Max was born deaf, and was adopted by a couple who kept him until he was 5
years old. The couple never gave him any obedience training. When the couple had a
baby, they decided that it was too dangerous for the baby to have Max around. They
gave Max to Indian Dane Rescue in San Marcos, California. Poor Max was so sad. As
any Dane family knows Great Danes are very attached to their humans and a deaf Dane
is even more so. Max sat in front of the front door to Rene’s Home (Rene is the
owner of Indian Dane Rescue) waiting for his family to come back and get him. Max
stayed there for days on end not wanting to venture away from the door in case his
family returned.

Rick and I had already adopted Goose, another Dane from Indian Dane Rescue, and we
wanted to adopt another Dane. Rick was on business travel when Rene introduced me to
Max, and it was love at first sight! He is such a big guy and so very loving. When
Rick returned from travel, "WOW" was all he could say.

Max bonded quite quickly with Rick and I, and he is slowly learning how to be a
member of a family with other dogs and cats and doing quite well. Rick and I are
using a combination of dog training hand signals and American Sign Language (ASL) to
communicate and train Max. He is a very fast learner. However, when he doesn’t want
to do something, he just simply turns his back on you like any child… – LoL! We have
spray bottles filled with water all over our property, this way there is always one
nearby if we need to get his attention. The squirt bottles have turned out to be the
tool of choice to gain the attention of all of our animals. It doesn’t hurt and it
gets their attention. Max is even learning how to ‘play’ with Goose and Shiloh
(Shiloh is a Dane, Shepherd, Lab mix). The other dogs and cats are slowly figuring
out that sound cues to Max like growls, snapping, or barks do not get his attention.
I think this is a slower process for them to understand than for Max. Because
Max is deaf, the sound of Rick’s riding lawn mower doesn’t bother or scare him,
one of Max’s favorite activities is to run along side Rick when he is mowing the
property.

We like having the ‘I’m Deaf’ collar cover on Max because we live in Ramona,
California, which is prone to the annual fires in October and November. If there was
an evacuation and Rick and I weren’t home we want to make sure rescuer’s know that
Max is deaf and will not respond to yelling and calling. When we take Max out in
public we make sure he is wearing his Bright Red ‘I am Deaf’ vest because he
startles very easily when children run up to try to pet him. When he startles his
bark/yelp is very loud and can be frightening to the unsuspecting and uneducated
person. Max’s voice is different than other dogs who can hear, plus it is louder.

Having a deaf dog is no more difficult than having a dog that can hear. There are
some minor adjustments ~ like how to get their attention when they are not looking
in your direction but that has been easily overcome with squirt bottles or flashing
lights pointed at him. So ~ please do not discount having a deaf dog in your family
they are loving and deserving of a happy life as with any other animal."