A new Puppy - Ordinary, deaf, blind or deaf-blind
A New Puppy - They’re Each Unique: (There is no such thing as THE dog . . .)
We sent each family tailored but roughly similar thoughts that we hoped might be helpful with their little gal or guy. Mostly the comments were paraphrased from Dr T's advice to us when we adopted their Mom. Here for convenience, we used Tiny’s name.
1) Travel & Initial sleeping quarters - a so-called "Airline" crate is best for travel because it helps ensure that in case of rough handling or an accident the puppy is most likely to survive with minimal damage (as well as car occupants.) At home many people use a "Wire" or fabric crate that provides security for the puppy and lots of chances for her to watch others socially. A crate is good especially when she is new in the home and not sure about where the toilet is. Either type crate ideally should have a nice towel or small blanket, for reassurance. Tiny is acquainted with her Mom's airline crate. Dr T. urged us to get a crate which can be very quickly disassembled and stored, or popped into a car trunk or closet when not needed.
Our puppies learned that a crate was part of their puppy playroom, so we didn’t have to use treats tossed into the crate to get her to feel happy there. The usual command for Tiny to hop-in was "Crate", but other words could be OK. Using a crate for isolation punishment of misbehavior is questionable because she may conclude that going to bed in the Crate is punishment and begin to object to going in,
2) Toilet training will be needed, because she is accustomed to either the local newpaper for toilet paper, or going outside - she will need to be advised on how to get someone's help to go out for toilet, and where the preferred places are. When she shows a concern, picking her up and moving her quickly to an acceptable place probably would work best, as she is used to that here. She rarely wriggles when picked up gently and firmly around her chest -
3) Picking her up by two hands under her chest is best instead of grabbing her by the skin on the back of her neck. A little visitor to our home recently picked up a puppy by the neck skin and was very embarrassed by the puppy's screams. The mother came at a run to see what happened.
4) When she wants to be picked up, she will usually sit near a person's feet and look up to make eye-contact, and may "chirp." You may want to train her to sit up with front paws folded on her chest to get attention, which she will already do sometimes. A “poke” with her nose or paw we thought was OK. [Some dogs may look right at your face if they trust you completely.]
5) Teething toys such as a soft plastic ring with soft keys, rubber yellow ball and-or a ball of multi-colored 1/4 inch soft plastic strands are available in our local stores, and recommended to help her to clean her teeth and exercise her jaws. Some nylon and fiber-glass chew toys can damage her teeth and shed tiny slivers that are bad for her digestion.
6) Please "baby-proof" the areas of the house that she is permitted to use, up to at least a height of about two to three feet (when she stands on her rear toes for maximum reach up, she can reach nearly 24 inches already, and soon will be able to reach higher.)
7) Electrical wires and modems and phone cords should be especially protected if you can - Tiny as yet has had no scoldings for playing with wires. Last year "Captain Jack" quickly learned to leave all wires alone (in our presence); until one day we were all upstairs and Jack sneaked downstairs for about 10 minutes. Jack in that brief time unplugged all the electrical power cords downstairs, ensuring that he didn't get tangled in them again and get scolded. To ensure that he didn't get tangled in the modem and telephone wires (which he couldn't unplug) he nipped them off. Plugging the power cords back in their sockets was easy, but it took 30 minutes to splice the modem and phone lines.
8) Food - She was used to medium breed puppy chow. We use the adult (lamb and rice) for her Mom. She has a spill proof water bowl next to her food bowl.
Please teach her to only eat food or snacks that her own people give her! Street side fast food trash can be attractive to an innocent puppy fatal but fatal f it contained sharp edges that puncture an intestine, or lodge in her throat, or even puncture inside her cheek to cause infections. Liquids such as automobile anti-freeze, lawn chemicals and kitchen chemicals can terribly injure your puppy. We in recent years know of such accidents, and sadly know well.
9) Training - She learns very quickly, just for the fun of it. For more training we suggest rewarding her by using "Treats" which are little "cookies.” When we used milk-bones and so-called marrow bone cookies the puppies either wouldn't touch them after one or two samples, or got upset stomachs if they had more than two or three.
Commands and communications: All of the puppies by eight weeks would Come to us when called by name "Tiny - COME." We worked on Sit, Lie-down, and Out, but at eight weeks she was still a little unclear about those. The puppies liked a using together voice and hand-arm gestures, which we took from American Sign Language (ASL). The AKC has “big” gesture commands that they recommend for competitions. Our puppies remembered their ASL commands as much as four years later. By using sign language which they learn very easily, together with voice commands, the deaf and blind puppies can share from the very beginning.
Teaching deaf and0or blind dogs to bark when commanded is also a very good idea because it helps the deaf dogs to use the proper vocalizing when they want to announce a visitor at the door. Many puppies will attempt to invent gesture-signs to communicate with their people, and really enjoy it when people respond to their efforts. [Reference: Sean Senechal has an excellent book on that topic.]
Deaf dogs of some breeds "yodel" or sing for minutes at a time "operatic arias" when they get excited and forget to bark like ordinary dogs. Ocassionally a really excited deaf dog will "scream" like fingernails on an old-fashioned blackboard. Blind dogs often bark or yip more than usual for their Breed, and if their owners can tolerate it, those sounds can be very useful to the dogs for "mapping" their surroundings, figuring out if an furtniture has been moved, and decding where it's safe to run as fast as they can. The higher, more shrill, their yips or barks, the more accurately they can use the echoes to "see (like bats and dolphins do) their environment.
All pointed objects smaller than about 1/2 inch on the end should be kept out of areas where a blind dog might decide to run, because echoes from such small objects are unlikely to be "seen-heard" in enough time for safety. Many reports of owners suggest that blind dogs rather quickly get a good idea of how fast they can safely run so that they don't get bruised or hurt when they bump into things that are big enough to create good echoes. [Blind dogs and bats are both unlikely to understand at first or accurately "echo-see" sheer curtains, or windows screens, or very open porous gates across the top of stairs, etc. - -because such things make almost no echoes.]
10.) Socialized - exceptionally fond of adults and most children, expects to be treated as a decent little girl in a fur coat who is uncertain about cats and unfamiliar dogs. We expected her to be prudent and watch to see what is wanted and safe to do. She was only leashed when for the first time meeting stranger children, dogs, and cats, and when we were at first educating her about street traffic and staying out of the road. [In our neighborhood many of the large dogs such as Akidas and Ridgebacks weren't socialized by their owners with other dogs and cats or children, so the main purpose of a short leash was to keep our puppy close enough that an adult person could defend both herself and the puppy. Plus local laws had a $75 fine for a dog the police found off its own yard without a leash, which a few owners of unsocialized dogs claimed didn't apply to them, until they had to pay Vet bills for stitches in puppies, and build a new fence or go to jail. ]
11.) Staying out of the street when by herself and staying on her property - She can learn very quickly where the property lines are, but like any lively little girl or boy may need some attention and scolding before she is perfectly clear about the importance of staying reliably out of the street and in her own yard unless with a person.
12) Scolding: She heard "Ah, Ah" for mild scolding meaning "don't do that" or "stop that" Tiny rarely heard the emphatic loud "NO!" which we used to mean "Don't even think about doing that!" - such as nipping electrical power wires, or stepping into the street without a leash.
13.) Stairs - she was always cautious going down, but “bounced” up stairs quickly. We discouraged her probably too much when she was very young from going down the carpeted stairs, so she might need encouragement to tackle long stairs - such as 10 steps. For blind dogs, everystairs should be "marked" by the same special smell such as cinamon or lilac, so the puppy knows that the stairs are there and what they should expect.
14) Yard plants, flowers, trees, herbs - - Like any little child, or baby squirrel, she tastes everything at first. So far as possible, it might be good to check to see if the plants that she can reach are safe for her to taste, and that no weed killer or insect poisons (or other chemicals – especially anti-freeze) might be within her reach or climbing ability. We discovered that our pups would climb onto a box by poking her paws inot holes in the box, to get on a chair, and from that would get up on a table - - -
15) In completely new situations a wise pup is prudent, tending to pause while she figures out what to do [unless her Mom or a person is close to tell her that everything is OK] . For example, the first time a car came by when she was on our lawn she did not try to chase it or run away - Her posture and expression suggested that she was instantly sure that the car was too big to herd, jolly well could go wherever it wanted, and that she would remember for the next time she met one.
16) When her mother scolds her, she usually holds the pup down gently but firmly with a paw on her shoulders, while vocalizing unhappy low-pitched scold-growls to her usually at her left ear. Treats and “clicker-gestures” of approval are ideal for positive education (re-enforcement) about desirable activities. Finger-shaking, and unhappy facial expression, and a low-pitched voice “explaining” about her social errors was always understood.
17) Leashed or Unleashed? Deaf pups and blind pups can quickly mind-map their fenced yards, and learn the boundaries of any unfenced areas that they are permitted explore. Practically, dog-parks amounted to unfenced areas because they could meet so many stranger people and dogs unexpectedly. At first it’s best for any pup, to be on a short leash until the pup and the other possible playmates get safely acquainted. Ordinary adult dogs sometimes got the idea that a deaf or a blind dog hadn’t learned the proper dog rules for cooperation, and tries to educate a new pup. That sort of education about proper dog-dog rules [See Reference: A Semyonova] should be done one-on one for everyone’s comfort and happiness, rather than just “flinging” a new pup into an open playground.
Leash or Not – When and Where [A reader’s advice and comments – Alexandra Semyonova, Baltimor, Md]
The following goes beyond a mere edit, something to consider for in each dog-owner’s own context (dogs in suburban USA are in a different situation than in Europe cities). The only thing I disagree with is keeping a pup leashed when meeting other dogs at a dog park or other off-leash area.
The leashed pup can neither regulate social space, nor (worse yet) freely use his body language. As the adult/s crowd/s in, the leash ends up pulled tight, the pup can no longer sit to show a groin nor flip onto his back. He's stuck, can't run, can be overwhelmed and feel very afraid. [At which point, it's a must that the owner picks the pup up!]
If the leash is long enough (at least six feet), the owner can dance around to make sure the pup's leash stays loose at all times. But most dog owners are neither aware enough nor skilled enough to do this -- and the pup is still in the situation of being overwhelmingly crowded by a bunch of curious adults. So with pups, I do it the other way round.
The first time a young pup meets adults not his mother, I advise people to introduce the pup to not more than one or two adults at once. NOT just plop the pup (leashed or otherwise) on the ground at a crowded dog park. I often meet people with my group to help the pup meet adults not his Mom for the very first time. Sometimes we do it a second and third time, depending on how quickly the pup gains confidence. Alternatively, I advise people to have a friend meet them somewhere with their dog/s. We keep all the adults on leash at about ten meters distance, ask the pup's owner to put the pup free on the ground, then unleash one or two adults to go investigate the pup. With the one or two new adults, the pup finds out that his body language works just the same way it did with Mom and gains confidence. The adults who've investigated move off to do their own things, or they start playing with the pup. When the pup is clearly comfortable with the adults s/he's already met, we unleash a third adult, then a fourth. That way, they don't all crowd around the pup at once, the pup can freely talk body-talk, and you quickly have a new pup following the adults around confidently trying to take part.
In fact, in general I don't let dogs meet with one leashed and the rest loose, for the same reasons (crowding, social distance, body language) PLUS the question of whether the dog is leashed because s/he's somehow dangerous or has a fear problem and will otherwise flee. When I see someone in a park or the woods with a leashed dog, I call mine to me and keep them there until I either know why the dog is leashed or s/he's let free.
Out on the street is different. You can't very well unleash a pup in an area where there might be traffic passing.
If you run into a friend on the street while both pup and dog are leashed for traffic-safety reasons, and you know that the adult is a calm and friendly dog, it's okay to let the pup meet this one adult while both are leashed. It's still not okay to let a pup be mobbed by a whole group of leashed adults, though. That's just as scary to the new pup as being mobbed on or off leash in a dog park. The whole point is: 1) not to have a pup's first meetings with adult dogs be frightening to the pup, and 2) to give the pup time and space to find out that his body language works just as well with other adults as it did with Mom.
***+++*** Molnya, 2009
We sent each family tailored but roughly similar thoughts that we hoped might be helpful with their little gal or guy. Mostly the comments were paraphrased from Dr T's advice to us when we adopted their Mom. Here for convenience, we used Tiny’s name.
1) Travel & Initial sleeping quarters - a so-called "Airline" crate is best for travel because it helps ensure that in case of rough handling or an accident the puppy is most likely to survive with minimal damage (as well as car occupants.) At home many people use a "Wire" or fabric crate that provides security for the puppy and lots of chances for her to watch others socially. A crate is good especially when she is new in the home and not sure about where the toilet is. Either type crate ideally should have a nice towel or small blanket, for reassurance. Tiny is acquainted with her Mom's airline crate. Dr T. urged us to get a crate which can be very quickly disassembled and stored, or popped into a car trunk or closet when not needed.
Our puppies learned that a crate was part of their puppy playroom, so we didn’t have to use treats tossed into the crate to get her to feel happy there. The usual command for Tiny to hop-in was "Crate", but other words could be OK. Using a crate for isolation punishment of misbehavior is questionable because she may conclude that going to bed in the Crate is punishment and begin to object to going in,
2) Toilet training will be needed, because she is accustomed to either the local newpaper for toilet paper, or going outside - she will need to be advised on how to get someone's help to go out for toilet, and where the preferred places are. When she shows a concern, picking her up and moving her quickly to an acceptable place probably would work best, as she is used to that here. She rarely wriggles when picked up gently and firmly around her chest -
3) Picking her up by two hands under her chest is best instead of grabbing her by the skin on the back of her neck. A little visitor to our home recently picked up a puppy by the neck skin and was very embarrassed by the puppy's screams. The mother came at a run to see what happened.
4) When she wants to be picked up, she will usually sit near a person's feet and look up to make eye-contact, and may "chirp." You may want to train her to sit up with front paws folded on her chest to get attention, which she will already do sometimes. A “poke” with her nose or paw we thought was OK. [Some dogs may look right at your face if they trust you completely.]
5) Teething toys such as a soft plastic ring with soft keys, rubber yellow ball and-or a ball of multi-colored 1/4 inch soft plastic strands are available in our local stores, and recommended to help her to clean her teeth and exercise her jaws. Some nylon and fiber-glass chew toys can damage her teeth and shed tiny slivers that are bad for her digestion.
6) Please "baby-proof" the areas of the house that she is permitted to use, up to at least a height of about two to three feet (when she stands on her rear toes for maximum reach up, she can reach nearly 24 inches already, and soon will be able to reach higher.)
7) Electrical wires and modems and phone cords should be especially protected if you can - Tiny as yet has had no scoldings for playing with wires. Last year "Captain Jack" quickly learned to leave all wires alone (in our presence); until one day we were all upstairs and Jack sneaked downstairs for about 10 minutes. Jack in that brief time unplugged all the electrical power cords downstairs, ensuring that he didn't get tangled in them again and get scolded. To ensure that he didn't get tangled in the modem and telephone wires (which he couldn't unplug) he nipped them off. Plugging the power cords back in their sockets was easy, but it took 30 minutes to splice the modem and phone lines.
8) Food - She was used to medium breed puppy chow. We use the adult (lamb and rice) for her Mom. She has a spill proof water bowl next to her food bowl.
Please teach her to only eat food or snacks that her own people give her! Street side fast food trash can be attractive to an innocent puppy fatal but fatal f it contained sharp edges that puncture an intestine, or lodge in her throat, or even puncture inside her cheek to cause infections. Liquids such as automobile anti-freeze, lawn chemicals and kitchen chemicals can terribly injure your puppy. We in recent years know of such accidents, and sadly know well.
9) Training - She learns very quickly, just for the fun of it. For more training we suggest rewarding her by using "Treats" which are little "cookies.” When we used milk-bones and so-called marrow bone cookies the puppies either wouldn't touch them after one or two samples, or got upset stomachs if they had more than two or three.
Commands and communications: All of the puppies by eight weeks would Come to us when called by name "Tiny - COME." We worked on Sit, Lie-down, and Out, but at eight weeks she was still a little unclear about those. The puppies liked a using together voice and hand-arm gestures, which we took from American Sign Language (ASL). The AKC has “big” gesture commands that they recommend for competitions. Our puppies remembered their ASL commands as much as four years later. By using sign language which they learn very easily, together with voice commands, the deaf and blind puppies can share from the very beginning.
Teaching deaf and0or blind dogs to bark when commanded is also a very good idea because it helps the deaf dogs to use the proper vocalizing when they want to announce a visitor at the door. Many puppies will attempt to invent gesture-signs to communicate with their people, and really enjoy it when people respond to their efforts. [Reference: Sean Senechal has an excellent book on that topic.]
Deaf dogs of some breeds "yodel" or sing for minutes at a time "operatic arias" when they get excited and forget to bark like ordinary dogs. Ocassionally a really excited deaf dog will "scream" like fingernails on an old-fashioned blackboard. Blind dogs often bark or yip more than usual for their Breed, and if their owners can tolerate it, those sounds can be very useful to the dogs for "mapping" their surroundings, figuring out if an furtniture has been moved, and decding where it's safe to run as fast as they can. The higher, more shrill, their yips or barks, the more accurately they can use the echoes to "see (like bats and dolphins do) their environment.
All pointed objects smaller than about 1/2 inch on the end should be kept out of areas where a blind dog might decide to run, because echoes from such small objects are unlikely to be "seen-heard" in enough time for safety. Many reports of owners suggest that blind dogs rather quickly get a good idea of how fast they can safely run so that they don't get bruised or hurt when they bump into things that are big enough to create good echoes. [Blind dogs and bats are both unlikely to understand at first or accurately "echo-see" sheer curtains, or windows screens, or very open porous gates across the top of stairs, etc. - -because such things make almost no echoes.]
10.) Socialized - exceptionally fond of adults and most children, expects to be treated as a decent little girl in a fur coat who is uncertain about cats and unfamiliar dogs. We expected her to be prudent and watch to see what is wanted and safe to do. She was only leashed when for the first time meeting stranger children, dogs, and cats, and when we were at first educating her about street traffic and staying out of the road. [In our neighborhood many of the large dogs such as Akidas and Ridgebacks weren't socialized by their owners with other dogs and cats or children, so the main purpose of a short leash was to keep our puppy close enough that an adult person could defend both herself and the puppy. Plus local laws had a $75 fine for a dog the police found off its own yard without a leash, which a few owners of unsocialized dogs claimed didn't apply to them, until they had to pay Vet bills for stitches in puppies, and build a new fence or go to jail. ]
11.) Staying out of the street when by herself and staying on her property - She can learn very quickly where the property lines are, but like any lively little girl or boy may need some attention and scolding before she is perfectly clear about the importance of staying reliably out of the street and in her own yard unless with a person.
12) Scolding: She heard "Ah, Ah" for mild scolding meaning "don't do that" or "stop that" Tiny rarely heard the emphatic loud "NO!" which we used to mean "Don't even think about doing that!" - such as nipping electrical power wires, or stepping into the street without a leash.
13.) Stairs - she was always cautious going down, but “bounced” up stairs quickly. We discouraged her probably too much when she was very young from going down the carpeted stairs, so she might need encouragement to tackle long stairs - such as 10 steps. For blind dogs, everystairs should be "marked" by the same special smell such as cinamon or lilac, so the puppy knows that the stairs are there and what they should expect.
14) Yard plants, flowers, trees, herbs - - Like any little child, or baby squirrel, she tastes everything at first. So far as possible, it might be good to check to see if the plants that she can reach are safe for her to taste, and that no weed killer or insect poisons (or other chemicals – especially anti-freeze) might be within her reach or climbing ability. We discovered that our pups would climb onto a box by poking her paws inot holes in the box, to get on a chair, and from that would get up on a table - - -
15) In completely new situations a wise pup is prudent, tending to pause while she figures out what to do [unless her Mom or a person is close to tell her that everything is OK] . For example, the first time a car came by when she was on our lawn she did not try to chase it or run away - Her posture and expression suggested that she was instantly sure that the car was too big to herd, jolly well could go wherever it wanted, and that she would remember for the next time she met one.
16) When her mother scolds her, she usually holds the pup down gently but firmly with a paw on her shoulders, while vocalizing unhappy low-pitched scold-growls to her usually at her left ear. Treats and “clicker-gestures” of approval are ideal for positive education (re-enforcement) about desirable activities. Finger-shaking, and unhappy facial expression, and a low-pitched voice “explaining” about her social errors was always understood.
17) Leashed or Unleashed? Deaf pups and blind pups can quickly mind-map their fenced yards, and learn the boundaries of any unfenced areas that they are permitted explore. Practically, dog-parks amounted to unfenced areas because they could meet so many stranger people and dogs unexpectedly. At first it’s best for any pup, to be on a short leash until the pup and the other possible playmates get safely acquainted. Ordinary adult dogs sometimes got the idea that a deaf or a blind dog hadn’t learned the proper dog rules for cooperation, and tries to educate a new pup. That sort of education about proper dog-dog rules [See Reference: A Semyonova] should be done one-on one for everyone’s comfort and happiness, rather than just “flinging” a new pup into an open playground.
Leash or Not – When and Where [A reader’s advice and comments – Alexandra Semyonova, Baltimor, Md]
The following goes beyond a mere edit, something to consider for in each dog-owner’s own context (dogs in suburban USA are in a different situation than in Europe cities). The only thing I disagree with is keeping a pup leashed when meeting other dogs at a dog park or other off-leash area.
The leashed pup can neither regulate social space, nor (worse yet) freely use his body language. As the adult/s crowd/s in, the leash ends up pulled tight, the pup can no longer sit to show a groin nor flip onto his back. He's stuck, can't run, can be overwhelmed and feel very afraid. [At which point, it's a must that the owner picks the pup up!]
If the leash is long enough (at least six feet), the owner can dance around to make sure the pup's leash stays loose at all times. But most dog owners are neither aware enough nor skilled enough to do this -- and the pup is still in the situation of being overwhelmingly crowded by a bunch of curious adults. So with pups, I do it the other way round.
The first time a young pup meets adults not his mother, I advise people to introduce the pup to not more than one or two adults at once. NOT just plop the pup (leashed or otherwise) on the ground at a crowded dog park. I often meet people with my group to help the pup meet adults not his Mom for the very first time. Sometimes we do it a second and third time, depending on how quickly the pup gains confidence. Alternatively, I advise people to have a friend meet them somewhere with their dog/s. We keep all the adults on leash at about ten meters distance, ask the pup's owner to put the pup free on the ground, then unleash one or two adults to go investigate the pup. With the one or two new adults, the pup finds out that his body language works just the same way it did with Mom and gains confidence. The adults who've investigated move off to do their own things, or they start playing with the pup. When the pup is clearly comfortable with the adults s/he's already met, we unleash a third adult, then a fourth. That way, they don't all crowd around the pup at once, the pup can freely talk body-talk, and you quickly have a new pup following the adults around confidently trying to take part.
In fact, in general I don't let dogs meet with one leashed and the rest loose, for the same reasons (crowding, social distance, body language) PLUS the question of whether the dog is leashed because s/he's somehow dangerous or has a fear problem and will otherwise flee. When I see someone in a park or the woods with a leashed dog, I call mine to me and keep them there until I either know why the dog is leashed or s/he's let free.
Out on the street is different. You can't very well unleash a pup in an area where there might be traffic passing.
If you run into a friend on the street while both pup and dog are leashed for traffic-safety reasons, and you know that the adult is a calm and friendly dog, it's okay to let the pup meet this one adult while both are leashed. It's still not okay to let a pup be mobbed by a whole group of leashed adults, though. That's just as scary to the new pup as being mobbed on or off leash in a dog park. The whole point is: 1) not to have a pup's first meetings with adult dogs be frightening to the pup, and 2) to give the pup time and space to find out that his body language works just as well with other adults as it did with Mom.
***+++*** Molnya, 2009