I have a deaf puppy.  Deaf dog #2, whose call name is Toka.   Deaf dog #1, Kiyo, is a wonderful dog, and I got her as a puppy too.  I don’t remember many of the details about what I did to train her, so I am keeping this log about training deaf dog #2 in case I ever get another puppy – deaf or otherwise.

Toka is a hoot.  He’s a red ‘American’ Akita with a black mask, white feet & a white tip on his tail.  He’s roly-poly, still gaining coordination, and loves to run and chase anything.  He moved in on Tuesday, 6/2/15

Toka can already sit politely to come out of his crate or his fenced yard.  He learned very quickly that the gate or door won’t open unless he’s sitting.  Right now I have the door ready to pop open.  I hold the door shut until his little butt hits the floor, and as soon as it does, I immediately open it.  Soon, and slowly, I’ll be upping criteria, and expect him to sit politely while the door opens.  The goal will be to have him sit until he’s released.

He’s also very good about going into his crate or his x-pen (or yard).  Every time he enters one he gets a treat or a meal.  Not hard to train in a food motivated dog.

When we’re walking in the yard, every time he returns to me he gets a cookie.  We’re also working on a ‘Fast Cookie’ exercise.  If he looks at me, he’ll get 10 cookies in a row, as fast as I can dole them out.   He *loves!* these games.

We started tracking 6/7/15.   Lucy Newton, from whom we are taking an on-line tracking class through Fenzi Dog Sports Academy told me to start him the way I started tracking with Kiyo.  1 target every step, with a cookie on each one.

Here’s a clip of the last few targets of his first track.  The entire track took over 10 minutes, and he did a lot of wandering off and circling.  By the time we got towards the end, he started to figure it out.

Toka’s first track