The Ollie Chronicles

[tavalon]

Quick background. I am estranged from my family, but I do get to have my child and my dog over often. This is a post about the dog, a Standard Poodle named Olympic Baron, Ollie to his friends. He was a hearing assistance dog until he was 7 and then he ended up in a rescue and we were lucky enough to get to adopt him.

He is now 12 and pushing 13. The last time he was with me, I realized that he is losing his hearing. I suppose I will go to hell for finding that ironic. However, he's always been afraid/aggressive with other dogs in the time we've had him, so I think he's pretty okay with the world being a bit quieter. He still seems happy.

This week I realized that he isn't just going deaf, he's pretty much there. But his eyes and his mind are still quite sharp. I know this because last week he had a stare down with a beaver and when I brought him here this week, he had to check out the last place we saw the beaver, even though the beaver wasn't in attendance.

So, how did I find out his level of deafness? Well, we went out on a walk and we walked by another dock. Ollie just had to check it for other dog smells (his smeller stopped working many years ago, but he doesn't seem to know this) so we walked over and surprised a beaver. Neither of us saw it, but I nearly jumped out of my skin because it slapped the water loudly with its tail as it left. Ollie, OTOH, remained passive and didn't even twitch.

I never spent much time learning the dog command sign language, but I have new motivation. While various things are failing for Ollie, he still has a happy life and he always loved it when people would use the signs for sit, stay, etc. Now, instead of being a hearing assistance dog he is a dog who needs hearing assistance humans. I'm okay with that.

[tavalon]

1. Goddess, I love the internetz

I just found a list of commands, complete with pictures. It took all of 1 minute and Google. I just hope I'm not learning to tell him "fuck off and die.". They look right, from my admittedly poor memory.


On edit: I guess only one of us has to learn these commands. Ollie woke up so I took him into the kitchen and did, sit, down and shake. I was a little shaky on the signs but he did each thing first time out and I saw his little tail wagging. So, while I have a learning curve, he's never forgotten. I knew his mind was sharp.

[In_The_Wind]

2. wow

[tavalon]

3. I think I wore him out, though,

he's snoring right behind me.

Anyway, I'm the one that needs the practice. Clearly he knows those commands as though he learned them as a baby. Scratch the "though". LOL

He so quickly learned verbal commands, I never had the motivation. Now, I do.

[lunatica]

4. Well here I go telling you about my toy poodle

I didn't realize she was deaf because without even thinking about it I use sign language all the time. So as long as she could see me she understood what I told her. It wasn't until she had her back to me that I realized she was almost deaf when she didn't turn when I called her name. She could hear our other dog barking so she would chime in on barking. But that was about it.

She didn't have any trouble with it nor did I have trouble communicating with her.

Dogs read their owners all the time. We're an open book to them.

[tavalon]

5. Wow, thank you for the story!

And you reminded me of my earlier toy poodle, who actually got the name Nipper, before it turned out he was a biter when he got surprised. Unfortunately, when he went deaf, we had to circle around him carefully so he could see us or else get bit. He would never purposefully bite us but he was a bite first, ask questions later guy when surprised. Ollie isn't like that at all.

May I be so bold as to ask why you use sign language? I would love to learn ASL as a second language, but having no one deaf in my family or circle of friends, I think it would be pretty hard to get good at it. I try not to stare when people in restaurants are using sign language, but it's just so pretty, like a dance, especially if neither is vocalizing.

Just as I was writing that, I realized that one of my friends decided she wanted to not only learn but to teach sign language. She doesn't have any deaf family members and she ended up having to go out to Maryland to go to a specialized university. She just got back a few months ago. I'm going to make it my goal to check in with her after I get up today. (That sounded weird. I'm a night shifter and even on my days off, I stay on my same schedule. Up all night, sleep all day).

[Sekhmets Daughter]

6. My cocker spaniel has been "deaf" for years

According to the vet he 'hears' though the bones in his head. About the only real difference I've noticed is that when he's asleep it takes a really loud noise to wake him and when awake, really loud noises make him jump. Go figure.

[tavalon]

7. I think the reason it took me a while to understand the degree of his deafness

is that his sight is still so very good and likely he's been using that to compensate. After all, in his first life, it was his job to watch his owner, so even now, when I walk by him, probably the air movement alerts him and he looks up to see if he's needed or if food is about to come out of hiding. Both of those things are of high importance to him!

[Sekhmets Daughter]

9. He may not be as deaf as you think...

You might want to take him to the vet for a checkup. One other thing I've noticed with Ernie is that he can't hear me over the television if the damned commercials are too loud. If I turn down the volume he hears my voice.... He has surprised me by letting me know someone was at the door when I had never heard the knock. Of course, even when Ernie could hear, he obeyed only those commands he wanted to.

[tavalon]

11. Yeah, he's been scheduled for a check up, per my request,

but now that I don't get to see him every day, I really notice the changes. I've been down this road more than a few times but I have a love/hate relationship with the sundown years of doggy lives. It makes him (and the others from the past) more precious and yet, it's a bit sad.

Except for a bad habit of counter surfing and a fear/aggression thing with dogs and cats, Ollie has been the most polite, well behaved dog I've ever had in my life. I suspect that means I suck at training a dog but then again, Ollie was trained to be a working dog and he didn't wash out, so I think he must always have been polite and well behaved. I've heard that plenty of dogs wash out from service dog training. What I can't believe, is that he ended up a rescue at 7 years old.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

15. Sometimes there is no understanding

people at all. Other times we just don't know the circumstances or we would understand. If I were to die suddenly, my Ernie could end up in a rescue facility. My daughter can't have pets where she lives...my son can, but I don't know if he'd want to put up with Ernie's
problems. He has food allergies and can only eat venison so feeding him is expensive. He gets 'hot spots' from getting food other than venison, which he manages to find outside no matter how carefully I try to watch him. The medication no longer completely clears up the skin condition....And then there is the matter of his ears...Like many Cocker spaniels, he has a fungus condition that stinks to high heaven...it's why he is deaf...lift his ears and it looks like an old-time boxer's 'cauliflower ear' . By the time I get the second ear cleaned, the first is dirty again....But he has the sweetest disposition, I could never part with him.

[tavalon]

16. Actually, I know part of the story of Ollie and I've intuited the rest

I was told that the person he worked for was an elderly, mostly shut in woman. She broke her hip and had to go live with her daughter and Ollie couldn't stay with her. That's all I got but here's the thing, unless the daughter couldn't have pets (a possibility) the more likely thing is that she had a cat or cats. Ollie just cannot abide cats. At all. So my guess is that the woman had to give him up for that reason. Because, you know how reliant and close service dogs and their owners get, so I'm sure it was a forced decision.

That said, the day I found his ad on Craigslist was the best doggy day of my life. I knew then that I wouldn't get the full lifespan with Ollie but it's been a great 5 (almost 6) years.

My pup also turned out to have allergies to corn and wheat. Kind of hilarious because my stepson and I are both gluten intolerant. I worry now that I'm not there to hassle everybody else, that he might be getting snacks that have corn. At least they still feed him the same kibble so most of his diet is appropriate.

Now that I know that he loves being on the barge with me, I'm tempted to just take him permanently, but 8 of my shifts during the month are 12 hr shifts, which means I'm gone from 6pm to 8am. If I can find a dog walker willing to come and walk him once no earlier than 9pm, I will do it, but otherwise, I think it's just unkind to keep such a big dog in such a tiny, tiny houseboat for that long at a stretch.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

17. I can see where the 12 hour shifts

might be a problem....but he is getting older. On election day, because I was working the polls, I left at 5:45 am and didn't return until 9:30 pm. Because another of Ernie's quirks is that he is very friendly and thus a "submissive pee'er" (He would have peed on their shoes to signal his friendliness) I couldn't have someone come in to walk him, although several neighbors would have been willing. I rushed home as quickly as I could, in fact before they wanted me to, fully expecting a mess.... No mess, he was watching the door for me like he always does when I'm gone, then waited while I grabbed the leash and off we went. 4 years ago I wouldn't have come home to a clean condo. Try it...you know you want to...and you and Ollie will work it out.

[lunatica]

21. I don't use official sign language

I just have a tendency to gesture with my hands and the dogs understand if I just make hand signals to them. For example, when I give them treats they always look at me for more, so I always show them the back and front of my hands and say "no more snacks". When Kalinka went deaf all I had to do was show her both sides of my hands and she understood. And the other dog reads my hand signals just as easily.

When I tell them to stop doing something I point my finger at them. So without saying anything if I point my finger at them they know to stop doing what they're doing. I just never realized that I do things like that all the time, but they had it memorized all along.

My cat, King Tut, on the other hand thinks that if I point my finger at him he's supposed to rub his cheek with it. He does understand the word "no" and when he's kneeding me with his paws and starts using his claws if I quietly say "awww" he retracts his claws but keeps kneeding.

[tavalon]

22. Oh, I see

Well, I've put out a call to my friend who is sign language trained so she can help me hone my signals. I want them to be the same as the ones he learned as a pup. Funny thing is that I have had a habit for years of talking to Ollie all the time, like he understands me. Now, I know he doesn't hear me, but he's still an indulgent pooch. I tried out "I love you" in sign language and he just cocked his head like "have you gone mental, woman?" so I'm guessing his first owner only "talked" to him in commands.

We have, over the years, taught him some bad habits. When he first came to us, jumping on a couch was unthinkable, now he sits in the comfy chair like he's the king of all he surveys. And he kind of is.

[libodem]

8. Ahhhh

Touched my heart. Turn about is fair play.

[tavalon]

12. Isn't it though?

And he really encourages me with that little wag of his tail when I do the hand gestures. He frickin' loves sign language.

[libodem]

14. They use all kinds of gestures

In those sporting dog trials. Your puppy will appreciate that you understand his need to communicate through signs.

[yellowcanine]

10. I thought this thread was about Oliver North (Reagan's Resident Traitor). What a relief.

I love dogs.

[tavalon]

13. Ew, I hadn't thought about that rat bastard in forever

I could have gone longer. My Ollie is 1000+ times better than Reagan's toady.

[Scruffy Rumbler]

18. I was sharing a home with several people,

50-50 deaf to hearing, when I got my puppy. One of my roommates (deaf) had a few dogs. When I trained my pup, I included sign commands as well as voice commands. Having my pup know sign commands was great when in a crowd or it was quiet and I didn't want to draw attention to us. I remember one time, a guy came up freaking out as to how my dog was reading my mind. The guy didn't notice the subtle hand gestures I was using.

My guy knew the signs for come, sit, lay down, eat, search, ball, walk, drive (go for ride) and go in. I bet your Ollie is so glad someone is finally talking to him again in a way he probably knew from his previous human! If you know anyone that uses or knows ASL, it might be a boon to both of you to have them test a variety of signs on him. As a hearing assist dog, he may know a lot of commands.

Have fun with this new found way to reconnect with you dog.

Oh... and the beaver slap? Been there, done that! thought my dog and I were both doing to soil our selves when we heard our first one! lol

[tavalon]

19. Do they slap their tails as a warning?

If they are trying to run away, it seems odd to announce oneself that way.

[Scruffy Rumbler]

20. It's a warning to the rest of the family to dive dive dive!

And then they take off like crazy! We use to run into them a lot in Oregon when we would walk along the Williamette River. They would be in the shallows doing what beavers do. They are so quiet, we never noticed them until they slapped their tails... like a gun shot! The way it startled us, I bet it was a great way to confuse a would be preditor as they made thier get-a-way, but I do remeber seeing in a documentary about it being a warning to the rest of their beaver family to dive for safety.

[tavalon]

23. I see!

I've only seen solitary beavers here on Lake Union but that slap is quite jarring.

[tavalon]

24. Thanks, I am going to ask my friend to come by while he's here

and see what he knows and bone up on my poor signing.

[Scruffy Rumbler]

25. That is really great!

I would love to see your dog as it happens. Poodles are so smart. He may have retained a lot of commands from his previous human relationship and is just waiting for the trigger. Hope there is a lot of tail wagging!

[tavalon]

26. Oh, yeah, he's already shown me today

It's clear that the only one who needs to practice is me. My friend said yes, so we need to set a date.

I had a poodle once who ended up with an Alzheimer's like situation. I still feel guilty about him because I kept him around far longer than was good for him because I couldn't let go. But, Ollie is sharp as a tack and still has amazing sight. So, I don't think the loss of his sniffer nor his hearing is impacting him all that much. I'm watching him carefully though, as I'll not do to him what I did to Beatty.