I cleaned her ears, and she seems to be hearing SLIGHTLY better. We practice on sit/downs, and comes.. My biggest thing now is teaching her NO. She picks up EVERYTHING.. remotes, brushes, clothing- bags, socks, ect. She also likes to play with the other dogs by biting them on the back of the neck. I've been 'scruffing' her, but it seems to have minimal effect. I'm using a consistant hand command after I do it, so maybe in a few days she'll catch on. She also seems to want to 'herd' the other dogs into one spot. When everyone isnt together she isnt happy. Her limping as stopped, but I havnt seen her break a 'trot'. I wish I knew more about her past. Thanks for your input, I'll give it a try, along with the paging system with the collars. Who knows, maybe she'll be able to hear after she goes to the vet- call me an optamist.

Lindsay,

Thanks for sharing your insights, I am sure the OP can get some good info from your post.

Cheers,

 Quote:

My biggest thing now is teaching her NO. She picks up EVERYTHING.. remotes, brushes, clothing- bags, socks, ect. She also likes to play with the other dogs by biting them on the back of the neck. I've been 'scruffing' her, but it seems to have minimal effect.

When my dog was a pup and he picked things up in his mouth, I would encourage him to bring them to me, instead of punishing him for it, or getting into the keep away game. If let's say he picked up a sock on the ground, I would get his attention, run backwards away from him with some clapping and open arms. When he would come to me with the object, I would trade him for it with a treat! No keep away games! No punishment. He still solicits play sometimes by bringing me something I have left on the floor. Sometimes he is right and it is time to play or train, sometimes I thank him for the item and ask him to go to his spot to lay down. Either way, he NEVER goes and chews on an item alone in the corner.

I tried to keep things out of his reach as a pup, and after he had learned the "leave it" command and we had a good bond, I started telling him not to pick up things I did not want him to pick up.

Taught the "leave it" command with positives too.

I do not live in a multi-dog house hold so wont speak to the dog on dog thing.

If you are going to keep her and she has an unknown history, I would want to work at getting a good bond with her. This may involve spending quality with just her. You will after all have to devote quite a bit of time to her training if she turns out to have hearing problems. I would try to make this as positive an experience as possible.

Maybe try to save the corrections until she knows the rules for sure... and you know a little more from the vet.

Just my 2 cents,

I came home and worked with her on sit, stay. with sit as the bottom of my hand to the ground in kind of a swooping motion, and stay as the palm of my hand, as someone would a stop. I'm tenative to say this, but she understood- for the most part. She seems to be very attentive- and wants to learn- so we'll see what everything brings. IF (BIG if) I keep her, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. I have 3 dogs, and at 22 thats a lot of responsibility.

Did she have a vet eval yet? How'd it go?

This girl has a spot in my heart , I admit.

Training my deaf Luna was a great experience..... taught me a lot more than it did her about clarity and consistency in training. And her natural habit of sticking pretty close to me really contributed toward a strong bond.

Motivational basic obedience sure did "up" the confidence level of Luna, too.