If we're lucky enough to have them live to old age, there comes a point when most of our canine companions begin to lose their hearing and may eventually become deaf. It's painful to watch a beloved dog become less and less responsive to their environment because they are unaware of what's going on around them, and even more so when it limits your ability to communicate with them. The thought of a hearing-impaired dog wandering off and not being able to hear your calls is frightening and frustrating. I speak from experience as I am the owner of a 16 year old profoundly deaf and now going blind Cocker Spaniel. She frequently follows the first pair of legs that crosses her eye line and then goes after them at some speed. I then have to run as fast as I can to catch up with her and guide her back on the lead.
Here are some things you can do if your dog's hearing and sight isn't what it used to be:
Use hand signals. Now that my dog has reached the old-age-can't-hear stage I appreciate having taught her basic hand signals as well as verbal cues. Since dogs communicate primarily through body language, hand signals are easy to teach, especially if you do it when your dog can still hear well. As your dog ages, it's a great opportunity to expand your visual cue vocabulary.And, of course, a pocketful of treats goes a long way in the training session.
One of the more common sense ways to make sure they don't lose sight of you is by
carrying a little flashing light. I am currently carrying a flashing red light - the type that is used on a bicycle. It works a treat and the dog can spot me in a crowd of people.
Keeping them on a long extendable lead will stop them from wandering off and gives them the freedom and stimulus to sniff out and read those all important dog blogs and pee mails.
Run interference at home.
This is all about management. If you have a multi-dog household, one or more of your other dogs may get irritated when your geriatric pal doesn't respond quickly enough because they don't hear them, and therefore don't look and notice the other dogs' body language.
Try and prevent encounters that cause tension due to this lack of hearing and subsequent lack of response. This also includes keeping potential problem dogs separated when you are not at home. Like toddlers they can fight and squabble. They pick on the old one and it all ends in tears!
Food
Elderly dogs often get beaten up by fitter dogs at meal times. They will intimidate an older dog by standing near by and staring intensely at them, making the old dog back away from their dish of food. This gives the other dogs a chance to gobble the food. Separate the elderly dog from the others at meal times to give them a fair chance of getting something to eat.
Tender loving care
I don't need to spell this out but some TLC goes a long way in making your geriatric dog's twilight years as comfortable and enjoyable as possible.
Trivia..........belated Happy Birthday, HRH Queen Liz! (from the author of this blog).
There are lots of things to love about the Queen. 91 years, in fact. Which is a pretty lucky considering that last week on 21st April, she celebrated her 91st birthday. You can read the full list of her admirable qualities in all the newspapers and magazines but these are my personal highlights:
She always dresses like she's ready to crash a wedding
She's great at opening bridges and cutting ribbons
She has an excellent grumpy face
She can punish people for eating swans
She loves a good flutter on the gee gees
Tell me of any 91 year old who goes horse riding
This is especially for all those cat lovers out there who complain that I never post anything about cats!
Have an enjoyable April/May and if you are going on holiday, have a wonderful time.
Dawn (...)
