My poor old dog, he's a flat coat retriever and pushing 13 years old, has seemingly gone deaf. Thinking back, it happened over several months. I had never thought of it, but it's probably a part of growing old for dogs as well as humans. We have to make sure he's never out of eyesight when out of the fenced yard. Poor thing, he's as sweet as ever, but he probably wonders why we don't talk to him anymore. He is good at reading body language and gestures though. How common is it for dogs to go deaf? this is the first dog I've ever had during old age.

-- Joan Murray (alandjoan@juno.com), October 23, 2001

Answers

My parent have a boston terrier who has been deaf since birth. At first we thought she was just very stubborn (although she is that, too). We have hand signals for sit, no, down, eat, walk, and come. She has a very odd bark (I guess like many people who have been since birth speak differently). I have known of many dogs who slowly go deaf with age. Just one of those things, I guess. Definitely be careful when he's out of the fenced yard. A vet once told us that most deaf dogs don't live past three years because they tend to get hit by cars.

-- Elizabeth (lividia66@aol.com), October 23, 2001.

Our dog, Australian Shepard and Border Collie mix, was such a gentle dog. One day, about 15 years ago, while visiting our oldest daughter, we let Amy out in the back yard. She was always good about staying there and came when called.

When we went to let her in, no Amy. We called and called and yet she did not come. Finally, we went looking for her and found her just down the street. When we saw her, we called. She did not even turn her head. That is when we realized she was deaf.

She then developed arthritis and at the age of 16 began to lose control of her bodily functions. One morning when I got up, there she was, lying in a mess that she could not help (this had been going on for a while) she looked up at me with those big brown eyes and they said enough. When we would take her out in the winter, she would just lay down. You could tell the cold was going right through to her bones. She also had a difficult time going up the stairs...carried her mostly.

Anyway, she looks up at me and I know it is time for her. The hardest thing I have ever done was to take her to the vet to be put to sleep.

One thing to keep in mind. It was not the loss of hearing that was the problem. It was the other things that happen in old age. From the time we realized she was deaf until we put her to sleep, it was about 4 years.

Animals are like people (at least I think so, except in many cases nicer) and they age. Older people (now a days that means my husband and myself) still get along well with their infirmities, (don't have any yet and keep a positive outlook, besides, I am to ornery and just won't allow any).

Your dog should be fine and I am sure he will know that you are there and still love him.

-- Cordy (ckaylegian@aol.com), October 23, 2001.

Wow. I thought australian shepards had a lot shorter life than 16 years. Our old dog is 13 and she has bad times and good times but the bad times are starting to outweigh the good times. Sickness lasts longer. I need to take her outside (if she barks or not) every hour on the hour.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), October 23, 2001.

Our 14 year old pitbull just went deaf in the last few months, when I want to tell her something I stomp on the floor she feels the vibration and looks at me.Once she starts barking she is hard to stop [ she cant hear herself or us telling her to hush]so another stomp gets her to hush.begining to feel like a clogger.We love her though.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), October 25, 2001.

Our neighbors old dog was deaf, and trotted safely the nearly half mile down the road between the house and orchard. Jiggs felt the vibrations of vehicles and veered off into the grass. He was nearly blind, too, but kept on safely and happily for years.

-- Cora-Vee Caswell (coravee@locl.net), October 25, 2001.

Terrible thing for a dog, and it doesn't have to be old age as mentioned earlier. My 'Friday', a shep/chow/golden mix is only 7yrs, and we have seen a change in her ability to hear in the last few months. It could be genetic thing, but we don't know. She knows the sound of my car, and she bolts at lightning. We keep her close, she's on my foot as I type.

-- Kathy (catfish201@hotmail.com), October 25, 2001.

My 16 year old terrier started to go deaf late in her 14th year. By her 16th year, she was very very hard of hearing. She too would become aware of a person's presence through the vibration of the floor as someone walked. She was also having changes in the eyes with old age that made it hard for her to see well and saw more in terms of dark and light than details.

We always kept an eye on her anyway and had a fenced yard to keep her safe, we dealt with the hearing problems largely through exaggerated arm and hand gestures. She'd lived with us so long that she caught on to these quite quickly as to what we wanted her to do. We also learned to shorten what we said to her -- instead of asking "Do you want to go for a ride in the car?" we would simply say "CAR" loud enough for her to hear. She knew what that meant, as well as "DINNER", "TREAT", "BED TIME" and so on. She definitely could hear better in rooms that did not have hard surfaces (too much echo) and when there was no surface noise, such as no television, radio, fan, etc.

Hopefully your old dog will learn to cope with this as well.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), October 25, 2001.

Had our old german shepherd put to sleep this past summer. She became deaf about a year ago. She could hear very high pitched sounds but no usual talking to here. Just use to get right up to her with the hand signals and she did fine. Her sight was going too so that became even more difficult for all of us and her too. I suppose dogs get a little senile too with age. Good Luck with your pet..enjoy him !!

-- Helena (windyacs@npacc.net), October 26, 2001.

I wonder whether it's time to start bringing up a replacement (or more properly, allowing the old dog to break-in a new one). That would mean that the new would be a link with the old when the old one passes on. Sometimes it seems to be a relief to an older dog to have a younger one taking up "his duties": once he knows the young one is doing whatever he used to in the way of guarding or patrolling, he relaxes and just enjoys life. This isn't necessarily a recommendation, and some people enjoy a break from the responsibility of animals, and what they can do (say a couple of months holiday) before they replace an old companion who's passed on.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), October 26, 2001.

My golden retroodle starting going deaf last fall. She stopped coming when I whistled (a very high-pitched whistle) but would come when called. Now we have to go out with her since she is nearly totally deaf. You know your dog is deaf when they can no longer hear their food hit the dish from the next room! She is also fairly blind. She is 13 years old. She is in good shape physically except for an old hip injury that acts up occasionally. She has become much more clingy this summer, staying closer to us. I think she needs the comfort of our close presence since she can neither hear nor see. She still has a darn good sense of smell. She relies on her sense of smell more, which has become a problem for food storage. I have to be sure to put any bushels of fruits or vegetables that I'm putting up out of her reach since she eats pretty much anything. I had a beastly time when I was putting up tomatoes this year. She kept stealing them out of the crates when I had my back turned! Of course, she'd always take the biggest, juiciest one. Fortunately, she is not a waster and if she steals food she makes sure she eats every crumb. She sure saves on clean up! We should have named her Hoover! She sure is a sweet old thing. We'll miss her when she's gone. Oh, and for those of you who couldn't figure it out, she's a cross between a golden retriever and a standard poodle.

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), October 26, 2001.

I would agree with Don that it might be time to think about a replacement dog (although nothing can truely replace any beloved pet).

Especially if your present dog has some endearing traits or ways of dealing with the family that you would like your next dog to have. Its amazing all the little things a new puppy will pick up. I have also seen the new dog become the eyes and ears of the older dog thus improving their quality of life.

Just remember to give the old dog just as much or maybe even a little more attention than the new dog so they don't think they are being left out.

Finally Joan, given your dogs age I would guess it is related to old age, but just to be sure I would probably have my vet check to make sure it wasn't the result of something that could easily be corrected.

-- Jane (Southwest OR) (jwagman@mail.com), October 27, 2001.