hard to tell if this is an abused bulldog.
I can tell you from having an abused pug that I rescued..he was beaten everyday for the first 6 months of his life before he came to live with me....he was scared of his shadow. he coovered at the slightest things and did not want to even come out of his crate when he first came here. I got rid of the crate and he did better. I will on occasion use a crate now to just take a nap but at least is not heading to it every couple of minutes.
I know an abused dog when I see it...Max that was no denying it. this bulldog that I seen I can not tell you for sure. he could be though, it is quite possible. I do not know these people, just got a call from the vet to see if I could help them with the deafness in this bulldog. did not expect to see a dog soo scared and nervous.

abused dogs come with all sorts of issues. Max my pug took a good year to get over his worst issues from the abuse. he is a great pug now..but that took long hard hours to get him to this spot too. not to mention Bella that helped the most..she loves this pug.

here is max the first day..you can see fear in his eyes..big time..

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and here he is NOW

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I see fear in this bulldog but do not ear the scared look of Max when he first came here..like this pic

Chester is going for blood check today so i will know if prednisone is doing anything.
I am concerned about Lily as i am starting to get a feeling she may need to get her medication adjusted again...so soon. This is killing me, i feel she may not be with us for much longer.

in my experience with dogs that are that timid and scared of the world is because they have good reason. Have been abused by humans. The statement about dogs barking in the night struck a chord with me. How well do you know these people. If the dog was barking in the night are they beating the crap out of him to make him shut up. They may blame it on his deafness but I think they have abused that poor dog into a solid fear of humans.

that is the big issue here..
I am going to try to talk to them again about this.
deafness and scared to me is two different issues..
all the hand signs in the world are not going to help a dog that is scared.
deafness is not a catchall. it explains things but can not be blamed for everything.

thanks for help and support
this bulldog is really playing on my brain..
hope I can help him in time
will keep at it..slowly
will see him again this weekend sometime

he is always on my mind..just wandering how he is doing these days ??

thanks for your reply.
yea it is going to be small steps with this other bulldog for sure..
I do not see any aggression in him at all..
yes he startles easy but as do most deaf dogs startle easy.

will keep working on with him in small steps and see how it goes
going to go and see him again sometime this weekend.
he does not live far away from me at all.

the other owners of the boston and dalmatian were having issues with the their dogs listening and such and coming when called and so on. but none of this scared type behaviour of this other bulldog. the other two deaf dogs are doing great and the families are happy with their dogs now. they came really close to putting their dogs in rescue ..had they not learned some simple hand signs. both families are doing awesome with the training as well.

that they are using this diagnosis as the catch all for everything.
deafness has a whole lot of issues within it..but scared and so on..I am not sure a dog thinks who I am deaf..so I am afraid of that.
when I first found out that Gus was deaf from the baer test I kinda did the same ..in such that I thought
oh great and how do I deal with this..told the vet.
I gave it some thought and like the vet said, HOW have you dealt with this the past two years Pat. which is very true. Gus has been deaf since he was a puppy. but now that I knew for sure I filled in the blanks. NOW I knew why he barked in the middle of the night, why he did not listen when called..he was not just a stubborn bulldog..lol. it explained lots to me...
I got a good book and some help from a deaf friend as well..and taught Gus..some hand signs. he is a changed dog. although he really is not changed..in such but now that I can communicate it is much easier for me with Gus. Gus comes running now without treats when you do the hand signs.

but deafness is not the catch all to all this other bulldogs issues. I am not convinced even learning all the signs in the world that is going to help out with a scared bulldog.

this bulldog has two issues that I can see of...
first deal with the timid, scared issues
then try to introduce some of the hand signs
and most of all the deafness does not go away with hand signs. you still have be always watching out for a deaf dog. the symptoms of deafness is always there even with Gus.

they just had this other bulldog Baer tested in this past little while.

first of all, you are such a wonderful person for caring about another dog.
deaf dogs, i think, are reacting different to stimuli so you have to figure out what rocks her boat. When i got Chester, he was so reactive (he is hard of hearing, although sometime it is selective, LOL) that i had to work very hard with him. i could not even take him for a walk without him lounging at people, he was a nut case. Almost 10 lbs later and lots of prize and cookies he realized that people were a good thing, we then started to cut down treats and everything was back to normal. He still has a thing about other, larger than him dogs, but now it is mostly barking at them. He is constant work in progress and an interesting project. i would start with approaching her at her level, a biggie for them as they may fear anything dominating. Then try anything...food, but it has to be dynamite treat, or toy. And just leave it there, and do it few times, so that she does not have to overcome too much first time. Small steps...Oh, and touching...with Chester, even now, he is totally cool with butt scratches, but touching head...he flinches, i think he may have been abused before or it could be something related to his numerous ear surgeries and pain.
Good luck

There are tons of things that could have been done to make him scared. Keep working with him, is the family one that will follow through with what your working on with him or do they just want him fixed? That will be a huge determining factor in success. Good luck to the sweet boy. I know you'll make some great progress.

have created such a scared boy because THEY are projecting that onto him and have since he was a puppy.

www.midatlanticbulldogrescue.com

they had him since he was a puppy.
he is way to scared though
I asked them if they got him out and socialized him at all. did not get a real good reply to that.
they said he has always been afraid of his shadow so to speak. they thought his deafness was the reason for being soo scared but I doubt that to be honest. being deaf is not helping but not the contributing factor..I agree it more likely not getting out and about enough as a puppy and such too. I believe that is more the case. feel for the guy though.

might take a few times of going over to see him ..and try to win some trust that way too.

the other deaf dogs that I have helped the owners were very friendly at least. they trained in a short time to pick up some basic hand signs. but then again lots of eye contact was the key to success with them.

I just never met a scared bulldog before..

when my bulldogs were tiny..they got tons of exposure out there..
took them everywhere I could when they were puppies..
and they met lots of people and in different situations as well..

prior to coming to the neighbors? Was he socialized? If he's not ever been anywhere and experienced new things he would be scared, in my opinion. Although he isn't a rescue you coukld try postingthese questions on the rescue board as there have been many timid bullies come through there. I may just be a matter of slowly introducing him to new things and seriously working on the hand signals. Your right the eye contact is huge in gaining success. I hope he starts coming around soon. Poor guy. If he has just recently come to the family then his whole life has changed and would scare him.

the vet told me that this common in deaf dogs.
what happens is if something startles them..they will just wake up and bark
I seen it with Gus soo many times already
I just turn on the light..as I told the people to do with this bulldog..as well
once the light is on.Gus will generally just go to back to sleep.
I am not sure what startles them when they are sleeping..but guess it could be anything..
Gus is now sleeping on the big bed with me..and I know that if my foot or something taps him and he is sleeping..I have seen him get up and just bark..

Deb on the board here with Sugar has a bulldog that barks in the night time too. she is deaf as well.
also Spanky did some barking in the middle of the night time too on the board..and had some hearing issues as well.
the boston and the dalmatian are both barking in the middle of the night time too..
and since this new bulldog is doing it as well..might be a deafness related thing.
I have not found an answer to stop it with Gus..it just happens and I live with it..
turn on the light and he settles right back down again..give him a pat on his head all is fine..
no big deal anymore..been doing this for the past couple of years already.

thanks for your help Elaine
will bring some of your ideas up with the owners..
see him again this weekend..
this time I will try some treats to build some trust with him..and see how that goes as well

I really hope that he is not an abused bulldog.
there is no real way to find that out
they are seeking help with him
so that tells me he is not
if he was truly abused..they would not care really at all..that much is my guess

hopefully it will just take some time to work with him more..

likely not much socialization as a puppy.
i think Rae was the one that said ...we project onto our dogs..and I believe that as well

if the owners can learn to relax some..as will the bulldog himself too..

I am very absorbed in trying to help this bulldog ..and determined to do something too to help him out.
will try some treats the next time that i see him and see if that helps as well.

but I think that needs to be examined as well. Perhaps if the feeding schedule were changed so where he ate dinner (second meal)between 5-6pm, and was taken out twice before bedtime (once after dinner, again 3hrs later) he would have no comfort-excuse for barking and his tummy should be satisfied enough to permit a good night's sleep. I would also ask if anyone had considered some type of mild sedation like a holistic calming preparation given to him 30mins before bedtime, to help him sleep through the night. Also look at the place where he sleeps...is it light or dark, is there any draft from passers-by or near a heating vent...anything that could be stimulating him to awaken during the night? Relating to humans, if sound is not being absorbed, then there is often an increased sensitivity to touch, so I think its important to go look at where he sleeps as well as talking with the owners about these items. Good luck.

a lot of dogs act differently in their own homes with their own people. If they never experience different environments or different people that can make them scared. IS he afraid of his owners and does he cower from them too? That would make me think of an abused dog. Or is it just new people/situations he is afraid of? My old dog is terrifed when we take her out, we never went anywhere ourselves when she was a puppy, never mind took the dogs anywhere. She is as far from an abused dog as it's possible to get.

Cathy
when she first came home

really feel for you
you sure have had a lot to go through lately..
thanks for your help with this deaf bulldog here
hope I can help him and take it slowly..
thanks for your support