Our new puppy Merlyn is deaf. He is 5 1/2 months old and 94 lbs (all muscle). He was neutered just today (6/23/08). 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 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.
We have two other dogs in the house. One is a 45 lb mixed breed female who stands her ground with Merlyn and he givers her space. However, our other dog, a neutered adult male dane named Max, is a very non-assertive dog (and a little high strung). As a result, it seems that Merlyn is getting pushy with Max to establish himself in the pack. Not overly agressive... just really pushy about wanting to be in Max's face or invading his space. This manifests in ways like following Max into his kennel to crowd him, or getting up into Max’s face. This agitates Max until he tries to run off. Merlyn then 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 when Merlyn gets pushy and advancing on him to make him back away. It’s gotten to the point that Merlyn will stop the behavior the moment he sees us enter the room. But we’d like to get to the point where the behavior doesn’t start... it would be less stressful for Max
Things have improved some as we’ve worked to moderate their interaction... there are times when Merlyn acts much more responsibly toward Max. But we would like to make more progress. So, we are looking for some pointers for fine-tuning Merlyn's behavior toward the other dog. We suspect that the earlier in Merlyn's life that we solve this problem, the easier it will be.
To anyone reading this thread who has had some experience in modifying such behavior... we're receptive to suggestions!
