dog hearing loss

[cloverfarm]

Hi, all,
I am wondering, fellow dog owners, if any of you have ever had a dog go deaf. Our border collie was asleep today when the bulk truck from the feed mill drove right by, set up its auger and unloaded a ton of cattle feed. Drove about 20 feet away from her and she didn't even twitch. I thouight that was very, very strange. I also read BCs are a breed that sometimes experiences this and sound sleep is one symptom. I wonder if it's a partial thing because I "thought" she could hear me whistle ... I wonder if I think she hears me but actually it's when she sees me ...?

I suppose next time the vet sees her we will ask ...

ann

[Smoky Rain]

Originally Posted by cloverfarm

Hi, all,
I am wondering, fellow dog owners, if any of you have ever had a dog go deaf. Our border collie was asleep today when the bulk truck from the feed mill drove right by, set up its auger and unloaded a ton of cattle feed. Drove about 20 feet away from her and she didn't even twitch. I thouight that was very, very strange. I also read BCs are a breed that sometimes experiences this and sound sleep is one symptom. I wonder if it's a partial thing because I "thought" she could hear me whistle ... I wonder if I think she hears me but actually it's when she sees me ...?

I suppose next time the vet sees her we will ask ...

ann

This is a good question. I'm wondering the same thing.
I have a Chow/Husky mix, and there are days when I swear he is deaf. Some days I can walk right up to him while he is sleeping, and literally startle him... Then there are other days when his hearing is so acute it's scary... Such as when he gets all excited for no apparent reason, and a few minutes later the UPS truck pulls up...

My wife thinks he has "selective hearing".

[fellini123]

Hi guys, I know huskies but I am not sure about border collies sometimes have a problem with deafness!!!! The "sometimes they hear ans sometimes they dont," could be due to what is called unilateral deafness. Where the dog is only deaf in one ear.
There is only one way to tell this perfectly and that is with a BAER test, but for an idea, put the dog near a wall and when he is not looking at you call his name in a normal voice. If he looks towards the wall, not towards you right at first it is a sign that he only hears out of one ear. You do need to try this on both sides!! LOL
We used to raise dalmatians and this is a pretty normal condition. Good luck.
Alice in Virginia

[kabri]

Quite common in australian shepherds. The one we just lost at age 13 was deaf the last year of his life. Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with his eyes, and he was an obedience competition dogs when younger, so we were still able to communicate well with him with hand signals and body language. I'm very surprised though that your dog did not feel/respond to the vibrations in the ground! Our elderly dog did sleep very deeply though the last year or so, it was kind of scary, I would think he had left us because he was so still as he slept. :waa: still miss that dog a lot :waa:

[sidepasser]

My basset hound, flopsy, went deaf at age 13 and we noticed because unless she was looking right at us, she wouldn't come to us when we called. We clapped our hands and made "come here" motions and she would come. Unfortunately at age 14.5 she got ran over in the driveway as she did not hear a car crank up that she was lying under until too late. I still miss her, she was a great kid's dog. The vet did a hearing test on her and did confirm that she was deaf in both ears. He said dogs age pretty much like humans, lose eyesight and hearing, teeth, etc. I had flopsy from a 5 week old puppy - I still cry when I see her pictures.

You might take care to warn people coming down the driveway (delivery people) that you have a deaf or hearing impaired dog and request that they drive very carefully. I wish I had thought of that, but now have a sign that says watch for animals on driveway.

Sidepasser

[cloverfarm]

She's only 4! :waa:

Thank you for sharing your thoughts -- I was kind of wondering about one ear or the other ...

Ann

[Maura]

I agree that the vibrations of the truck would have woken her up, even if she couldn't hear. She was probably aware of the truck, but was not threatened by it and real tired, so she just ignored it.

Dogs who are loosing their hearing often exhibit unusual responses, such as snapping at you when you come from behind. Hearing loss can be hard to detect because the dog learns to cope without your knowing it, such as feeling vibrations in the floor, using her sense of smell and sight, and being familiar with the normal household routine.

A trip to the vet would not only rule out hearing loss, but other problems that might be making her feel especially tired or lethargic.