“Deaf dogs can make good pets with training - Daily Reflector” plus 1 more |
| Deaf dogs can make good pets with training - Daily Reflector Posted: Deaf dogs can make good pets with training  Morgan Shumard and fiance Tim Self are experienced dog owners, but they weren't entirely sure about Norton, a 70-pound pit bull, after they fell in love with him on a website. It's not the breed. The couple in Burton, Mich., had lost a pit bull and were in search of another. It's that Norton is completely deaf. They were nervous about whether they could train him, and how he would fit in with their two other dogs, a mid-size English bull terrier and a Chihuahua. They were concerned he might be too skittish and nippy to mix with their young nieces. They needn't have worried. A rescue group that saved Norton from euthanasia after he was left with a veterinarian taught him some basic sign language that his new family built on using treats and repetition: an "OK" sign placed on a forehead for "drop it" and a thumbs up for praise. "In the beginning, when the dogs would all play fight, it would get rougher, and it was a big change from being able to communicate with a dog verbally," Shumard said. "I was worried about him being startled or running all over the other dogs, but he's very sweet, very tuned in." Six months after his adoption, 2-year-old Norton is the hit of the neighborhood. "He uses our other dogs to hear noises for him," Shumard said. "When he's asleep we tell Gracie, our bull terrier, to go wake him up, and we stomp to get his attention so he can feel the vibrations. I call him my one-in-a-million dog." The prevalence of hereditary deafness in dogs, which is the most frequent cause, isn't known across breeds, but the likelihood increases with the presence of white pigmentation, either in patterns or solids, said Dr. George Strain, a professor of neuroscience at Louisiana State's veterinary school in Baton Rouge. About 90 breeds in all are most affected, he said. There's also a strong correlation between deafness and blue eyes. Dalmatians have the highest prevalence of deafness in the United States, Strain said. Based on hearing tests he conducted on 5,638 of the dogs, he found 7.8 percent (or 411) were deaf in both ears and 21.7 percent (or 1,226) were deaf in one ear. "If a Dalmatian is in a pound, there's a very good chance that he's deaf," Strain said. The notion that deaf dogs have no hope for happy lives angers some owners and members of the human deaf community. A particular sore spot is a written recommendation from the Dalmatian Club of America that all bilaterally deaf Dalmatians — those deaf in both ears — be destroyed. Scott Facey of the club's hearing research committee defended the recommendation. "You have people trying to put human traits on an animal. That is not the case," said Facey, a Dalmatian breeder in Springfield, Mass. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Clemson's Brooks Center to play host to troupe of performing pets - Greenville News Posted: An old adage suggests that few things are more difficult than "herding cats." But Greg Popovich not only can herd cats, he can inspire them to do tricks. Popovich's cats perform in skits, jump through hoops, fly and do funny things on their hind legs. Popovich's Comedy Pet Theater, starring his 15 performing cats, is coming to Clemson's Brooks Center Monday. Also featured in the family friendly show are 10 dogs, eight white doves, four geese and two parrots. Oh, and a few humans as well, including the Russian-born Popovich and some acrobats. "The pets tend to get more applause," Popovich says on the phone from Montgomery, Ala., where his company is performing. "Pets don't make mistakes. Humans make mistakes." All of the animals in Popovich's show were rescued from animal shelters. Getting the cats to perform actually is not as difficult as you might think, Popovich says. Cats, it turns out, are natural entertainers. Who knew? "I build a trick around their natural habits," says Popovich, a son of animal trainers with the Great Moscow Circus. "We can't push a cat to do something. They're very independent. One cat will like to play with a ball. Another will like to walk around a leg." With his cats, Popovich rarely uses food treats as rewards. Cats, he says, prefer praise. Popovich, a fourth-generation circus clown and master juggler, spends about three months on the road with his pets and a nine-member crew. The animals travel in a custom-made trailer. "They're very comfortable," says Popovich, who also toured with the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. "We worry about our pets first. They're not only our business partners but they're family. They are the real stars." During the rest of the year, Popovich's show is a semi-permanent fixture at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Popovich hopes that his show, by using only rescued animals, will encourage people to consider adopting a pet from a shelter. "We try to send a message to our audience that animals are people, too," says Popovich. "If you're looking for a pet, maybe you'll look to your local animal shelter." In fact, Popovich invites animal shelters to set up tables at his shows. Two shelters will have information at Popovich's Monday show: Oconee County Humane Society and the Animal Rescue Fund of South Carolina. Bonnie Chait, manager of the no-kill Animal Rescue Fund of South Carolina, praises Popovich's efforts to promote shelters. "They try to involve local rescues wherever they go," says Chait. "They use animals that probably would have died if they hadn't adopted them." Popovich and his pets have been featured on a number of TV shows, including "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "Late Night with David Letterman." To prove that even ordinary folks can influence cats, Popovich wrote "You Can Train Your Cat: Secrets of a Master Cat Trainer." The book provides techniques to prevent the most common household cat problems such as clawing furniture, begging for food and refusing to use the litter box. Arts writer Paul Hyde can be reached at 864-298-4004. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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