I'm a trainer\behaviorist in the Washington DC. area and regularly work with a lot of dominate and aggressive dogs.

I started working with a couple who have a 3 year old deaf pit aussie cross that they rescued who has bitten both the husband and the wife after being corrected. They have had the dog for about 1 year.
This dog also has to be restrained when they walk him because he lunges after passerby’s and has bitten at least one person walking by that resulted in a visit to the emergency room.

I had my first session with them yesterday and started with teaching them how to get eye contact rewarding the dog with treats. I also walked him and when he started to lock on someone walking in front of us I corrected him firmly, he went into a down position and gave me the hard stare. I then proceeded to walk with him and all went well. He was on a wide flat cloth choke at the time.

My plans are to work with him in the future with a muzzle and a dominant dog collar.
I was hoping someone here may have some experience working with deaf dogs and have some suggestions. I often use an e-collar when the situation requires it but not sure if it’s the right approach with this dog.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Mark

My parents had a def mutt they were told to all ways be in fornt of the dog for comands by hand and reward every good thing he did. In your case with the dog wanting to bite a muzz and a lot of trust befor I would get in fornt of its face to corect it.

I don't know if I could be useful in this case. I am deaf and never have owned a deaf dog before. One of my friends has a deaf dog and she taught her dog how to sign and use an e collar (only vibrates). Also the dog lives with an elder dog who taught many basic behaviors. From what I have seen, it barks if the elder dog barks and pretty much follows what it does. The dog is approximately 2 to 3 years old and the elder one is about 5 to 6 year old. I don't have any experiences with deaf aggressive dogs, but it seems like you know what you are doing with this dog. I have heard of some trainers saying that it is harder to rehabilitate a deaf aggressive dog than it is to rehabilitate a dog who is able to hear. I don't want to sound kind of discouragement.