We've got a big new guide up on The Labrador Site this week - looking at Deafness In Dogs. It covers congenital deafness, hearing loss in old age, and gives information on how to adapt your life to help your dog adjust. If you've got a deaf dog, please do let us know what you think! Lucy x
Good article. I don't think Tilly is deaf, but she is definitely quite hard of hearing now compared to how she was when she was younger. Sometimes we think it is selective hearing loss, but she really does not hear anywhere nearly as well as she used to, or as well as Cooper does now. We use a vibrating collar to get her attention on walks, if she gets to far away from us.
I have a home made hearing test that might be helpful. When your dog is young, every now and then drop a cornflake (or some small light food item he likes) in his dish. How far away in your house can your dog hear it and come running to gobble it up? When my sister was describing how she had just discovered how deaf her dog had gotten I immediately went and dropped a cornflake for Jet, who was one year younger. She could hear it just as well as she ever could. ONe year later she couldn't hear it at all from her usual distance. Highly scientific this test, LOL, but pretty telling.
