{"id":4522,"date":"2018-07-31T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T16:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/?p=4522"},"modified":"2018-08-14T23:03:15","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T06:03:15","slug":"meet-primrose-life-with-a-deaf-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/dog-care\/meet-primrose-life-with-a-deaf-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"Life With a Deaf Dog: Meet Primrose"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prim is a three year old Australian Cattle Dog(Red-Heeler)\/Basset Hound mix who lives with her sister Stella and Sadie, loves to play ball, and is dedicated to her owner, Nicholas. Overall, she lives a pretty simple life filled with love and fun. But, you may be wondering, what makes Prim special? Primrose has been deaf since birth.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Deafness can be either partial or a complete loss of hearing. The loss can vary from temporary to permanent depending on the cause. While wax-build up and debris in the ear-canal is responsible for temporary deafness, permanent deafness can be caused by a number of factors such as untreated ear infections, injuries, tumors, birth defects, and old age. In Prim\u2019s case, she was born deaf. Nicholas believes that this birth defect is due to the Australian Cattle breed. Research suggests that dogs of this breed are prone to deafness, especially if their coats are white or merle (a type of pattern).<\/p>\n

I met Nicholas about three months ago and he was quick to inform me that he had a dog that was deaf. I had never encountered a deaf dog before, so I was curious to see what she would be like. After meeting her, I decided that deafness in dogs was a topic that should be discussed, with her as the perfect example.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Here is Primrose\u2019s story and what life is like living with a deaf dog:<\/p>\n

Q: How did Prim come into your life?<\/p>\n

Nicholas: \u201cI moved to Huntsville, TX and I knew I wanted a dog. I went to Walmart and they happened to be giving away free puppies in the parking lot. She was the last dog left. I just walked up and they gave her to me. I remember going into the store after that and spending all my money on dog food and a kennel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: When did you realize she was deaf?<\/p>\n

Nicholas: \u201cIt was 6 months until I realized she couldn\u2019t hear. I didn\u2019t confirm it, though, until I took her to the vet. She wouldn\u2019t listen to commands and she couldn\u2019t seem to learn her name. However, I was able to train her to sit with hand commands before I knew she was deaf. I would walk around the house and yell and she wouldn\u2019t acknowledge it. That\u2019s when I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Q: How did her deafness affect you?<\/p>\n

Nicholas: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s affected me. She\u2019s way more attached than dogs normally are\u2014she has to be in the room with me and I have to be in her line of sight. I talk to her all the time, even if she can\u2019t hear me. But other than that, it really hasn\u2019t affected me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: What makes her different because of her deafness?<\/p>\n

Nicholas: \u201cShe gets scared easily because she can\u2019t tell my emotion from my voice. I have to use body language, like jumping in circles to let her know it\u2019s okay or to get her excited. She\u2019s not really good with other dogs because she can\u2019t hear their growls or barks\u2014it makes her scared. With humans and other dogs, she looks for my approval before accepting their company. Like, with my brother\u2019s dog, she knows him, so she usually plays with him, except if I\u2019m not there she won\u2019t play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: Has her deafness ever been a problem?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Nicholas: \u201cIt has. When she gets loose, I can\u2019t call her to get her attention, I have to wait for her to turn around and look at me which takes a while. She just sprints off and she\u2019s very fast. One time I chased her barefoot for a quarter mile down the road in the dark. She knew I was upset with her because she had ran out of the house. At one point, I sat down and started to cry because I thought I wasn\u2019t going to catch her. It was at that point that she turned around and came back. That was a rough night.\u201d
\nQ: Do you have any advice for other owners who may have a deaf dog?<\/p>\n

Nicholas: \u201cBe patient. Let them be attached. Let them be in the room with you. Don\u2019t be mad for long. They pick up on body language very easily\u2014if you\u2019re mad about something else, they may assume it\u2019s their fault. You have to show them love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q: What have you learned from your three years (and counting!) with Primrose?<\/p>\n

Nicholas: \u201cHow connected a dog and a human can be. She always knows how to make me feel better. And I can do the same with her. Even if she can\u2019t hear, she\u2019s just like a normal dog\u2014still barks, still loves to play. She\u2019s probably a better cuddler because she can\u2019t hear! I wouldn\u2019t change anything about her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Q: Last one\u2014where did you get the name Primrose?<\/p>\n

Nicholas: \u201cNot The Hunger Games<\/em>. I was searching for names, saw that it was the name of a flower, and I liked it. But I guess at this point, it doesn\u2019t matter what her name is because she can\u2019t hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you think your dog is deaf, or has ear problems in general, make sure to take them to the vet and get them checked out. Every dog is different and Prim is one out of millions of pups that cannot hear. Her story is unique, just like countless others. If you would like more information, take the time to talk to your vet or research deafness in dogs online or at your local library. Information never hurts!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prim is a three year old Australian Cattle Dog(Red-Heeler)\/Basset Hound mix who lives with her sister Stella and Sadie, loves to play ball, and is dedicated to her owner, Nicholas. Overall, she lives a pretty simple life filled with love and fun. But, you may be wondering, what makes Prim special? Primrose has been deaf since birth. Deafness can be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":4523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[726],"tags":[734,735,47,170],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4522"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4536,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4522\/revisions\/4536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}