own self..will go outside and scream..and not at the dogs..lol
hardest thing is being quiet..
I Talk to all my dogs
especially Gus..even though he is deaf..

especially since I don't see my big girls when I call them in, they are usually on the other side of the house. I think that any time you suddenly take away the way you communicate it's going to be hard. An animal born deaf that has never used verbal cues is not going to react the same as a hearing animal dependent upon verbal cues that are suddenly taken away. Audrey knows hand signals for the basic commands and does not need verbal commands to do them, but I would probably confuse her to death because my mouth would be starting to talk all the time. I'd have to tape my mouth shut to really NOT talk.

Cathy
when she first came home