Training a deaf dog takes patience, but then again, training any dog takes patience. You might think that training a deaf dog might be more difficult than training a normal dog, but it’s not. The first thing that you have to do when you are training your dog is teach your dog to respond to you and to pay attention to you. When your dog is paying attention to you, you can start teach him other tricks.

Getting a deaf dog to pay attention to you can be a struggle because you can’t simply call his name. You have to come up with a different method instead. Many people go with a vibrating collar. These collars vibrate when you push a button on a remote control. This vibration is not painful; it simply gets the dog’s attention Dog Training.

Start slowly with the dog by your side. Push the button to vibrate the collar (or do whatever you want to attract the dog’s attention) and reward your dog with a treat when he looks at you. Over time gradually increase the distance between you and your dog and reward your dog when he comes to you. Once you master getting your dog’s attention, you can teach him anything.

For example, you can teach your dog how to sit even though he cannot hear you. First, you need some treats that your dog likes. Second, you need to get your dog’s attention. Third, have your dog stand in front of you and hold a treat in front of its nose. Fourth, you want to lift the treat into the air so that your dog’s nose follows it. This will generally make your dog sit. Fifth, when your dog sits, give it the treat, say “sit,” and use a hand signal, such as a fist, that you want to use for sit. Now, you just have to repeat the process. Keep training sessions short—no more than 15 minutes, and you want to offer less and less treats as you go until your dog sits with the hand signal alone.

Time, patience, and treats are all it takes to teach your dog, deaf or not, how to do a variety of things.