I think Penny is losing her hearing.

I know that some of us have, shall we say, hearing-challenged pugs. So I'm looking for suggestions and help. I noticed it coming home on The Trip, and it seems to have gotten worse. Used to be when she was having a barky-bark attack, I would say "Penny, quiet," and she'd turn around and look at me while barking. Now no response. Used to be she would hear the sound of a piece of kibble hitting the floor two rooms away. Now she doesn't. Used to be she would hear Maggie the Honda driving up and be waiting at the door. Now I have to come into the apartment and wake her up. She used to be my little doorbell, now she doesn't react to people at the door. Nor does she react to dogs barking in the courtyard (used to set her off like crazy). Now she has to see things like people or dogs in the courtyard. She still responds when I do the high-pitched "Penny Lane! Wanna go walkie?" or "Are you hungry?" It hasn't slowed her down - she still marches around the marina and the compex, demanding tribute from her subjects, and she's still my little velcro pug, though. Her dogtor checked her ears out thoroughly and said that her canals and eardrums are just fine. I'm cleaning her ears out twice a week (with her baf) with 3 parts water, 1 part vinegar, but they're pretty clean. Those of us who have pugs (or other breeds) who have lost all or some of their hearing, how do you handle it? Any ideas or suggestions?

I haven't faced that with either of my guys, but one of my best friends has 2 geriatric Australian shepherds. They'll be 16 next month. One is losing both his vision and his hearing. She tries to keep playing to the senses that he does have left. For him, tactile seems to be becoming his greatest pleasure, so he gets more and longer lovin' and rubbin' and huggin'.

Since Penny seems to be losing her hearing, I wouldn't worry too much about that-- I'd just make sure that she's still fulfilled in other ways. Penny Lane? Oh yeah, she's fulfilled!

Angel did that too, and I have to speak louder for her to hear me. She also sleeps much more soundly, where I practically have to pick her up to wake her up (nudges, calling her, etc. doesn't do anything). This last week or so she's been barking and screaming more often.

It's just a fact of getting old I suppose.

No advise...just that I can identify. And it sucks.

A hug and kiss to Ms. Penny Lane!

TxAllieGrl wrote:Angel did that too, and I have to speak louder for her to hear me. She also sleeps much more soundly, where I practically have to pick her up to wake her up (nudges, calling her, etc. doesn't do anything). This last week or so she's been barking and screaming more often.

It's just a fact of getting old I suppose.

No advise...just that I can identify. And it sucks.

A hug and kiss to Ms. Penny Lane!

It does suck. It is a stark reminder that she is not getting any younger (and neither am I). She's forever my girl, still.

Both Bailey and Betty have been deaf for more than a year now. I actually was happy Betty was deaf this past month as they have been doing dry rot work on my condo and it has been "Bang,bang,bang" all day. She did bark when she could feel the vibrations tho.

I now have to touch her to get her attention to get her to stop. I usually use 3 fingers as a sign to stop barking and she is pretty good about it. I find she is also more velcro, I think because she doesn't want to lose me.

When it is time to go potty, I motion for her and she comes.

Bailey needs to see me more consistently. He also "talks" which he never did when he could hear and walk. It's great cause it lets me know when he wants water or to go potty.

They really do adapt amazingly well. But it really does suck that they are getting older. Ms. B is now 14 and Bailey 14 1/2. I hate that part

Now that you mention it, she does want to keep me in her sight at all times. Her dogtor thinks that she's probably about 12 or so now. I'm just grateful that she's staying spry and spunky otherwise.

Daisy the geriatric BT (and Hattie's personal heat cushion) was deaf for some years. As was her predecessor Annie. Please PM me if you think I might be able to offer any sort of useful advice. And hugs to Penny from all of us here.

You could try pairing a visual signal with a verbal one while she still has enough hearing to be able to make the connection - lots of dogs used for TV/movies know many, many hand signals, so this shouldn't be hard to do.

When I had a dog who gradually went blind, I was able to use voice commands paired with what she could still see; when she could no longer see, the voice commands were so natural to her that it was an easy transition. You could do something similar with Penny, pairing hand and voice to the same end.

I hope her hearing doesn't deteriorate much more, but as long as she's healthy, there's always a way to adapt to anything. I know my blind dog surprised me for years with what she could do and sense - I'm sure Penny can, too.

Both Pugsly and Taz were deaf when they passed away. Pugsly went deaf first, and he would always position himself where he could keep an eye on me so he knew what was going on. I would often gently tough him when I was leaving the room because he would also fall asleep easily. I could wave my hand to motion for him to follow me, and he would which was cute. Since they were both older, I really did not try to teach them any hand signals.

Thanks, all. We're working on some hand signals, and she is surprising me how fast she is picking them up. What I'm noticing is that she does hear me when it is quiet, but has a hard time discriminating from background noises. The good news is that she's still being my perfect diva.

I grew up with mostly deaf dogs since my dad bred dalmatians and harlequin danes. He kept every deaf puppy from any litter. We trained with hand signals and taught all of our deaf dogs to watch us like hawks. All of our floors were wooden so if we needed to get someone's attention, we stomped on the floor and the vibration made them turn to look at us. My shih tzu foster is deaf as a post. Interestingly, we never hear him bark except in his sleep. I guess he hears in his dreams. I use touch with him and stomp the floor or the deck. He also has fairly impaired vision (only one eye and cataracts in the one remaining) so I haven't worked hard on hand signals with him, but do use touch alot. At 12 years of age, I'm only expecting so much from him and he's well behaved in any case.
Some dogs barking becomes worse when they become deaf--my border collie cross, Scout, was that way. She became a really fierce barker as she got deaf--but we did work with her--I have always used hand signals with my dogs as well a words and it got somewhat better. I think part of the reason she barked is the only thing she could hear was her own barking in her head.

Rhoda (age 12) has been completely deaf for quite a while now. She knows quite a few hand gestures (sit, come, down, stay, and "let's go outside!"), which helps tremendously.

The incredibly sound sleeping was the hardest thing for me to get used to. Waking her up from a deep sleep can be HARD. It's really scared me a few times because she can be completely unresponsive when I try to wake her. But I remember when I used to work at a service dog program for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people, many of them would say that they sleep deeply and unbelievably soundly too -- something about how little sounds around the house or outside can cause a hearing person to go into lighter stages of sleep throughout the night, but Deaf folks don't hear those sounds and can thus get into a REALLY deep sleep. I think that's what's happening with Rhoda now.

There's one terrific advantage to having a deaf pug, though -- I can finally watch Animal Planet if Rhoda is snoozing on the couch! She used to wake from a dead sleep to woof at any animals she heard on TV, but now ... nothin'!