If you would like to provide this dog a loving home, please fill out a pre-adoption application. 

http://www.deafdogs.org/training/    ~ website for people with deaf dogs and those considering   adopting them. It has general training tips.

 

 

 

 

 

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8/12/14:  Update again!  Have I mentioned how awesome Jema is?! :-)  It still amazes me how much she still continues to learn!  She  has basically gotten over her barking reaction to strangers.  I took her to the last adoption days and she was a little ham the whole time.  People would kneel down next to her and she would basically throw herself in their lap and cover their face in kisses. A few times she went straight for the tongue in mouth action :-).   She even did well with the few kids she met! I have her at our facility quite a bit and she loves meeting all the building volunteers and playing with some of her doggy friends there. I've been taking her basically everywhere with me and really working on positive reinforcement around strangers and strange situations that are more scary for her because she is deaf.  It is helping tremendously! I've had some of my fellow rescue friends comment on how much more relaxed and comfortable she is in all kinds of situations. 
She loves to go for car rides.  When I first got her, she was overly stimulated in the car. She would constantly bark at the cars around us, pedestrians, etc. I have an SUV with a barrier in my cargo space so I couldn't exactly reach back and tap her  or yell at her to get her attention to stop.   I have found that she responds really well to squirt bottles. So, I got a travel sized squirt bottle to keep in my car.  After just a few spritz's with that, she calmed down immediately.  I would then toss her treats to reward her behavior.  Now, I can't even remember the last time I had to spray her in the car. She does really well.   Sometimes I'll let her ride in the back seat because she LOVES to stick her head out the window. 
We are also working on loose leash walking.   I usually have to use a prong with her because she is a puller.  I've been using a halti recently and that has been helping, although we have to keep moving or keep her busy otherwise she wants to try get it off.  We are working on that though and the more we use it, the more used to it she will get.  In conjunction with that, we are working on her eye contact while we are walking.   She gets very caught up in her surroundings and very rarely gives me any eye contact while walking.    I don't want her constantly looking at me, but I would like her to "check-in" every so often; just look back at me like "we still doing ok? any commands?". So when we are walking, and she looks at me, even for just a split second, I jack pot her- meaning I give her quite a few treats to really reinforce that is what I want her to do.   If I need her attention, I've been working on a touch command to get her to look at me.  The way this works is, if I need her attention I just tap her on the rump with my two fingers.  When she looks at me, I jack pot her.  That way she learns that when she feels me touch her, she should look at me.   It is going wonderfully! She has picked up on that quite fast and I have found that this is very useful!
I just do not have enough great things to say about this dog.  Even though she is deaf, that doesn't hinder her ability to learn new things or adjust to new situations. If anything, it makes her better at it.  She is so smart, it just amazes me. All she wants to do is please.  She loves to be around people; she never misses an opportunity to snuggle. She has such a quirky, funny personality; it is hard to not fall in love with her. She is the perfect size; she is only about 40lbs. I have people comment all the time about how small she is and they thought she was much bigger! Jema has been waiting a long time for a family of her very own. Please consider making her a member of your family!
 

 

5/22/14:  Time to check in again; and of course Jema is doing AMAZING!  Everyday she amazes me with how far she has come from the first week we had her in our house!  I do a lot of temp testing of new dogs that come into the rescue and have started using Jema as my "dog testing dog".  She seriously just loves every dog she meets!  With some dogs she may be a bit intense at first but after a little time she does really well!  She absolutely LOVES to play with other dogs.  Her and my two female pitties make up quite the trio. They run around the house playing, and now that it is nice out they run around outside and go on little adventures in the backyard.   Tug is still her absolute favorite game; she just loves rope toys. The bigger the rope toy, the better.  She also loves to chew on nylabones.  I have recently discovered that she likes to play fetch; although we are working on bringing the ball back.   I dont typically keep toys around my house as it is usually a cause for scuffles.  My dogs can be toy/food possessive, and I have found Jema to be the same.  When we are playing with toys, it is just her and no other dogs around.  She will protect toys from other dogs, and so it is safer and easier to let her play with toys when no other dogs are around.  
 Jema also loves to sunbathe, which I have discovered can be an issue because she is white- she gets sunburned!  So when I know she will be outside in the sun for a period of time, I spray her with some sunscreen.  The first few times she wasn't too impressed with me spraying her but now she stands there nicely for me to spray her and send her on her way. 
We still continue to leave her out at night and while we are gone, and have had no issues.  We now have started  gating her our "dog room" downstairs and have had no issues at all.  
Training is still going great.  I have working with her on her "stranger danger" issues.  Before, when she would meet a new person, or if a new person would come into the house, she would bark and charge. She hasn't done that in a while.  Once she gets to know someone, she remembers and we dont have any issues.  I have been putting her in all kinds of situations that would typically make her stressed; trying to desensitize her. The smart little cookie she is, she is picking up on everything.  Her most recent milestone was while we had a doggy play date at a friends house.  My friend's sister came over (whom Jema had never met) and walked into the back yard. I told her just to ignore Jema.  Jema just ran over to her and sniffed and followed her around.  My friend's sister then knelt down to her level and Jema covered her face in kisses.  I have found that it is best to ignore her first, and then kneel down to her level and let her come to you. She is definitely learning that the world and strangers aren't so scary, and to trust people more.   I couldn't be more proud of her!  We will continue to work on this, and with the nice weather, there should be plenty of opportunities. 
I just can't say enough wonderful things about this special little dog.  She is so funny and has the quirkiest, cutest personality.  She is such a great dog, she deserves to find her forever home!
 

4/2/14:  Time for a Jema update!  Jema's personality has come out in full swing!  I thought she had settled in nicely, but she has blossomed even more since my last update! I'm thinking the nicer weather has just put everyone in my household in just an overall better mood :-) She is much more out going and just generally happy!  Before, her and my dogs just sort of ignored each other.  Now, they play and run around the yard together, having a blast!  She loves to wrestle around and LOVES to play tug.  We have been introducing her to quite a few dogs, and she loves them all! She still has a lazy side however and doesn't miss an opportunity for a nap :-).   
Now we are leaving her out all the time- she sleeps on a dog bed out in our living room at night and is left upstairs during the day while we are at work.  I'm guessing she snoozes all day, as she is usually sleeping on her bed or basking in the sun from the windows when we get home from work.   It's nice that she is kennel trained, but is able to be trusted to be left out and not have any accidents or destroy anything (neither of which she has done). 
Training is still going really well. She is so attentive and very observant.  We have't had much time to work further with the vibration collar. At this point, I just don't know if its a necessary tool for her. Hopefully when things slow down for us, we will find more time to dedicate to working with the collar.   But as I have said previously, having a deaf dog is really no different than having a hearing dog. It's no more work than having a hearing dog.  It may be because Jema is just so well behaved otherwise that she is just an easy dog to have around!  As for her issues with strangers, I have found that when meeting new people, its best for them to have a treat, give it to her and then kneel down her level.   She really doesn't like when people hover over her (and really, I don't blame her).  We have been working on not being spooked so easily and she is desensitizing to that really well!  Every time we wake her up  or "sneak" up on her, when she turns around or wakes up, we give her a treat- she has caught on quickly!
Please consider making Jema a part of your family!
 

 

3/6/14: Well sweet Jema is still doing amazing! I can honestly say that if I didn't already have four dogs, and no longer wanted to foster, I would adopt her.  She is just such a sweet dog!  She "listens" really well and is very well behaved.   We are currently taking obedience classes and she is doing fantastic!   We are working on the vibration collar as well; which is going great!  I would say she is kennel trained; she doesn't ever have accidents and doesn't break out. At night, she will whine for about 10 minutes but then settles down and doesn't make a peep the rest of the night.  However, if you didn't want to kennel her, you wouldn't have to.  We left her out for a few nights and she just slept out on our leather recliner.  We also have left her out a few times during the day while we are at work and she does just fine! No accidents, she doesn't get into anything she isn't supposed, or destroy things--- which is ALWAYS a plus :-). 
She loves to chew on her nylabones and she LOVES to play tug. We typically don't have toys in our house (our dogs will destroy them and they are also a source for scuffles). But occasionally we will give her a rope toy and play tug and she loves it.  She randomly will get a wild hair get the zoomies; which is adorable.  She doesn't really play with my dogs; my two girls haven't been the most welcoming to her; so they basically just ignore each other.  We have had a couple of foster puppies while she has been here and she loves to play with them! 
Please consider making Jema a part of your family- this girl deserves it!

 

2/11/14: Jema has been with us now for two weeks and is doing great!!  She has learned so much already, it just amazes me. She knows "sit,"  "wait," and "come".   "Wait" needs some polishing, but she gets the idea- its working on being able to get a good distance from her and her staying while we walk back towards her. We are currently working on "place/spot".  She knows to sit on the rug; like when we are in the kitchen cooking or filling up food dishes, we put the rug down and she knows she needs to sit on that.  We just need to add a signal to it, which we will start soon.   I'll work on getting a video up of this progress!
Kennel training is going awesome!  She still cries in her kennel for about 10 minutes; but now she "moves" with my pack when I tell them "kennel".  They all go running down stairs into their kennels, and she follows.  We are to the point where she will go in the kennel with just throwing a treat in the back.  Still no accidents in the kennel!  
I have been bringing her on outings to Petsmart and Petco to work on focusing in public- which is hard for her. She gets so excited to smell and check everything out that she forgets to pay attention to me.  We have ordered a vibration collar -NOT a shock collar- to help work with this. The basis is, when she feels the vibration, she knows to pay attention to me.  We should have a good basis down by the time the vibration collar comes and then we can start working on 'loading" the vibration collar- teaching her that every time she feels the vibration she needs to look at me for a signal. 
Having a deaf dog is honestly no different than having a dog that can hear.  When I give her commands, I still verbalize, I just also use a hand signal.   Fostering her has been no more difficult than any other dog.   Stay tuned for more updates- and please consider giving her a forever home!