I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has a deaf dog or works with a deaf dog. My dog is deaf and I have a friend who has a deaf dog (same breed). We have been able to learn from each other, but to some extent it has been trial and error. The vet says that my dog has no hearing at all but I suspect she may perhaps have had some slight hearing early on because she barks normally, but my friend's dog (younger than mine) had had a very odd bark since she was a puppy, she has never been able to hear.
I had a golden retriever who went deaf after our beagle die. I firmly believe it was trauma driven. We still had a great time, but I had to use care with her, especially outside. It took some doing, but we did okay.
Would you know if there's something that can be done for the deaf dogs? I mean, like humans, can they like have hearing aids or something?
There are no dog hearing aids that I know of....plus a deaf dog doesn't need a hearing aid. They are some of the most wonderful and even tempered dogs. I work with several deaf dogs and they are all so friendly and brilliant. The best thing you can teach a deaf dog is to look you in the eye on a very regular basis.
The complication for me is that she went mostly blind, too. I tell ya, she loved that beagle. In fact, when I got the GR, I told my beagle, "here's your puppy" and that was their relationship for 14 years. When the beagle died, my GR just couldn't handle it. She was so sweet and she tried so hard, but she just grieved so.
I can only answer in respect of the deaf dogs I know about. My dog was examined by the vet when we first adopted her, I was told that she was deaf and there was nothing that could be done about it. The other deaf dog I know was born deaf and my friend took her because the owner was going to have the puppy put to sleep due to the deafness. Both dogs cope well with hand signals and touch. Things are a little more complicated with my dog now as her sight is not very good, so we do a lot more by touch.
My old man dog started to lose his hearing due to age, alot of hand sign and touch was used. I learned quickly to approch him in his line of sight so he would jumpout of his skin. When his sight started to go as well I would knock on the floor and use hand movements on his side and back area. We mostly made it up as we went and stuck to what worked.