Just found out my new English bulldog pup is completely deaf, breeder negotiating?

[NCBully]

We brought our first bulldog home in November - and shortly after I noticed he wasn't responding to sound. We finally had it confirmed with the vet (on the second visit) that he is deaf. We would never give him up - he's a wonderful little guy and seems to be responding to what little training we know. I think the breeder actually must have crate trained him and taught him to sit before we got him. I would love to get advice on how we can learn about training a deaf puppy. We know a few basics, but have never trained our dogs to a huge extent (just housebreaking, sit, etc). Someone mentioned behavioral problems - are those worse with a deaf dog - or the same? We've had 3 bassett hounds -- and all were far more difficult than this guy has been so far. We were eventually able to "train" them (or more likely they just grew out of the bad behaviors.
I'd appreciate any advice and/or resources this community has to share....
Thanks.

BTW - it's true that they sleep great -- he doesn't fuss at all at bedtime - and sleep right through til morning. He seems very content. Also, it's nice to have a dog that isn't nervous about sounds - our bassetts panicked over thunger, fireworks, gunshots - it was so hard because nothing we could do gave them much comfort.

 

[BrianW]

Kind of late here, but I am so glad that you kept the puppy and that the breeder and you came to a decision that satisfied both of you. I know all too well how hard it is dealing with a breeder, our Jackson had severe spine/nerve issues shortly after turning a year of age. All the breeder would do is take the pup back (he would have been euthanized) and give us a portion of the money back (or towards another pup). After him being with us a year we could not see giving him up (or euthanized), so we kept him and paid for some very expensive surgeries which I took out several 6 year loans on my 401K. Recently he turned 6 and now uses a cart to get around, but he is still loving life and that is what counts.

I also know a little about deaf pups. My first rescue was 12 years old boy that was completely deaf and about 99% blind. If you were to have met him, you would have never guess that he was either blind or deaf. why is that.... because all of his other senses took over and allowed him to lead a semi normal life.

My second rescue, an 10 year old girl (she was 8 when she came to chill with us) is also deaf and semi blind. Again, she functions like any other pup in most ways. We did have behavior issues with her when we added a third rescue, which we had to handle in a different way because of her deafness and blindness. Instead of making a noise (with a can/verbal/clicker) and she cannot see well, we had to turn to a tapping method (tap her butt and positive reinforce with treats) which our behaviorist taught us. In December, she passed all of her observation/behavioral tests and became a Certified Therapy Pup. Pretty good for a 10 year old lady that spent has had 5 different home prior to us (2 puppy mills in Missouri, had 2 homes and went through the rescue once before).

 

[harveyspecter]

Kind of late here, but I am so glad that you kept the puppy and that the breeder and you came to a decision that satisfied both of you. I know all too well how hard it is dealing with a breeder, our Jackson had severe spine/nerve issues shortly after turning a year of age. All the breeder would do is take the pup back (he would have been euthanized) and give us a portion of the money back (or towards another pup). After him being with us a year we could not see giving him up (or euthanized), so we kept him and paid for some very expensive surgeries which I took out several 6 year loans on my 401K. Recently he turned 6 and now uses a cart to get around, but he is still loving life and that is what counts.

I also know a little about deaf pups. My first rescue was 12 years old boy that was completely deaf and about 99% blind. If you were to have met him, you would have never guess that he was either blind or deaf. why is that.... because all of his other senses took over and allowed him to lead a semi normal life.

My second rescue, an 10 year old girl is also deaf and semi blind. Again, she functions like any other pup in most ways. We did have behavior issues with her when we added a third rescue, which we had to handle in a different way because of her deafness and blindness. Instead of making a noise (with a can/verbal/clicker) and she cannot see well, we had to turn to a tapping method (tap her butt and positive reinforce with treats) which our behaviorist taught us. In December, she passed all of her observation/behavioral tests and became a Certified Therapy Pup. Pretty good for a 10 year old lady that spent has had 5 different home prior to us (2 puppy mills in Missouri, had 2 homes and went through the rescue once before).

You are one good man Brian.

I You.

 

[BrianW]

You are one good man Brian.

I You.

Thanks.