Here is a recent photo of Alisha McGraw and her deaf and hearing dogs.

The night before we went to pick up Nitro at the City of Salem Animal Shelter, I was desperately looking for any information regarding deaf dogs and training deaf dogs. When I got on the Internet that night I did two things, I researched Positive Reinforcement Clicker Training because I knew that was how I wanted to train my new deaf puppy in a positive way. I also looked up the local training facilities who offered group training lessons so my dog could go to classes, I would be learning along the way and at the same time going to a group class would also keep my new deaf dog socialized. The other thing I did was seek out sign command videos.

The next stop on the Internet was to check out videos of others training their deaf dogs with hand signals. The video I am sharing with you is by far my favorite and helped us get started. The video was done by Alisha McGraw and she did such a wonderful job (Alisha you totally Rock).  The other site I highly recommend is www.aslpro.com and signingsavvy.com to learn the American Sign Language signs for basic commands. With both of these ASL websites all you have to do is type in a specific word and then a 3 second video will show how to sign the word. You can also make up your own signs if you feel more comfortable with having your own language with your dog.