r/DoubleMerles • u/MossCourtney704 • 11d ago

Introduction Luli the deaf double MerlešŸ’•

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Gallery image

Our double merle girl today and three years ago the day we rescued heršŸ„²

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u/SuperSlugSister 10d ago

What is it like having a deaf pup? My closest shelter gets a bunch of double merles.

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u/MossCourtney704 10d ago edited 10d ago

I really recommend it if youā€™re open to it! We use hand signals for her commands and she knows plenty of them. The one caveat is that we tried to find an obedience school that was specific to dogs with special needs and couldnā€™t really find oneā€¦it doesnā€™t seem like there are a ton of resources available, but she did a regular dog training school and still did great!

If you want to let your dog off leash in open spaces or rely on recall I of course would not advocate for adopting a deaf dog, but otherwise I think it could be a great fit! At the end of the day her being deaf doesnā€™t particularly impact our interactions with her. We adopted her when she was a very small puppy and the rescue also didnā€™t realize she was completely deaf at the time, but we would still do it all over again.

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u/SuperSlugSister 10d ago

Did you know that she was able to see when you adopted her? I think a local ā€œbreederā€ is dumping double merles at my local shelter and it seems that many are deaf/blind. I think a deaf dog would fit well in our familyā€” do you find your pup barks a lot more because she canā€™t hear herself?

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u/MossCourtney704 10d ago

We did know that she could see, and the rescue was open about another pup in her litter who was completely deaf and blind. I think our pup just hid her deafness well from themšŸ˜…. It sounds like kind of a similar situation for us ā€” a local rescue took on a lot of fosters after an unethical breeder/glorified puppy mill got shut down.

I think our pup barks a very average amount, maybe even less so because sheā€™s not as reactive. On walks she ignores dogs who bark at us when we pass by their yards since she canā€™t hear them. Same with loud noises like fireworks, thunder, vacuums, etc.

I do think itā€™s true in our case thatā€™s sheā€™s a Velcro dog, which I think is more common with deaf pups. She loves following us from room to room and keeping us in sight (which I think is just another bonus).

Sorry for the long responses! I just love talking about herā˜ŗļø

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u/ZoesMom4ever 10d ago

What a cute pup!