Author finds her deaf, visually impaired dogs teach their own lessons

When I saw the photo of two brilliantly white dogs in a local newspaper ad three years ago, I did what Deaf Dogs of Oregon trainer, Chelsea Tuning, strongly advises against: I fell in love at first sight.

“People are enthralled by how pretty they are. We hear all the time ‘This dog is so pretty. I really want to adopt it,’ ” Tuning said. “The time that it takes to train and keep up that communication, in addition to basic dog training, these are the consequences of trying to get a dog like this.”

The “dog like this” is a double merle Australia shepherd — often incorrectly referred to as a “lethal white,” which is a fatal genetic disorder that affects horses. Double merle stems from incorrectly or irresponsibly breeding two merles (a gene detected by blood work), resulting in a 25 percent chance that each puppy will be deaf, blind and/or sight-impaired.

The dogs my husband and I adopted are both deaf and sight-impaired. But before anyone feels sorry for them, Tuning also points out that dogs do not process like humans. When faced with loss, they skip past the ruminating phase and go straight to the logical aspect of how to get on with what they have to work with.

“They’re not hindered by emotions,” Tuning said. “They’re more succinct in their thought process.”

Speaking ‘dog’

The question for Tuning is not how much more time it will take to train an animal with special needs, but how long will it take to train the owner.

“A hearing dog, you can teach English words to. With a deaf dog, I have to learn to speak ‘dog’ because they can’t learn to speak human. Hand signals, body language and energy versus verbal — which is how humans communicate — becomes the language,” Tuning said

Because dogs are generally task-oriented and want to please, they digest positive reinforcement quickly. They also react to negative cues which can be in the form of heightened anxiety when the owner becomes frustrated with the process or uses designated touch signals intermittently instead of consistently.

In the case of our dogs, Challenge and Baby Girl, they were rescued by the Humane Society for Southwest Washington. Tied up and covered in muck, they were 3-year-old dogs with behavior issues. In Tuning’s experience, special-needs puppies can grow to be just as capable as dogs with no special needs, and it is relatively seamless for them. The problems manifest in older dogs without training or socializing, much like with any other dog.

“When I first met Challenge and Baby, the main feeling I sensed was fear. They were sort of in the mindset that they were responsible for the safety of the household and, for a lot of dogs, that’s a lot of responsibility,” Tuning said.

Over a year and a half later, Tuning had the pleasure of seeing how far they’d come at the 2015 Portland Pet Expo.

“Especially Baby, she was out there. She wasn’t attached to your side. She was giving body language like, ‘I’ve got this.’ They knew that no matter what happened, you guys had it and they felt safe,” Tuning said.

Tara Zimmerman, certified professional dog trainer and K-9 training and enrichment specialist for the Humane Society for Southwest Washington, was instrumental in our successful adoption of Challenge and Baby Girl. She was patient, empathetic and a great resource for other organizations in the community, such as Deaf Dogs of Oregon.

“When we have a dog that is deaf, blind or has another physical limitation, we help them progress and stay stable emotionally and physically. We try to communicate to potential adopters what they need in a home on a daily basis as well as special care or additional costs with food, medication and veterinary care. We identify what we think would be the most successful home environment,” Zimmerman said. “In your case, we wanted them to be adopted together because they were bonded.”

Challenging Challenge

Truth be told, Challenge was off-putting the first couple months and brought me to tears on our daily walks. He is strong and stubborn (hence his name), and I had to learn that when he stands very still looking at my feet, it’s not to attack me at any moment. It is how he tracks through his limited vision.

There are things to consider with special-needs dogs. Our pups are unable to see normal cueing like tail wagging and the setting of another dog’s ears so they do better with a slower introduction. Children adore them. Baby Girl’s fur is as soft as a cat, Challenge loves a good cuddle and their striking coats are hard to resist. They just need to know to say “Hi” slowly and kids seem to notice Baby’s starburst-shaped eyes far more often than adults do.

After nearly three years with Challenge and Baby, I have learned so much. I have learned that I have a greater capacity for patience than I ever realized; that their ability to make everyone smile is such a gift; and the bond created between a special-needs dog and its owner is indescribable.

“When that dog realizes for the first time that you can communicate with them, they just have this look on their face of ‘You understand me’ and that just gives me goosebumps,” Tuning said.

“I want people to adopt that blind dog, adopt that deaf dog. They’re beyond inspiring and they put a smile on your face. That dog is more capable than you think. You are more capable than you think and, together, you can train a perfectly happy dog … that can still outsmart you,” she said.