Hunting Washington Forum
Other Hunting => Bird Dogs => Topic started by: Labs07 on October 31, 2018, 03:26:33 PM
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So I have a 12yr old lab that I am still hunting with. We hunt half days for upland game. So here is the situation.... I just noticed that over the past month or so that he is completely deaf. Wondering if anyone has some tips they could pass along to me to keep him safe while I hunt with him. He can't hear the whistle, collar beeper or my voice anymore but still gets the birds up and retrieves great.
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Being deaf for a dog is like being a deaf human hunter - imposes some limits but not a deal breaker (that would be blindness for a human or loss of sense of smell for a dog). Consider getting a telemetry collar and receiver like hound hunters use to find their dogs, that way if he gets lost you can go to him.
We have a nonhunting dog in her 14th year that has weak hips, is mostly blind and mostly deaf. She does just fine with her sense of smell only. She trips and stumbles some, but as long as she's not incontinent, not in pain and eating well we'll let her go as long as she can.
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I think dogs adapt well to the hearing loss. Use hand signals if he was taught them. We used to waive our dog back like you would wave a person to come your way. Left , right and back were already known. Come back or here didn't take long to mlm learn. Good luck and enjoy the time out with him!!
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Thanks guys..... he does know some hand signals so I will work with him some more with those. This is probably his last year hunting....he just is not as strong and his stamina is not very good any more.
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I also had a bird dog that went deaf. I went to a training collar with a vibrate feature and then worked with the dog to know that when he felt the vibration that he should stop and look towards me for some type of hand signal. My biggest worry for an upland pointing dog was not having that Whoa command to use if the dog was heading toward a road or cliff or some other danger. Over time he learned to stop at the buzz and it allowed me to hunt him for several more years before retiring him. Hope this is helpful
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Train him to respond to the buzz/vibration on the collar?
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X3 on the vibration collar, it works so well on experienced dogs, exactly what I would do. That said if you have not had the dog to the vet have it looked at for ear infections or other things that may hamper hearing. Yes, I am aware hunting dogs are prone to going deaf, but looking at it will not hurt.
Best of luck to you and you dog to another season together making memories....try to bring a camera out with you a couple times if this may be the last season :tup:
