Tips for Training Blind Dogs

<< Back to Pet Health Blog

Training a dog can be a very rewarding experience. You do have to be patient when you work with dogs, and it takes a lot of repetition for them to learn new things. If you have a blind dog, you can train him just like you would train a normal dog. However, you want to keep a few things in mind when training your blind dog.

Keep It Loud

You want to incorporate verbal cues and verbal praise because your dog will not be able to see your body language. This means that you want to utilize tools that use sound. For example, make sure that you speak loudly and clearly when you give commands, such as sit, lie down, stay, etc. Many people use clickers when training dogs, and these tools are good for blind dogs because it uses sound to let your dog know when he has done something correctly.

Keep It Familiar

When you start training your dog, you want to do it somewhere familiar like your living room or your back yard. Since your dog is blind, he might be more uncomfortable in new places than a dog that can see would be. Therefore, start out somewhere familiar so that your dog pays attention to you more easily. Later, when you’ve got the basics down, you can work in unfamiliar areas because you want your dog to pay attention to you no matter where he is. Still, when you are teaching a new skill, it is important to start out in a familiar place.

Keep It Safe

When you are training your dog, you want to work with your dog on a six-foot leash most of the time. The exceptions are when you training your dog to come to you and other things that require more distance. If you are not working on a leash, train in a fenced-in area. A blind dog cannot see things like trees, cars, and other dogs. Thus, it’s best to keep him in a safe area to protect him.

Training your blind dog is not very difficult, but you do want to take certain precautions when you are teaching him some new tricks.