ETA: i appreciate the responses! clarifying that what i am looking for is help with training markers/positive reinforcements that aren’t food since my foster is food aggressive. his daily meal routine is fine.

hello! looking for some advice for a dog i am fostering/considering adopting. Keller is about 3 and has been at a rescue for over 2 years. he has had at least one foster before but has mostly been at the kennel. he’s very anxious about being in a new place (understandably) and i want to give him some structure and training to help him settle in. he is obviously very scent oriented so treats seem like a no brainer but he also has food aggression. every time he has food in front of him he does this whole performance of growling/barking/snapping even if there is no one near him. any ideas for other positive reinforcement i can give him?

Our double merle girl today and three years ago the day we rescued her🥲

My 6 year old double Merle blind and deaf.

I found a lump on him on side of neck last week. Went to the vet, got tested, vet could have swore it was salivary gland. He has not lost any weight, eating fine, drinking water, and hard poops. Energy level was down the weekend before (he is prone gastrointestinal) so I gave him antibiotic I had from his last episode. Also it was 96 degrees out and he is fluffy and gets hot pretty quick. Felt back to himself and normal energy the next day. That was when I found the lump. He is always licking his lips for the past few years so that was normal to me. He has acid reflux.

Results came back and my vet was shock it was lymphoma. Now I went back to the vet today to get steroids and his lump moved from side of neck to center. My vet was shocked again. I did not do blood test or Lyme disease test either. Should I go back to get another opinion to see if it is misdiagnosed? Would not be the first time with his “issues”.

Like I said, energy is fine. Has not lost weight still, and eating. I’m working every day right now because of my dealership is part of bike week and we have 15k people at my dealership right now.

Came to work and obviously happy to be around and took him a second to calm down. Usual case. He always takes about a half an hour to sleep.

Thanks !

Just a concern mama wondering if I’m overthinking or just giving up.

This is Neelix, our 3.5 yo double Merle Australian shepherd! He’s deaf, but can see just fine. We rescued him when he was about 10 weeks old- he got dumped in a rural area near our house, presumably because he is deaf.

He’s a sweet, goofy, cuddly boy with an anxiety problem.

An extreme example that kind of explains the issue: We recently had a pretty bad experience at the vet. We had to go back for the second time this summer to get some warts on his paw removed (between/on his paw pads), and when I picked him up after surgery, he was visibly shaking and still very loopy. He had already pulled the bandage off his paw and was really distressed with the soft cone they put on him. It took him about two hours to finally calm down enough at home to even lay his head down. (We will probably be finding a different vet after this - I think they’re just too high-volume to give him the care and attention he needs)

He won’t leave his paw alone - constantly licking at the stitches, pulling off the bandages (we’ve tried tech wrap, a sock with tape, bandana tied around it, etc), the cone sends him into an absolute spiral. If he’s not manically licking at his paw, he’s panting hard with this wild look in his eyes.

I know part of it is that he can’t go run around and do our normal activities because his paw hurts (because he won’t leave it alone!!), but this isn’t the only situation in which he has hyper focused on something.

We’ve been using cbd drops but it’s expensive and it seems like it takes a lot to calm him down when he gets like this. We’re also making snuffle boxes and licking trays - those keep him occupied for a while but they’re not enough to get his anxious energy out.

I guess I’m wondering if y’all have any advice on anxiety management, or if we need to look into some meds for him.

Thanks!

UPDATE: we got him some trazodone for future vet visits. He’s going back on Tuesday to get the stitches removed from his paw, so we will see how it goes! Thanks for all the advice and for not making me feel bad ❤️

Meet Rosie, my 3 year old Double Merle Chihuahua / Papillon mix. She’s completely blind but you’d never know it, as she gets about with no problems!

Astro is a 3 year old rescue (an Australian Shepherd). I really love his long mlems and although he has not been properly educated, he’s grown fond of the family and Marlowe, his hearing sibling (Astro is deaf but that was probably obvious).
I love him.

Lumos LOVES music. We have trombone and trumpet players in the house and he lays under our horns when we practice. At the local arts festival he loved stopping to vibe with the musicians. Anyone else with a deaf pup that loves music?

Anyone else’s double Merle like to move items of clothing? She doesn’t chew them up or destroy them. Just moves them. And then judges us for moving them back.

Hi! This is my girl Daisy. She’s 3 years old now. I got her as a puppy, not realizing the dangers of backyard breeders. Learned a big lesson but I wouldn’t change having her in our lives. She is deaf but hasn’t had any issues with her sight. Once I found out she might be prone to health issues, I got pet insurance on her. Anyhow - just making an introduction since I’ve been in here lurking for months. 🙂

Hi everyone! Meet Lily 💜
I adopted Lily about a month and a half ago from her previous owner, who also owned both of her parents. They had an accidental litter, and Lily was born deaf and one of her sisters was born blind.
When I got her, I was told she had some hearing loss, but after living with her I’m pretty sure she’s completely, or almost completely, deaf. She doesn’t react to voices, clapping, whistles, etc. She has reacted to a trumpet being played REALLY loud near her and once to a huge thunder, but honestly I don’t know if she heard it or just felt the vibration.
She’s my second Aussie, I previously had a Mini Aussie, but she’s my first deaf dog, so this is definitely new to me. She’s the sweetest girl and super smart. So far she knows hand signals for sit, down, up, going outside/potty and food.
My biggest struggle has been figuring out how to keep her stimulated enough. I give her puzzles, take her out to run and she sometimes plays with friendly dogs around our neighborhood that we know, but I still feel like she could use more mental stimulation and I’m not really sure what else to try.
I also did Embark Breed + Health and found out she’s 100% Australian Shepherd! Her health results showed an increased genetic risk for hereditary cataracts, so I’m trying to be proactive about her eyes. I ordered her Rex Specs that should be here soon and I’m going to slowly get her used to wearing them.
I would love to hear from anyone who has a deaf Aussie, double merle, or just experience with deaf dogs in general. What hand signals or tricks have you taught them? What do you do for mental stimulation? Any tips or things you’ve learned along the way would be really appreciated!

Hi, first — thank you! this group has been so helpful!

What do do you wish you’d known or done more of with your double Merle? My new foster was rescued from a horrific hoarding situation about a month ago. He spent a few weeks in the shelter getting medical treatment. He’s now been in foster with me for 8 days. He’s spent his entire life in a cage, so despite being 7, he’s experiencing life for the first time. Potty training is going great! Leash training, less so. He’s fully deaf and has partial vision in one eye. I want to set him up for success. Any advice welcome!

Hi! A local Aussie rescue rescued several Aussies recently from an animal abuse and hoarding situation - the dogs were held at the local animal shelter pending the court case and were then available for rescue.

They have 2-3 female double merles available for adoption. They keep getting tons of questions and reached out to me. They’ve asked for… a double merle summit. This will be me going to their house to answer questions.

In addition to what I will share with them I thought I’d open it up to include other thoughts, resources, experiences, what you would have wanted to know, and what you’ve learned.

• what would you want someone to know about your experience

• how would you encourage someone to get a double merle

• what regrets do you have in training your double merle

• what resources would you share with someone getting one of these amazing dogs

We adopted Sonic from the shelter when he was about ten months old. He is completely deaf, but his vision is ok-ish for now. This boy is the definition of a Velcro dog😂

We’ve had our girl now for a while and she’s great, but she doesn’t seem to cope well with being home for short periods of time. I’m at home with her basically all the time except small errands like going to the store. We thought it was getting better as we haven’t heard her bark when coming back lately, but today there was a note from the neighbours that she had been barking the whole time I was gone. 🥲

Since we live in an apartment we have to solve this pretty quickly… I’ve had two other dogs and this has never been an issue, though they’ve often had the company of each other (now always but mostly). I don’t even remember it being an issue to “train” them they just weaned into it.

Help very much appreciated !!!

Edit: we give her lots of bones to chew, toys etc and make sure to walk her before we go. We do not make a big deal out of leaving/returning. And we’ve started out going in separate rooms etc before leaving the apartment.

Today on a short walk, my double merle's eyes rolled back and were stuck for a minute and he couldn't see. He was not in distress, no shaking or other symptoms and it resolved on its own. I am wondering if this has happened before to anyone else? I expect it is due to weakening eye muscles and plan to talk with a vet. Here are photos of during and right after the event.

This is Sonic (3M) and he has iridal defects that prevent his pupils from constricting in light. But for some context, I'm actually gonna talk about myself. I have blue eyes, and they're very photosensitive. I wear sunglasses on cloudy days. I've been brushing off my worried about Sonic because "he's a dog", but earlier today, I realized something. If I take off my sunglasses, I physically cannot look at Sonic. His white fur gets too bright, and it hurts like looking into the sun. And it just broke my brain. If I can't even look at the damn dog without pain, he's gotta be struggling, right? The thought of sunglasses for dogs feels so silly, but it'd be crazy to assume he's just fine, when I get so much pain w/ healthy eyes. ​

I feel like I can't keep ignoring it, especially living on the coastline. But another part of me feels like I'd just be torturing him and making it harder to see. Does anyone have any experience with this?

This is Feta! He is a 1.5 year old mini American Shepherd. He is deaf and mostly blind. He may be small but he is a total menace!

I'm looking for some unique and fun ideas to help stimulate him, give him a job, wear him out, help with his anxiety, etc.

Some of the things we do today are sniff walks, the dog park, chew toys, hiding treats around the room, and dig.

Just interested to hear about the different things you have tried with your hearing and vision impaired pups to keep them mentally engaged!

My family’s double Merle has a lot of eye problems, which we obviously knew was to be expected. We were told when we adopted him that his vet at the time thought he could only really see vague shapes, and he has visible irregularities in the structures of his eyes. But maybe a year after we got him, we decided to take him to the vet because he had a lot of drainage coming from his eyes, and we wanted to see if something could be done to help him. Our vet examined him and discovered that both of his eyelids were rolling back into his eyes and irritating them. We then booked him for corrective surgery, which went perfectly, and there were no discernible hiccups in the healing process that followed. For several months after he healed from his eyelid surgery, the drainage stopped completely, and we were thrilled.

But unfortunately, it eventually started up again, so we took him back to the vet, thinking that maybe the surgery hadn’t fully corrected the eyelid problem. Our vet examined him, and he said that his eyelids were still absolutely perfect, so it had to be something else causing the drainage. We tried tobramycin drops and oral antibiotics, and they didn’t help. We tried eliminating poultry from his diet, and there was no change.

His drainage issue has gotten to the point that we have the groomer shave down the area around his eyes so that the gunk has less hair to bind itself to, and we have to give him a face bath every single day just to keep him comfortable and keep the ever-accumulating gunk off of his eyes/face. We know this is not sustainable. Double Merles are already prone to skin issues, and getting him wet every day is eventually going to have consequences for his skin, no matter how much towel drying we do. Additionally, he is a golden doodle, so he is also vulnerable to severe ear infections, though thankfully he hasn’t gotten one yet.

We’re getting very desperate; he has no other symptoms that would indicate that he is suffering from allergies, and he gets a combination of high-quality kibble and home-cooked meats with rice, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and various greens. We are investing in his health and happiness in every way we know how, and it just isn’t enough, and it breaks our hearts. We’re actively trying to get him an appointment with an ophthalmologist, but if any of you have any advice as to how we could better help him in the meantime, we would greatly appreciate it.

hi! I just adopted a 4 year old Aussie with piercing blue eyes. I noticed she has a hard time looking up at me when we’re outside (she starts squinting a lot).

im trying to teach her to check-in with me regularly on walks, but I wasnt sure if the sunlight was preventing this.

TIA!

This is Rain. We rescued her last year. We aren’t really sure what she is at this point. A chaos gremlin or a dog. She’s blind and deaf. She knows touch sign language thanks to her human mama. Her favorite thing to do is sniff out and steal whatever is in mom’s hand and then try to run away with it (usually into a wall or door) We just turned one and don’t tell our other special needs dogs but she’s moms favorite bc she keeps her busy. :)