A couple months ago I posted about my dog who, despite a great deal of
effort, failed to "sit" "down" or "stand" on command. She would do one of
the three, but it was pretty random. She was eager to please, but just
didn't understand what was wanted. I got a lot of advice, some more helpful
than others.

Turns out my son, without telling me, had been getting her to do these
things with hand signals; since she seemed confused by verbal commands. She
responds to them, even when I do them, pretty well. So I figured if I work
on giving verbal commands and hand signals, she should learn what the verbal
commands meant. No dice; still responds to verbal commands randomly.

So, she is not dumb (or at least not as dumb as I thought); she just doesn't
understand verbal commands; eventhough we (my son and I) have probably spent
100 times as much effort on the verbal as on the hand signals.

Any idea what is going on here? (I mean, aside from me being a lousy dog
trainer...)

So, she is not dumb (or at least not as dumb as I thought); she just
doesn't understand verbal commands; eventhough we (my son and I) have
probably spent 100 times as much effort on the verbal as on the hand
signals.


dogs are more visual learners, it is easier to learn with visual commands
over verbal ones.

On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 21:25:33 GMT Toller whittled these words:

Any idea what is going on here? (I mean, aside from me being a lousy dog
trainer...)

Get the dog BAER tested. Deafness is rarely total, and hearing impairment
can make it difficult to distingish verbal commands. You can't test for
that impairment without a BAER test, other than exactly how you have -
which is the dog has difficuly distinguishing verbal signals.

My herding instructor recently adopted a dog whose owner dumped him
claiming the dog was defiant and /or stupid. A BAER test revealed the
root of the problem. The original owner at least has the grace to be
embarrassed.

--
Diane Blackman
There is no moral victory in proclaiming to abhor violence
while preaching with violent words.
http://dog-play.com/ http://dogplayshops.com/

in article , Toller at wrote
on 9/28/05 4:25 PM:


Turns out my son, without telling me, had been getting her to do these
things with hand signals; since she seemed confused by verbal commands. She
responds to them, even when I do them, pretty well.

Any idea what is going on here? (I mean, aside from me being a lousy dog
trainer...)


What breed is she? What color? She may be deaf.

Regards,


Tracy (owner of 2 deaf dogs!)

"Tracy Doyle" wrote in message
...



in article , Toller at
wrote
on 9/28/05 4:25 PM:


Turns out my son, without telling me, had been getting her to do these
things with hand signals; since she seemed confused by verbal commands.
She
responds to them, even when I do them, pretty well.

Any idea what is going on here? (I mean, aside from me being a lousy dog
trainer...)


What breed is she? What color? She may be deaf.

Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. They would be more popular if they
shortened the name.
She definitely isn't deaf, but I have noticed she is less aural than our
last toller. He could fetch in the dark by the sound; she doesn't seem to
even notice the sound. He was terrified by thunder, she doesn't care. So
while not deaf, she might be impaired.
I will talk to our vet about it. Thanks.

On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 20:55:33 GMT Toller whittled these words:

She definitely isn't deaf, but I have noticed she is less aural than our
last toller.

Without a BAER test you can't know that. A person or dog can be
completely deaf to sounds in one range, partly able to hear sounds in
another range, and reasonably able to hear tones in another range. Very
typical is a dog that cannot adequately hear low tones and so is
unresponsive to the male voice, but can distiguish higher tones and is
therefore more responsive to a woman or child. But the problem can skip
ranges and other variations.

--
Diane Blackman
There is no moral victory in proclaiming to abhor violence
while preaching with violent words.
http://dog-play.com/ http://dogplayshops.com/