The biggest issue most people have in training their dogs is getting their attention. Dogs are easily distracted, are good at selective listening, and some are even good at ignoring us purposely! 

When you have a deaf dog, this issue is magnified. Instead of your dog having selective hearing, they can’t hear you at all. So getting their attention comes down to finding other ways to get their attention. Some deaf dogs spend their lives on leash so their owners have a direct line to getting their attention whenever they need it. Sure, it works, but it takes a little something away from the freedom that most dogs enjoy. Other options for catching their attention include stomping your feet or making some other motion that the dog will feel, or catching their vision or sense of smell. All of these are possible, but there is a better option, the e-collar!

So we all think we have the smartest dog, but how smart are they actually?

Smart enough to tell the difference between the sound of your engine and your neighbors? Yep.

Smart enough to have you trained to give them food when they do cute things? You bet.

Smart enough to memorize the way to the vet? Sure thing.

So it would only make sense that they would be smart enough to know when the collar (whether prong or e-collar) is on, it means that a certain set of rules apply, right? We would be fools if we said no.

They definitely know. There is no “maybe” about it. They know.

And it’s annoying.
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So what do we do? How do we stop our dog who is a perfect angel with the collar on from becoming a total goof-on-the-loose when we take the collar off? ​