Living with a deaf Bull Terrier

If your dog is deaf, or you are considering a deaf puppy, the honest summary is that it is a manageable difference rather than a hardship. Here is what actually changes.

How common it is, and how it is diagnosed

Congenital deafness runs in this breed. The largest relevant study BAER tested 1,060 English Bull Terrier puppies in England and found 10.19% deaf in at least one ear: 8.21% in one ear only, 1.98% in both.

Testing is by brainstem auditory evoked response, usually from around five weeks, and it is the only reliable way to know. It is particularly important for unilateral deafness, which is almost invisible in daily life: the dog hears you, comes when called, and simply cannot work out which direction a sound came from. Both parent clubs recommend BAER testing as part of responsible breeding.

Coat colour is a strong marker but not a verdict. See Bull Terrier colours and the deafness link for the numbers, and deafness and BAER testing for the testing itself.

Building a language without sound

The useful reframe: you are not teaching a dog to cope without words. You are teaching him a language he was always better at reading than speech.

• Pick clear, distinct hand signals and use exactly the same shape every time. Flat palm for sit, finger down for down, both arms open for come. What they are matters far less than that they never change.
• Replace the clicker with a visual marker. A thumbs-up, or a quick flash from a small torch in low light, used at the exact moment he gets it right.
• Teach a check-in first. Reward him, generously and often, simply for looking at you unprompted. Everything else depends on this one habit, because a dog who cannot hear you must choose to look.
• Use a vibration collar, not a shock collar. These are two different devices and only one of them belongs anywhere near a dog. A vibration collar is a tap on the shoulder that means "look at me", and it is taught as a positive cue with a reward.
• Keep sessions to five minutes, same as any Bull Terrier. See training an English Bull Terrier.

Waking him, and startle

The most common practical problem, and the easiest to solve once you know about it.

A deaf dog cannot hear you approach. Waking him with a touch out of nowhere is startling, and a startled dog of any breed may react before he is properly awake. This is not a temperament flaw; it is a sleeping animal being surprised.

Teach children this rule explicitly and early. It is the single most useful thing you can tell a household with a deaf dog in it.

Safety and the off-lead question

This is the part that deserves a straight answer rather than reassurance.

A deaf dog cannot hear a recall, a car, a bicycle or someone shouting a warning. Most experienced owners of deaf dogs treat off-lead freedom in unsecured spaces as something they do not do, and use a long line or fully enclosed fields instead. That is not pessimism; it is the same logic as not letting any dog off beside a road.

• A long training line of 5 to 10 metres gives most of the freedom with none of the risk.
• Secure, fenced fields are increasingly available to hire by the hour in the UK and are worth the money.
• Tag him clearly. "I am deaf" on the collar tag changes how strangers and vets approach him.
• Check the garden fence properly. A deaf dog will not hear you call him back from a gap.
• Consider a light for night walks so you can find him, and he can find you.

What does not change

Worth saying plainly, because the internet tends to dramatise this.

• Temperament. Deafness does not make a dog aggressive. Startle responses are about being surprised while asleep, and they are preventable.
• Trainability. Deaf dogs train well, often better, because the handler is forced to be consistent and visual.
• Everything else about the breed. The stubbornness, the affection, the need for exercise and company, the skin, the kidneys. A deaf Bull Terrier is a Bull Terrier first.
• Life expectancy. Unaffected.

The things that genuinely need managing are the off-lead decision and the waking routine. Beyond that, most owners describe it as something they stop thinking about within a few months.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• De Risio L, Freeman J, Lewis T. "Prevalence, heritability and genetic correlations of congenital sensorineural deafness and coat pigmentation phenotype in the English bull terrier." BMC Veterinary Research. 2016;12:146. bmcvetres.biomedcentral.com
• American Kennel Club. Terrier group health testing requirements (the tests each parent club recommends). www.akc.org

This is general information, not veterinary advice. It cannot account for your individual dog, and nothing here replaces an examination by a vet who can see him. Anything that looks urgent needs a vet now rather than a web page.

Related guides

• Deafness and BAER testing
• Colours and the deafness link
• Training an English Bull Terrier
• Bull Terrier health testing