‘We created sign language to communicate with our deaf dog which we brought to the West Midlands from Spain’
A West Midlands headteacher has told how he and his partner have learned to communicate with their dog who is deaf
A couple has come up with a playful sign language to communicate with their deaf dog.
Skye Tibbetts, 27, and her husband Daniel Tibbetts, 29, had no idea Bruno was deaf when they rescued him.
But the pair quickly realised that their new pup didn’t respond to any sounds.
A trip to the vet confirmed that Bruno is completely deaf, likely due to a previous ear infection.
Determined to help him thrive, Skye and Dan began training Bruno to understand a series of creative hand signals.
Now, they can sign "walkies" by walking their fingers across a palm and use other gestures -like pointing down for "sit" or spinning a finger for "roll over".
Skye, a deputy headteacher based in Stourbridge, said: "We just started to notice that he wasn't responding to any noises.
"He had originally been flown over from a kill shelter in Spain, so we even tried to learn from Spanish, but no luck.
"Eventually, the vet confirmed he is completely deaf, so we started training him with sign."
Skye and Daniel rescued Bruno just over three years ago, when he was two years old.
He was in rough shape when the couple picked him up from the shelter.
Skye said: "His neck was bleeding from the collar he was wearing, he was yellow from being urinated on by other dogs and had this gnarly ear infection.
"It is likely it was the ear infection which caused him to go deaf but considering we had no medical information about him from, we don't know for sure."
It didn’t take Bruno long to learn hand signals as Skye recalls him picking up key commands within three months.
The couple used treats as a tool to reinforce Bruno’s training especially since his sense of smell is very strong.
Daniel’s parents are both deaf and he already knows British Sign Language (BSL) so he was happy to help teach it to Bruno.
Skye said: "It's not something we had planned on working with.
"It worked out quite well given Daniel had loads of experience with deaf people.
"Both of his parents are deaf and they love Bruno like he's their literal grandchild.
"They have a very sweet connection.
"We really hope to show people with our videos that deaf dogs are trainable, and how to do it."
