Hi all,

No, it's not one of mine, but an a friend called me today and said her 3 year old bitch is going deaf. She has lost 90% or better the vet says. No history of chronic ear infections or anything like that. They have taken her to a specialist and have had several tests done, all negative.

I have to confess, I have never had experience with any deafness in my dogs over the years, so I was stumped and could only listen and empathize.

Of course, I have heard of other breeds that are prone to deafness, but it is usually gene-linked and manifests itself before age 3.

Any thoughts? Any suggestions that I can pass along?Oh, the vet did put her on a course of steroids will be doing more testing when complete.

TIA
Valerie - Bibsmom

Val,

One thing that I would have your friend do while there is still a little hearing left is try to teach the dog basic hand signals and cues. I had an old deaf dog and when she started loosing her hearing the two things that I made sure that she understood was the hand signal that we see in Utility training for come and for night time that a flashing on and off light meant come.

I hope that they are able to find out what is wrong, however she should plan for total deafness while she still has the time.

Hate to be a pessimist about this, but she should still be pragmatic about the situation.

Johanne

Make sure that the ear drum has not ruptured, this may be the cause of a sudden loss.

Having had a deaf dog in the past...I wholeheartedly agree with teaching the dog hand signals while there is some hearing (come, sit, down, up, off, etc). A command that I found invaluable was "back up" (open palm towards dog). So many times our dogs come running when ANY appliance in the kitchen is opened such as the refrigerator or oven (ya know there may be an "accidental" snack to be had!). If the oven is hot, you want the dogs to get back.

My husband was a K-9 officer and he taught our Abbey hand signals.

As a senior she went deaf and I thank god for the visual training.

I now train all my pups verbal and hand signals.

I agree with checking for a ruptured ear drum or ear plugs that can't be seen via scope. This dog is awful young to just go deaf. sorry to hear it.