Zamboni's lost quite a bit of her hearing (probably about 60-70%) and she's losing her eyesight as well. How's she doing? Phenomenal.
She never learned hand signals. So I taught her those once I realized that her hearing is going. I've learned that once she's asleep, the sleep is DEEP; that when I need to wake her, I'll startle her. So I knock on the floor or the wall next to her so she can feel the vibrations and start to come out of the sleep on her own. If her back is to me, I have to jog over and touch her to get her attention (or toss a piece of bark or a pebble in her direction).
She has a great nose (she's a beagle mix), so she doesn't seem to miss her other senses as much as you and I might. I figured that her vision was kind of going because she'd stand still in a dark room, if I turned off the light, and wait for me, Dh or Camper then follow us out. But I really noticed it a few months ago when the sliding glass door was open and she wanted to go out. I saw her paw the open air where the door would have been, then certain the door wasn't there, she walked out, across the deck, down the ramp and bounded across the yard to check out what Camper was was doing. Then she joined him in chasing a squirrel. And barking at it.
Oh. Barking. Zamboni's barking has increased. She'll just sit in the front yard and bark every once in a while for no apparent reason. Stanley Coren, the Harvard dog expert, writes in one of his books about how hearing impaired dogs will bark to reassure themselves. I think he's right.
Camper is my service dog. But he's also Zamboni's. I can send him into the back yard to retrieve her if she's been out there too long. He keeps an eye out for her. When he barks, she does as well (and she'll bark for quite a bit longer, just to be certain that whoever was there has left). When she needs to go outside to potty, he'll ring the potty bells (I never trained her on this). If she needs to go out in the middle of the night, he'll whine at my side of the bed.
(It took me a while, standing in the yard in the middle of the night, with my GSD, who demanded to go out, now standing next to me, while my beagle was peeing or pooping, to realize that he was actually doing her bidding!
)
She loves her brother. They play together. They hang out together. She exercises daily. Swims weekly. Gets all sorts of love and affection. Still loves to eat and snack. We snuggle. We train (she, Camper, and me) on the basics together, where every sit, down, stay, come, and trick results in a small treat. (They LOVE that. They compete who can "down" faster!). She goes on short hikes and will stop at rabbit holes and digs. On hikes, she walks just far enough behind me that she can follow my scent anywhere. We go camping, travelling, and pretty much, life hasn't changed that much. The biggest changes arise because she can't hike 10 miles (uphill, both ways
) on backpacking trips anymore -- not because she doesn't hear or see much anymore.
Her losses were (I think) a slow deterioration over time. Sudden loss would almost certainly be harder. But our well socialized, well trained, well loved dogs are capable of being very flexible. More so, I'm certain, than we are.
Next Monday, we're celebrating Zamboni's 15th birthday with a big grilled steak and a big homemade cake on a camping trip. It's probably better that she can't hear Dh and me sing loudly, off-tune, Happy Birthday to her!
And she sure doesn't need to see the steak and cake to enjoy it!
