ANOTHER puppy question..

[Powertothepetal]

I’ve just been re watching some videos of the puppy that were sent to me by the breeder.

How good is puppy hearing at 5 weeks of age..?

Because watching it back, the puppy doesn’t seem to respond to noise; not his name (though it’s obviously way too early for him to have learnt his name) and not kissy noises.
I’m not sure if this is just because it’s not loud enough and is more ‘background noise’ or if he is too interested in exploring things but he is white and I know all white dogs (and cats) can sometimes suffer deafness.

Both his parents have white spotting gene, one parent is tri colour and the other is chocolate Parti.

He is entirely white at the moment but he may develop colour later, eyes are still blue but dark puppy blue not pale blue.

Puppies hearing develops at 3 weeks. I would expect the puppies to be reacting to sound at 5 weeks.

What breed are the puppies?

Although context is important eg what else is going on when they heard a sound

They are chihuahuas which I know aren’t a breed typically affected by hearing loss but my puppy is (for the moment anyway) completely polar white and blue eyed.
I don’t know yet if he is going to stay white or go on to develop coloured patches.

All the puppies were out playing and exploring, the breeder was calling his name and making kissy sounds but he was absolutely oblivious just mooching round chewing things and jumping on his siblings.

TBH that would worry me. I saw videos of our puppy at that age (we met him at six weeks) and he was responding to sound.

A quick google tells me that white chihuahuas are prone to deafness, too. I would be asking for a vet check before proceeding.

I would be concerned. Follow your gut instinct.

Did any of the puppies react to the noise?

They are booked in for a vet check, the breeder told me he was arranging it yesterday but I’m not sure when exactly they are going in.

I’m not sure a vet typically tests for deafness though, I think it has to be done via specialised BAER test (DH friend bred Dalmations which always need a test at 6 weeks)

I still want him even if he is deaf but I am a bit concerned as to how I would actually train him to do anything!

That is assuming he is deaf of course, his hearing might be fine, he might have just been too busy playing I hope 🤞🏻

Did any of the puppies react to the noise?
The video I was watching only really shows my puppy so I don’t know, there a few seconds here and there where you catch mine jumping on the others but it mainly centres just on mine.
They were calling him and trying to get his attention.

Although, watching it again, there is a clatter of something about halfway through.
It’s not loud but it sounds like someone maybe dropped something and he does seem to startle very briefly then recovers.
Maybe he’s just ignorant 🤣

I’d just wait before you panic,
Puppy could be deaf, there’s lots of ways you can still train but it will be harder.

But we had videos of ours and I was worried they were blind because they couldn’t seem to find a treat 1mm in front of their faces
And others where I worried they were deaf because they weren’t reacting

Turns out I have a picky eater who doesn’t really care if you’re talking or not, but can hear the Amazon delivery person within a 500 mile radius

Get some more videos / look at any others you have and try to make more of an assessment
Will you meet them? You can figure it out then
The vet probably won’t check for deafness but will almost certainly notice if the puppy isn’t responding as normal.

I’ve already met them all a few times but before they were properly moving around.
I’m due to go back and visit again next week.

I don't know if I would panic just yet. When we first got one of our dogs I was sure she was deaf she didn't seem to respond to anything, she was white too which added to my suspicions. It turns out she was just ignoring everything for the first few weeks, she can hear perfectly fine but she still has selective hearing now and she is almost 2.

I wouldn't be too worried about training a deaf dog. Dogs find it easier to follow sign language than verbal commands. The reason for this is that they're completely consistent - unlike verbal commands which change with accent, tone, pitch, emotion, volume etc etc etc. My (hearing) dog knows his full repertoire of tricks with a sign. Even recall - which is arms outstretched either side of me like I'm going in for a big hug

Even marker words / clickers can be replaced by a sign - commonly a thumbs up.

The only thing you'd need to think about is attracting the dog's attention for recall purposes - this is the one and only sensible use case for a remote controlled vibrating collar. You'd put it on the lowest setting, and teach the dog that every time it goes off they get a treat (exactly the same way as you teach a puppy their name), so as far as the dog is concerned it's fantastic when they feel a vibration.

I would, however, want to find out before you pick the pup up, and I wouldn't expect the breeder to charge full whack if pup is deaf.