Speech Impaired Handler

[clwydcelt]

I am trying to help an 80 years old Gentleman train his hyperactive Kelpie pup. due to cancer the old man can't speak. Neither can he hear very well which makes communication between us difficult. The pup is exhuberant and friendly but jumps at and mouths anyone who gets near enough. We have to use a Squeaky toy to get the pup's attention which is working quite well. He will now Come, Sit, and Drop. He is rewarded with food treats and pats. I have to work with the pup each lesson until he understand what i want of him so the old man can practice in a limited way during the week. Any suggestions would be gratefully recieved.Margaret

[BC]

Hello,

Just to make it clearer to me are you wanting advise on how to teach the pup further without words, or how to explain the training to the owner ?

[Poodle wrangler]

Clicker training jumps to mind. You can feel when the clicker is activated. Sounds like you're doing OK.

You could also try the Training/Obedience/Dog sports subforum if you don't have much luck here...

I guess a kelpie might not be ideal for him, but he's training, so good on him .

[oonga]

no idea about training the dog,

but to assist the owner with hearing you

make sure you are always facing him when you talk so that he can see your mouth,

speak clearly, and loud but don't shout

take a paper and pen with you and write things down if he is having trouble

if you have said something and he is not hearing/understanding you after the second repetition use different words to get the message across.

sometimes it is only one word hearing impaired people have trouble with so changing words can change frequencies etc..

tap him on the shoulder to get his attention.

keep up the excellent work you are doing

[clwydcelt]

I am trying to help an 80 years old Gentleman train his hyperactive Kelpie pup. due to cancer the old man can't speak. Neither can he hear very well which makes communication between us difficult. The pup is exhuberant and friendly but jumps at and mouths anyone who gets near enough. We have to use a Squeaky toy to get the pup's attention which is working quite well. He will now Come, Sit, and Drop. He is rewarded with food treats and pats. I have to work with the pup each lesson until he understand what i want of him so the old man can practice in a limited way during the week. Any suggestions would be gratefully recieved.Margaret

[clwydcelt]

Clicker training jumps to mind. You can feel when the clicker is activated. Sounds like you're doing OK.

You could also try the Training/Obedience/Dog sports subforum if you don't have much luck here...

I guess a kelpie might not be ideal for him, but he's training, so good on him .

Thank you for your help. We do use paper and pencil to help our communication problems and i leave him a reminder sheet of the lesson we have just been practicing to help him during the week. Mainly I need more ideas on how to stop the pup lunging at and mouthing people. I am trying keeping the pup in a sit for a pat position while 'visitors' approach him. Turning their back if he jumps at them while i firmly put him back into the sit position. Would if be too cruel to use a water spray bottle if other gentler methods fail? The Kelpie is not a good choice for such a handicapped and frail old man, I agree. Thanks to everyone who answered my query. Any ideas will be gratefully recieved. I am an experienced dog obedience trainer and Instructor for over 20 years but haven't come across a problem like this before.. M

[jacobite]

Can this guy make any noises at all ?

That sounds like such a put-down, not meant that way.......

That is, can he "growl" at the dog to say "bad dog" ?

Can he make pleasant noises to say "good dog" ?

In any case, terrific to hear he is overcoming his problems.

Makes our own little problems seem like, well.... little problems...

And, still PETA wants to take our dogs away from us.......

[Teebs]

I use a water bottle with Atlas, I love my water bottle, it doesnt even have water in it anymore he sees it and bolts

I am trying to think, is there anything the man can get hold of that makes a different noise then something you would normally hear? maybe he could use something and teach the dog that that noise means no? So instead of saying NO, he will make the noise?

[Scarlet]

To show disapproval could he try stamping his foot to gain attention then standing as tall as posssible, even up on his toes, hands on hips and lean over the dog.

I give a deep grunt rather than stomp my feet but otherwise I do this if my girl is being stubborn. She knows that I'm annoyed and it works for me but she is not a pup.

[Dogsfevr]

Does he have any family members that you can educate aswell??

I would also if able take a trained dog to show what your trying to achieve,if communications arent great visually seeing the technique & result can make a huge difference

[TNT]

Maybe try teaching the dog using 'sign' language- like they do with deaf dogs- If it works for a dog that cant hear it should work for a person that cant talk!

Just an idea of something to try...

[Christina77]

My dog , ACD , has been trained in hand signals and whistle signals , however they were initially combined with words , I just gradually withdrew the word command and gave the signal .

I wonder if you could train the dog in both ? You give the command while the owner gives the hand signal , so that the dog learns both , then withdraw the verbal commands ?

Just a thought as it wasn't hard to train my dog like that , if you've seen how drovers train their dogs , I think it's mainly by whistle command , maybe someone here might know more on that .