Our friends Felicia and Charlie are going to share with all of you how to teach your deaf dog to play cornhole. Welcome our Ambassadors Charlie and Felicia from the blog Deaf Wigglebutts blog.

Hi Deaf Wigglebutt friends! Today I want to share with you a new fun trick that I taught Charlie. I talk often on our pages about how important mental stimulation and enrichment is for our deaf dogs. Charlie’s favorite types of tricks to learn are puzzle tricks. He absolutely loves learning a trick where he also gets to put his mind to work. So not only is this a trick but it also fits into your deaf dogs enrichment that you should be making a daily priority.

For this trick game my husband made Charlie is own miniature cornhole board, I then stenciled on the corn image with non-toxic paint. My husband mills lumber and made the cornhole board from a fallen hickory tree but you can get some lumber easily from Lowe’s or Home Depot. I then found some corn fabric on Etsy and made miniature cornhole bags. I filled them with tiny poly-beads, I didn’t want to use real corn in case they could mold. This was super easy to make and anyone could do it, this is just some inspiration for you to get creative.

Now let’s get into how I actually taught Charlie this trick. We made a video on YouTube while I was teaching this to Charlie is real time that you can also go and watch here:

As I mention in all of my videos and posts we only want to be using positive reinforcement/ force free training with our deaf dogs. To teach Charlie this trick and as I demonstrated in the video I am using positive reinforcement clicker training with him. With a deaf dog we use a visual clicker/marker instead of a clicker that can be heard. I also have a video about clicker training your deaf dog on our YouTube channel as well as a post on here. We always want training to be fun a positive for our deaf dogs. Along with that use a high value treat and something tasty. Charlie eats a homemade diet so he only get real/ human grade food items. When teaching Charlie cornhole I was using lean hamburger (90/10) and pieces of lean steak.

When beginning this trick we need to teach our deaf dogs to hold the bags in their mouths. Charlie already knew how to hold items in his mouth prior to learning this trick. This is a super fun trick for your dog to learn – think trick or treat buckets at Halloween. To teach your dog to hold the bags they need to learn “Wait and Release”. I also have a full post on teaching that here: https://deafwigglebutts.com/teaching-your-deaf-dog-wait-and-release/

Wait and release can be used in a multitude of ways with your deaf dog, it’s important to remember that most signs have context and can mean different things depending on the situation they are in. For example wait and release can be used when going out your front door or holding the cornhole bag and then dropping it.

Once your deaf dogs has learned wait and release to hold the corn hole bag next step is dropping the bag into the hole on the board. Sitting right in front of your deaf dog hold the cornhole board on your lap, sign “wait and release” so that when your deaf dog drops the bag it falls without effort into the cornhole board hole. Quickly give your deaf dog a thumbs up (visual clicker) and reward. Practice this way a few times. After practicing with the board on your lap a few time sit the board directly on the floor below your deaf pup to create a little more distance, then repeat the same steps as above. Give your dog a cornhole bag, “wait and release”, thumbs up and reward.

Next move the board out from your deaf dog just very slightly. This time give your deaf dog the cornhole bag but just point to the hole on the board. Your deaf dog should stand up and move a step towards the board and drop the bag into the hole. Give a big happy thumbs up and your reward. Always make sure you are smiling and having fun!

You are just going to continue practicing in this manner and creating more distance from your dog to the cornhole board. Giving your dog the bag, pointing to the board, thumbs up and reward when they walk and drop the bag in. Charlie and I are now at the point where I can toss the bag for him to retrieve it and then he puts it in the cornhole board. I always thumbs up and reward. I am BIG on rewards and want him to always be having fun and enjoying himself.

Once your deaf dog has learned to also retrieve the bags this is great for mental enrichment and also a little bit of exercise.

Do fun things with your deaf dog and have fun together! You will be amazed at how much your pup can learn and how much your bond will grow! The possibilities are endless!

Deaf Wigglebutts are delightfully different and DEAF-initely abled!

Love,

Felicia and her Deaf Wigglebutt Charlie