Age related deafness

[countrryboy]

Aye my old springer I think went deaf about 10 or 11 still working really well and only reason I noticed got invited to another shoot which he didn't know was literally 10 yds from me throu a hedge running up and down it looking for me and couldn't hear my shouting and whistling.
I think he has mibbee been deaf a lot linger thou, at my normal shoots I pick up in the same areas so he knew where to find me.
I also tend never to cross a decent sized obstacle, fence, ride big ditch untill I have all my dogs in and then cast them off again.
If ur sweeping g big woods I think it helps the dogs to know where u are

My wee cooker was retired about 10 also not completely deaf but getting there, completely deaf now going on 15.

Both dogs were more picking up dogs only occasional days on a peg and never in a hide, also not introduced to shot till over 1yr old.

I dunno if the deafness is a problem to u, but I have heard of folk training there dogs to electric collars and using the vibrate function for recall.
I know I suggested it for my cocker, my folks took him on in his retirement but he never goes far now just plods along

 

[Foxyboy43]

My wee sprocker is evidently partially deaf now, doesn't hear the whistle she's known all her days. I can also whistle very loudly with my fingers in my gob, but that's not really getting through to her if she's any distance out.
Wondering if the onset of deafness with age is something that has any known pattern, such as lower frequencies. I was hoping there may be a higher pitched whistle she may still hear? She doesn't work any more, but still fit enough to disappear up a hill chasing pheasants.

Hmmm.
“High-Pitched Sounds
Where dogs really shine is with higher-pitched sounds. The average adult human cannot hear sounds above 20,000 Hertz (Hz), although young children can hear higher. (Hertz is a measure of the frequency of a sound, and the higher the frequency, the higher pitched the sound.) Dogs, on the other hand, can hear sounds as high as 47,000 to 65,000 Hz. These are sounds far too high-pitched for us.
In addition, at high frequencies dogs can detect much softer sounds than we can. The loudness or intensity of a sound is measured in decibels (dB) with 0 dB being the average intensity of a sound that can just barely be heard by a young human. So, sounds too quiet for humans to hear are given a negative decibel rating.
According to Coren, when sounds are between 3,000 and 12,000 Hz in frequency, dogs’ ears are far more sensitive than ours. They can hear those sounds when they are between -5 dB and -15 dB on average. That means dogs can hear sounds that are not loud enough for our ears. For sounds above 12,000 Hz, dogs’ ears have sensitivity so much higher than humans that a comparison would be pointless.”.
Soooo add into that mix the sound of a shotgun multiple times and the hugely detrimental effect it must have on such sensitive ears and early deafness/loss of high frequency sounds is pretty much guaranteed. Take this from someone who hasn’t heard birdsong for very many years!

 

[HonestJohn]

I don't shoot over my dogs, and they're not peg dogs, buggers are deaf enough without giving them an excuse

I call that selective hearing

 

[WalkedUp]

When my old boy lost his hearing after being shot over for 12 years I bought a signal / emergency whistle which is very loud, it worked well if he became disoriented in thick cover. I don’t need it anymore as he’s 4ft under.

 

[.270s202]

My cocker is 10, hearing seems good, until he's been in water! Then totally deaf, seems to take ages for his ears to clear out the water, hours! Ears seem to be clean internally from what can be seen!