The deaf puppy or dog needs to be looking at you directly at you FIRST before you can actually give the dog a sign command. Your first training should be mini sessions of working on getting the deaf dog to look at you. I sign and touch my nose with Nitro to give him the cue for “watch me” sign. When he makes eye contact with me, I give him an open flash of my hand (to visually mark the correct behavior instead of the sound of a clicker like the do in Positive Reinforcement Clicker Training to mark the right behavior) and then I give him a treat. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

To start on different sign cues, give the specific sign cue you want the dog to perform, lure the dog into place with a high value treat, (I use Light Bologna and cut it into very small squares) give a open flash of your hand when the dog does what you want (or a thumbs up sign), then treat. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Be sure to check out some of the great training videos by other deaf dog owners under our Training Video section to see how the positive reinforcement training works with deaf dogs.

Also if you start training your deaf dog to do new tricks and you want to learn new signs. I use a couple of different American Sign Language web-sites like signsavvy.com or aslpro.com and then just type in the word in the search box. Once you type in the word and press enter there will be a 5 second video with someone signing the word so you can see how to sign the word. I use the ASL signs but sometimes I only have one hand free so my deaf dogs know the one handed version of an ASL sign which we like to call Deaf Dogs Sign Language or DDSL. If you decide to come up with your own signs for your deaf dog that would be considered DDSL.

I watched this video over and over and over again the night before I picked up my deaf puppy Nitro from the shelter. Alisha did a great job on this video and according to my deaf dogs Nitro, Bud and myself, Alisha totally ROCKS! ~ Christina Lee – Deaf Dogs Rock