How to get along with a pet with hearing impairment? Teach sign language, whether it is a cat or a dog!
One of the sweetest things about being a veterinarian is the opportunity to see a harmonious relationship between people and pets, but the more sacred thing is to learn to care for those disabled pets. Deafness is a common disability in cats and dogs, and some pups may have ear disease when born, or pets may experience hearing loss as they age. Cats and dogs with gray and white markings are more likely to experience deafness. In each case, these pets have special needs in communication. Here are some tips to help you communicate better with your deaf pets and let them know what you want.
Whether pets are congenital deaf or acquired, I think teaching dog gestures is also a good idea in addition to verbal prompts. You will never know when you need to communicate silently with your dog. Gestures are a way to do this, and they can also try to express their thoughts, which will be easier to understand if your dog loses hearing. Cats can also learn gestures and respond to the same training principles, and sometimes they are even better at understanding visually than dogs!
You can learn first, sit down or leave gestures, which can make your pet more convenient in life, thus ensuring you can always communicate with them. Because they are usually smart, many animals respond better to gestures than to verbal prompts. Common gesture signals include: raising your hand to stop, standing up with one hand to sit down, tilting down with one hand down and backward, and covering your mouth with the other hand to keep quiet. Some kids dog trainers like to send a message of “performing well” to their pets with clapping hands or thumbs up. To confirm that you are satisfied, provide snacks, strokes or give them their favorite toys while training.
You can even teach dog or cat sign language. There will be videos shared by some people on the Internet, one of which is the most impressive. The video tells a young girl with hearing impaired puppy sign language. The American sign language words that the dog learns to recognize include "sit", "water" and "food." Any pet needs to learn several commonly used sign languages first. If you are not very clear about it, you can find a professional to help.
Some dogs or cats may not hear it, but their other senses usually still work properly. For example, pets with hearing impairment usually have higher visual abilities. They tend to look at people carefully, which means you can use sign language to help them find visual clues. Wave your hand to attract your pet's attention; point two fingers to your eyes and signal it to look at you. If you are not in front of a dog or cat and need to attract its attention, you can put a small flashlight nearby so that it can flash in the direction (of course not to shine on its eyes). When the pet sees the flash, he will know that he wants to go to his owner.
Your expression is also important. Pets are experts in identifying our facial expressions. They smile when they are happy and frown when they are unhappy. These facial expressions are also good communication signals, so it is also very important to interact with pets in daily life. You can also use other touch prompts to attract the attention of your pet, such as "Look at me". These movements include gently pulling the belt, or gently touching the shoulders or back.