Deaf dog with laser point syndrom help
hi i got my dog a year ago when I was 22, Echo, he was my first puppy, I moved away from home to a new state at 21 and I wanted a companion. there was this lady on Facebook who had an accidental litter of cocker spaniels, and that was my dream breed so I ended up adopting one of the puppies.
Right away I could tell something was wrong with Echos hearing. He was obviously deaf. I got him tested and he has no hearing at all. I though It would be fine I saw so many people online having deaf dogs that were great and lived happy lives. I taught him hand signals, crate trained him, got him a vibrating collar for recall, I tried to do everything right.
My boyfriend has two dogs, so one day they were all playing in the back yard and I was going in and out of the back French doors and I noticed they were all chasing reflection from the glass when it opened and close. My boyfriends dogs had always liked reflections but they would forget about it as soon as it went away or if we called them so I didn’t think anything of it. I thought they were having fun and. It’d be an easy way to tire them all out, and a swung the door open and closed a couple times as they all chased the light back and forth. Then they all came in side, took a nap and everything seemed fine. Little did I know I would be setting Echo and I up for a very stressful future by that 5 minutes.
over the next couple weeks, I noticed Echo would run to the stationary light beam and stare at it waiting for it to move. From there it kept getting progressively worse. After that he began barking at it, scratching, running the fence wall back and forth he would come run to the door waiting for me to open it, and then when I moved the handle he’d run away to chase it as the door opened. He’d forget to go potty, to play with the other dogs, to come inside. Then at night time where there were no shadows he’d still sit there and wait, running around barking at the ground and the Fence. Then he figured out there were similar lights in side, he cries at the wall, scratches the reflections on the walls and leather couch. Couple weeks later he got the same obsession with his own shadow, he‘ll stand in the light from the tv, the kitchen, our phones and screams at his own shadow as it moves with him.
Ive tried keeping him on a leash, medication, more crate time, more walks, vibrating collar, more toys, and nothing seems to work. It can distract him temporarily but as soon as it’s not super exciting he goes back to the lights. The only thing that somewhat has worked is playing fetch, but he’d still choose the light over the ball after a couple throws. It doesn’t matter how tired he is, actually I’d say hes worse when he’s more tired he will always find a light to chase.
At the time this all began, Echo had just gotten nuetered and I brought it up to my vet, and they said it was probably just the change in hormones it will go away. So I listened, I just tried my best to not let him play with the lights. we are now months after the neuter and it’s worse. it’s so stressful on me, I can’t sleep because as soon as the sun starts rising so does he. He screams so loud and scratches everything. I can’t cook with the light on, I can’t watch tv, I can’t enjoy my dog, I can’t bring him on drives, I can’t bring him out, no one will watch him if I have to go away, the neighbors reported the barking to the city and I got a notice, I can’t train him or do anything with him and it has absolutely been the biggest struggle for me. I feel so terrible for what I did, I feel bad for him and I’m overwhelmed.
From my research, deaf dogs are more prone to this OCD behavior. I honestly just need advise, people with experience, help. idk what to do. I have looked into trainers, board and train and most of them don’t have experience with deaf dogs and then on top of that people say laser point is not curable so I’m at a loss if i spend all my savings to get him trained and it doesn’t even work. I love my dog so much, i feel like he’s not happy and I’m not happy, financially able or strong enough to deal with this anymore and help him. I just want to cry everyday because I’m at a loss. Please help.