Has My Irish Setter Gone Deaf ?? Please Help

[Kevin]

Hi All

I would like to know if any of you have experienced the problems that I am facing, and how you managed to solve it.

We have a Adorable little Irish Setter Puppy. As soon as she arrived, we introduced her into a routine and it worked absolutely wonderfully. She is crate trained, during the night and day and gets plenty of exercise.

She was doing so well !!!

At 11 Weeks:

When I say "Sit Matilda"                   She Sits

When I say "Toilet Matilda"               She goes to Toilet

When I say "Go to bed Matilda"         She got inside her crate and allowed me to close the door

Life was so good

Now at 12 Weeks

When I say "Sit Matilda"            She Jumps around and runs to the crate to fetch her fluffy Duck

When I Say "Toilet Matilda"       She attacks my feet, Runs to the couch and bites the nearest Pillow

When I say "Go to bed Matilda"  She runs around in a circle, Bends down and barks.

I'm starting to think she might have gone deaf !!

Please do get in touch,as I'm not sure what has happened to my sweet little Matilda, and if she will ever Listen again 

[Christine Pullen]

oh I have enjoyed reading all these commentsI! I have a 5 1/2 yr gnat......the other two are pretty obedient but not Harry.....we have done the same...ish training for all of them, he even passed his obedience class, he is just a loveable irish rogue, stubborn and does his own thing, selective deafness? yup.....he is very friendly, ignores us and goes off to greet and meet other dogs, comes back when HE wants to, oblivious to calls.....this has its own worries of course but just to say, welcome to the world of setters Kevin, they will love you to death and try your patience but be warned......they are addictive.......!

[Jean Russell]

Never ever say anything more than once. Don't ask her to do anything unless you are sure you can make sure she does it. She must never realise she has the option to be deaf. Also, make sure your rewards are swift and excellent. Clicker works really well if you know how to use it. Don't use her name all the time - you can give her a pet name to use when you're talking about her or saying silly stuff to her. This keeps her name as a special word that gets electric reaction. And, use it first, before the command (ie, "Matilda" [looks at you] "sit" [sits]

If I could go back, though, I'd train Shane in Irish (as we mostly speak English in the house) to avoid him zoning out to commonly used words like stay and stop when they are not addressed to him or used in an inconsistent way. 

I reckon that now aged 2 he knows over 80 words and signals. 

[Paul]

I go through this with Magick too hes only just a year. There are times hes so into our training he sometimes too excited then there are time when he act like he has never heard the command and I think maybe he needs hearing aids. When that happens I just ignore him we move on and come back to training latter and boom he hears again so just hang in there and be patient. Good luck!

[Michelle Webster]

You have a great sense of humour and with an Irish you are going to need it!

Welcome to the world of an Irish Setter.....Matilda will keep you on your toes.