MARLEE'S SPECIAL NEEDS

DEAF DOGS

Marlee is deaf

Marlee's deafness actually has very little effect on her. There are two main changes in her training and environment.

1. She cannot be let loose.
Marlee must be kept in a fenced yard. That was one of the main stipulations of the shelter when we adopted her - that we have a fenced in yard.
Marlee must always be on a leash when out walking her. If she were to get away there would be no way to communicate with her at a distance.

2. Marlee's communication is mostly visual.
Marlee must be able to see you to "hear" you. Since she is trained with hand signals you must get in front of her to communicate with her or get her to look at you.
One way we solve this is to stomp on the ground. This gets her attention and she looks at you - then you can communicate with her. If she is in another room we must go to her to communicate, we can't just yell at her.
This is not such a bad thing.

Other than that Marlee has trained fairly easily. She knows many commands, probably as many as the "average" dog.
Some deaf dogs are known to be trained in as many as words. Since Marlee is shy, it is somewhat more difficult to train her, but she is obedient.

When we first adopted Marlee, we looked for resources to help us. One of the best we found was the Deaf Dog Education Action Fund (DDEAF) whose web site is located here:

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Marlee's Memberships

Humane Animal Welfare Society of Waukesha Alumna

Deaf Dog Education Action Fund

The Humane Society of the United States