... and Merlyn is GORGEOUS! There are a few people on this site with deaf Danes so you'll be in good company! How old is Merlyn? I go to clicker training classes and had a deaf boxer in the class...who is the super star of the class!!! He learned from the the hand signals and the lady used a vibrating collar (not shock collar) for recall/ get attention. Merlyn is so photogenic...keep posting!

He is so cute. I love the head shot.

IS gorgeous! He's got that dirty pink nose like Popper always has! LOL! I always say he's got some bloodhound in him..keeps his nose to the ground all the time! How's that pink skin doing? Has he gotten sunburn yet? I use a little of the kids sunblock stick on Popper's nose and it seems to help when we go play at the park. Hope to meet you out there soon!

You are in good company here, many of us have personal experience with deaf Danes. I think you will find them easy to train, as they really do follow you with their eyes and seem to be more "in tune" with their humans.
Now...training a Dane PUPPY on the other hand...hang in there! :-) There are a few others on here that have experience in that arena! If you can survive the Devil Dog phase, you will be okay when you come out the other side! :-)

He is just precious...I have a soft spot for our white ones!

Sara (Bubba Chad's and Shammy's mom)

You are in good company here, many of us have personal experience with deaf Danes. I think you will find them easy to train, as they really do follow you with their eyes and seem to be more "in tune" with their humans.
Now...training a Dane PUPPY on the other hand...hang in there! :-) There are a few others on here that have experience in that arena! If you can survive the Devil Dog phase, you will be okay when you come out the other side! :-)

He is just precious...I have a soft spot for our white ones!

Sara (Bubba Chad's and Shammy's mom)

to see that beautiful boy! He looks so happy and that does my heart good! Craig and I were just talking about Merlyn last night and wondering about big he must be by now.

I think Merlyn hit devil dog stage the instant he passed from being a baby to a puppy! Maybe that jsut means that he'll grow out of it sooner!

I plan on calling or emailing you guys in the next few days. Forgive me if I don't, I am a bit distract with Ike's medical issues. But, I WILL be contacting you soon!

We would love to hear from you guys! But we understand if that takes some time... we've been following your posts about Ike and you are all in our prayers.

Merlyn is responding well to the hand signals we've been working on. He's still a little mouthy in his play. But he's FINALLY gotten gentle about it... just barely before he got a whole rack of adult weapons in his mouth! Now, he mostly uses Joyce's hands as a pacifier in the evening. I have a picture of him doing that with a look of total bliss on his face... as if his entire brain turned off from the pleasure overload of sucking on her fingers.

He's somewhere north of 80 lbs now. We took him in for neutering today. We hope to have him back this evening. I'll post more pictures when I get back to my photo library at home.

At least no sunburn yet. Thanks for the tip about sunscreen though... that will surely come in handy before too long.

The dirty nose comes from the fact that he likes to DIG in the back yard. And then he sticks his nose in the hole to see if there's any interesting smells down there. It's that devil dog thing. So, every couple days, I go into the back yard, scoop up the poop and fill in the holes with it. He never goes back to a hole filled with poop. Fortunately, with an adult dane, a puppy dane, and a 45 lb mixed breed, there is never a shortage of poop for filling holes. In fact, after the holes are filled, I'm still shoveling it into the trash bins.

And the grass just keeps on getting greener...

Merlyn is a approaching 5 1/2 months old. He's been responsive to the hand signals we are using: No, come, dinnertime, get in your kennel, stop!, sit, watch me. He also has his headstrong moments when he looks away so he can't see the command... it's that devil dog thing. But he does follow us from room to room and lays on our feet when he naps in the family room so he knows if one of us gets up.

We have one significant training issue that we need to seek a little help with. I don't think it is a "deaf" thing... but his deafness makes it more difficult for us to work with. Our adult dane rescue, Max, is a very non-assertive dog (and a little high strung). Merlyn is getting pushy with Max (not agressive... just really pushy about wanting to be in Max's face or invading his space). This agitates Max until he tries to run off. Merlyn seems to think this is play and gives chase. Max gets more agitated. The cycle continues until we intervene to stop it.

We've been trying to moderate Merlyn's behavior... giving him the "NO!" sign when he gets too pushy with Max, squirting with the water bottle when he crowds Max in his kennel, and interposing ourselves between Max and Merlyn and advancing on Merlyn until he backs away.

Things have improved some... but not as much as we would like. So, we are looking for some pointers for moderating Merlyn's behavior to the other dog. I was going to post this issue in the "training tips" folder. I'm just previewing the post over here.

To anyone reading this thread who has had some experience in modifying such behavior... we're receptive to suggestions!

... 5 1/2 and 80 pounds! Wow, he is HUGE!!! I don't have any advice on your pups play style but I'm sure others will if they see it here (you may want to copy it to a new post).

Merlyn is adorable. We adopted our deaf Great Dane also. Her name is Luna. She's so in tune with us, and mostly me. Merlyn will get over his devil dog stage and you'll love how much he keeps his eyes on you. Luna is always watching me when she's not asleep.

Here's a video I took of Luna about 5 months after we got her. http://youtube.com/watch?v=tIKRewNBzF4

Too cute:)

I did send you a short email today. It maybe a bit incoherent... my head isn't on straight these days.

I hope that I will be able to visit Merlyn in the near future. He looks wonderful! I can't thank you enough for giving him a fabulous home!

We got Merlyn back from the vet today after having him neutered (everything went well). I underestimated... he weighed in at 94 lbs. And I have no idea where he's keeping it... that wasp-waisted picture of him taking the ball from Joyce's hands were taken on Sunday!

He must be made of neutronium.

..but I, too, have a devil dog. He torments my Chihuahua to the point that she runs away and hides from him. I have to let her go outside to potty alone before I let the other two out or he'll nip at her back so she can't even go. She took on the role of his adopted mommy when I brought him home, playing with him as well as disciplining him...guess she didn't realize she would fit in his mouth one day! I look forward to seeing the advice you get.

I'm really happy to hear his neuter went well!

I love seeing pics of this guy! He is so cute and handsome! :)
Janet
Mother to Duke and Misty

I'd love to see Merlyn and Luna together...that would be fun! Love Luna's squishy face and that pink nose!!!!

Both too cute!

Ellen, Loyd and of course Jinxie!

who adopted a deaf Dane (who also has vision anomalies), and am so happy i took that unknown leap of faith. before i got her, i tried to imagine how different she would be and what problems would need to be worked out. the answer - None! most people would never know GiGi (Garbo) is deaf although those who look closely at her eyes do ask if she's blind, which she is not totally. like others who are deaf, she doesn't know she has these defects so just acts like a regular hearing, sighted dog. you've probably found things the same with Merlyn. he's such a gorgeous boy! no doubt he'll end up being a very special guy, and you'll give thanks everyday that he's such a large part of your life. Congratulations on adopting him!
doris