Miz J

Thanks Yellowgirl Hi Collielover1979, as yellow girl said we have a deaf boxer. He has been with us for about 8 months. Oliver is just 3 years old. We also have 2 other boxers Gabby & Henry who are not deaf. This is our first experience with a deaf dog and it is quite a wake up call in how you communicate with your dog. Honestly we talk too much! Dogs dont need all that chat. They are experts in noticing changes in your facial expression, body language etc. I differ in oinion that it doesnt make a difference to the dog, I really think it does. There are things that need to be rembered and I am speaking from personal experience with Oliver. He cant hear you approach from behind so startling can happen and if there are children in the house this must be made crystal clear to them. If you have floorboards it isnt such a drama because he can feel the vibration. Waking him from sleep has to be controlled. We didnt wake Oliver at first, we let him do this himself, then gradually we were able to move the bed a little, then use food now we can touch him to wake him. We just had to think about his silent world and those things that attract a hearing dogs attention dont matter to Oliver so we have had to work around that. We have taught him to keep checking in with us, he comes to us when he wants something. Food motivated fortunately. He has a structured sign language and all he needs at are about 10 signs, the rest he gets from our facial expression or body language. More will come as we go along with his training and as he needs. We have all been to a delta program and he was amazing, didnt like the agility but hes just that sort of dog. He uses our other dogs as his ears, particulary Henry. He watches Henry and will sleep close to him and if Henry moves he does to. He really has made us look at how we communicate with our dogs and have found that our own respond as well to the signing and to our body language. Love to chat about other peoples experiences and get more helpful hints Just read more about the recall and totally agree, we are looking at getting a vibrating collar for him, all we need to do is get his attention and thats not easy outside. We cant let him off lead in suburbia, even in a park at this stage but will work on that. It takes a lot of commitment and please dont feel sorry for the dog and use that as a motive to get a deaf dog, they are quite a lot of work.

Got a boxer with contact allergies. We keep the lawn short, have removed any offending plants. He gets bathed every other day when allergy season is on with aloveen. He is on Zyrtec in the allergy season and when his ears get red. We did the elimination diet and then got him onto low allergy food and it made no difference to his seasonal symptoms. We also have a mild topical steroid that we use if his ears flare up badly. He has been on prednisolone when it was quite bad last year but thats a last resort. Everything we do tends to keep it at bay and he doesnt have any problems in the winter. Talk to the vet and have a plan for managing the allergy season ( if its seasonal), a plan for escalation in symptoms and look at the envronment. There are some great people who can give you nutritional advice on here so go have a look at that thread. All the best

Thanks sas and thats good advice regarding the training program, yep a vibrating collar is only a tool to complement any training program. I don't claim to have accurate knowledge regarding shock collars except that I personally wont use one on any dog in my care. I know that there has been some evidence of effectiveness with them and in the right hands maybe but I cannot condone the use of them. This is a personal choice for me and its up to the individual dog owner to make the decision on how they train their dog. I do appreciate the feedback though

Hi, I am fostering a deaf dog. A 2 1/2 yr old boxer. Hes pretty much been left to is own devices. He does really well when I have his attention. Hes learned the basics of sit, drop, waiting to eat until a hand signal command etc . We have also been working on the principles of people first then him as he was barreling through the doors and gates. He waits now just with a hand signal. Not bad for 4 days worth. Getting his attention is the key here I think.He has bolted out of the gate early on and fortunately he has looked back and returned when he sees us but getting his attention is difficult. Hes good on lead, he keeps checking evety few seconds. I havnt put a great amount of work into him yet as he is just settling still and is sleeping quite a bit. Hes also learning to live with other dogs which he hasnt done before. If he stays her longer term we will be off to obedience. My question regarding vibrating collars ( not the nasty shock collars just so I am clear) has anyone used these on a deaf dog to get their attention? I know Innotek make a collar specifically for deaf dogs. Would love to hear from anyone with experience in training the deaf dog and / or using the collars.

perfectly described Jed

Thanks for clearing up the urban myths Jed and it's nice to have you back. I have 2 whiteys . Mine were bought for temperament and they are pets, one from a very reputable breeder and the other a rescue. Personally I dont care what colour they are. I did research the white boxer and found a lot of anecdotal rubbish. There doesnt seem to be any good long term study on health outcomes between boxer colours ie white vs non white.

No problems Jo, she did well with the 6ft 3in firey !!! Didnt see any of that real fear, she just knew her safety zone. Did you get the message about the collars? Had Henry off to the vet last night also, he's got allergies to something environmental, have removed the offending plants we think. Funnily enough he started scratching his ears after he had the tattoo done when he was desexed and there is quite a red spot there. He did have an altercation with an asparagus fern which saw him like a "cherry ripe" poor thing. All sorted with plant removal and zyrtec and fish oil and aloveen baths. But his ears are so red. He has a superficial secondary infection in one ear from scratching so is on antibiotics for that and I agreed to short term steroids in an attempt to resolve this scratching cycle. The vet wants us to buy the Hills low allergy food however I am not keen to go down that track yet. If the environmental contols dont work then will perhaps look at that. I would rather go onto a pure raw diet. He is doing really well on his current diet and is in fantastic condition barring the red ears. His symptoms are worse when the weather is warm for a few days and they clearly spend more time basking in the garden. Enough of my allergic dog lol!!!

Good to meet her yesterday Jo, she is lovely and should have a dollar sign tag on her collar lol have sent a pm to you re collars

I sympathise, our boxers did the same thing at a car wash!! we got out, and left everything inside, house keys, phones, handbag etc. Henry stood on the door lock !!! One of us stayed (me) while the other (OH) walked home, had the break into the house through the roof to get the spare keys. How embarrasing!!!!

Nice to see you back Jed. The people on here who wished all the good stuff for you far outweighs those who didn't. Their opinion doesn't matter. We are all so glad to see you doing so well on the road to recovery. Cant wish anymore positive thoughts than I do already and I explain this to the two mad boxers that own us and who both send their love along with a little friendly drool. Keep on keeping on Jed , your inspirational

I will never speak ill of physio's, once the technicians have finished with the power tools its just me and my wonderful physio. Can't say I enjoy it but I know whats good for me. It's really strange being on the other side KZs Mum, I am an RN. Quite an experience. Good to hear that you have seen how good dogs can be. Scout, I have told them they are off to play with Bossie, they are packing their bags as I write!!!!

Thanks for all the good wishes folks. Physio !!! yep having great time with that (NOT). Yep Mel, Henry has amazed me. MM I think that Gab would be a fantastic hospital visitor, so long as she gets cuddled and a scratch shes happy. She would need booty camp because she would hoover up any treats. Trishm, your dogs sound amazing to, I am not going to try and figure it out, I will just be thankful. Off for a jog now hahahaha!!!!

So glad to see you posting again. It is horrible to be removed form the hospital before you feel your ready but to be brutally honest there are so many hospital bugs you may have been exposed to and having burns makes you an easy target for them. Hospital aquired infections are nasty. It sounds like your in caring hands and thats wonderful. No great wisdom from me, just so happy to know that you have come so far. Welcome home Jed

I had a total knee replacement a couple of weeks ago. I was really worried that my dogs, in particular my young boxer would manage to bowl me over when I got home. Well let me just say that I am so impressed with the pair of them. My older girl Gabby is one of those wonderful dogs who is sympathetic. She is calm and gentle around me, she will curl up at my feet when I get uncomfortable, she just knows. Henry is a typical juvenile boxer and I was worried about him and how he would react. Hes amazing, he is his typical lunatic self until he is near me. He is calm, puts his head on my lap, walks behind if hes following me around the house. He even stops the zoomies if i come into the room, admittedly he will go to another part of the house and do it!!! I have never had this experience with any other dogs I have had in the past and I don't know how they do it. Is it because they read your body language and behaviour really well or is it intuitive. Gabby is much more aware than Henry but she is older. Does anyone else have experience with this or have any explanations, I would love to hear them. I am so proud of our furkids Knee is going well, not something I would recommend for fun!!!

Welcome back Jed. We are all on this journey with you. Take your time xxx

She's getting what she wants from you and thats a reaction, most pups do this and is horrible with those needle teeth. A sharp noise like a yelp or something similiar may work. As much as she is scratching and nipping, ignoring the behaviour is another option so she doesn't get a reaction. Stand up and don't let her get to your hands. You just need to try some of the good suggestions on here and see what works for you all. I don't miss that at all, when Henry was a pup he was an absolute toe rag for nipping. We tried swapping the fingers or whatever for a toy to chew but all that taught him was that if he nipped he got a reward!!! Clever bugger. We decided to use a sharp noise then ignore it, as painful as it was for our teeny puncture wounds. It didnt take long, he soon learned that if he didn't nip he got to play. It was interesting to watch him with our older female. She would yelp when he bit and walked away turning her back on him till he calmed down, thats what prompted us. I guess she taught him about inhibiting bite too because we never had to do that. They are all individual, try a few things and see what works but more importantly you all have to be consistent. Best of luck

bump

Any updates Pockets? Would love to hear how he and the family are doing.

They definitely can cause vomiting. I too have learned the hard way. If my dogs can get a chunk of bone off easily they will swallow it so thats why I had to stop any soft bones like brisket. They are better having things they have to chew like lanb flaps, turkey necks etc. They do get chicken necks often but I make sure they are largish. I have had the pleasure of the night time hurling on the bed and even on my OH head

What a darling boy, he clearly knows who the boss is

You are so welcome and if I come across anything else I will get it to you promptly. Thank you so much for the donation of food for SA Dog Rescue, so much appreciated. Keep me in mind if you come across a pink camo collar for Gab, her current one with pink skulls on has faded :p Just looked at you t shirts and you have my boxers on there as examples, thanks so much, such a proud mum now

Have had a couple of T&S beds now for a year. Cover comes off and they are washable. Have had no problems with the filling, they are aired with the cover off one a week and I vacuum them when the cover is off for washing. What is even more amazing is that they are intact. We had a very bad bean bag experience!!!

I have a boxer that will do the same thing. Always after she is a piglet and doesn't chew bones well enough. Had to stop brisket bones for that reason. Better for them to vomit it up than have an intestinal obstruction. May pay to look at what type of bone you are giving.

Thats a good price, where in SA is your supplier?

Thanks, looking forward to it