Middie's losing his hearing AND his sight.
We knew about the sight for sure, and strongly suspected hearing, because a simple "Middie!" that used to be enough to call him inside now needs to be doubly loud for him to twitch an ear.
His off-leash skills have greatly improved, so he gets let out to potty and goes out front with us off leash most of the time. I've been reinforcing a behavior chain of pee, come inside, and then sometimes you go back out so coming inside isn't a bad thing, and his habit is to book it back inside for his "glucosamine cookie" every night.
I went to the store this week and brought him with me. When he went to pee, I tromped over to the car and opened the hatch and the crate door. As he finished, I called him, but he ran to the front door. I Kept calling him, and even rattled the crate and patted my hands against my thighs. This went on for maybe 30 seconds when I was 20 feet away. I got worried that the poor dude had blown me off and run away, so I walked up to the front door where he was patiently waiting for me and clapped my hands and called him.
He looked totally shocked that I was behind him, and tan right over.
I'm so annoyed that he's finally okay off leash and then starts losing his hearing.
We knew about the sight for sure, and strongly suspected hearing, because a simple "Middie!" that used to be enough to call him inside now needs to be doubly loud for him to twitch an ear.
His off-leash skills have greatly improved, so he gets let out to potty and goes out front with us off leash most of the time. I've been reinforcing a behavior chain of pee, come inside, and then sometimes you go back out so coming inside isn't a bad thing, and his habit is to book it back inside for his "glucosamine cookie" every night.
I went to the store this week and brought him with me. When he went to pee, I tromped over to the car and opened the hatch and the crate door. As he finished, I called him, but he ran to the front door. I Kept calling him, and even rattled the crate and patted my hands against my thighs. This went on for maybe 30 seconds when I was 20 feet away. I got worried that the poor dude had blown me off and run away, so I walked up to the front door where he was patiently waiting for me and clapped my hands and called him.
He looked totally shocked that I was behind him, and tan right over.
I'm so annoyed that he's finally okay off leash and then starts losing his hearing.
