Before we had brought Travis home form Battersea, we knew that we had a Challenge on our hands. We had been out and purchased a copy of Barry Eaton’s book “Hear, Hear”. This had given us the confidence that ”Yes - we could do this”. After a very noisy trip home in the car where he did not stop barking (probably with excitement), he was soon feeling at home. He played in the garden with Baz our Black & White WSD, and he and Lucy, our little white WSD cross took a shine to each other. It was clear they were going to be friends. Travis watched and followed Lucy all the time. Battersea’s assertion that a Deaf Dog had to go to a home with other dogs turned out to be such a true statement.
We have 4 other dogs, and when we took them out for a run, Travis watched them all the time, and whilst we did not let him off the lead, we got the feeling that if we did he would not go far.
We covered all options by giving him a signal to come to us and the giving him a treat when he came. He also took a fancy to a tuggy toy, so sometimes when we signalled him and he came to us, we had a game with him. We did this when he was out an on the lead., when he was off lead in the garden, and when he was with us in the house. He soon got the idea.
Rather than let him off the lead completely, we purchased a long lunge line, and took the plunge to let him run free in an exercise area which was enclosed. The idea was that if he did not come back to us, we could grab hold of the lunge line or stand on it as he ran passed and so get him back.
We need not have worried, as he had extremely strong herding instincts, and was continually trying to round up our other dogs, and also run in and nip Lucy. He came straight back to us almost every time we gave him the “Come” signal. It was clear that he wanted to be with us, and he soon learnt to come to us and sit if we held his lead up. He would always (without fail) get a treat or have a tuggy game each and every time he came to us.
We also had the use of a village hall, which we shared with friends every Wednesday afternoon. It may sound strange, but Clare used a “Clicker Training” method with him. Not with a Clicker, but initially with a little fob torch, where instead of an audible click, he saw a visible flash of the torch. After a while we gave up on the torch and instead started using a “thumbs up” clicker sign, followed by throwing him a treat.
One of the other important things we taught him early on was to look at us. We would give him a sign with 2 fingers pointing towards our eyes, and reward him when he looked at us.
Once we were happy with him being off the lead, we felt we could start some basic Agility Foundation training. Along the lines of what Gregg Derrett teaches in his Foundation video, we started some basic Agility training with Travis. Until he was 12 months old we only did the rigid tunnel, and jumps with the poles on the ground. We wanted him to be happy around the equipment, and gave him plenty of tuggy games.
Travis was keen to do Obedience and Agility, and it was not long before he was offering behaviour. We had done the rigid tunnel a few times, and after each successful attempt we played tuggy with him. I then moved a few jumps ready for a lesson I was taking later, and discovered that Travis was no longer by my side. I looked around and he was running across the course to go through the tunnel on his own, and then come to me asking for a game. He was duly rewarded. It was clear that he wanted to do things, and he wanted to learn.
Travis had been in Battersea for over 3 months, and was suffering from muscle wastage. A combination of exercise, and a diet of “Oscars” Stamina and Muscle Building food soon changed his scrawny looking physique to one with a distinct muscle line.
As Agility trainers, we have always emphasised the importance of visual commands and body language. One of the exercises we often do with hearing dogs is to set a short, but relatively complicated, combination of obstacles, and get the handlers to run it without giving their dogs any verbal or other audible commands such as clapping their hands. We have almost always found that the dogs ran it better this way than when the handlers used verbal / audible commands. We have normally put this down to the audible commands contradicting the visual or body language commands. (How many times have we pointed towards the tunnel and said “Go On - Tyre”, or something similar).
For a Deaf Dog - Body Language is paramount, and on many occasions has to be over emphasised to the point of being ridiculous. The other key thing as far as training is concerned is to be “Inventive”. Use Trial and Error. Don’t approach things with pre-conceived ideas. Be adventurous and be prepared to be different. Training Travis has been one of the most rewarding and exhilarating things we have ever done. We have absolutely no regrets about taking him on. ......Here’s to “Triffic Travis”.
