Sage's Web Page

German Shepherd Dog (medium coat) : : Female (not spayed) : : Baby : : Large

Learn more about the German Shepherd Dog.

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About Sage
Status: Adopted! Adoption Fee: 300 Species: Dog General Color: Tricolor (Tan/Brown & Black & White) Current Age: 4 Years 7 Months (best estimate)	Fence Required: Yes Housetrained: Yes Exercise Needs: Moderate Reaction to New People: Friendly

Meet Sage!!! Sage is a 4 1/2 month old female German Shepherd puppy. She was surrendered because she was extremely sick and needed emergency medical treatment to save her life. She required 4 blood transfusions and a feeding tube during her 5 day hospital stay before she was finally able to go home with her foster mom. Unfortunately, once she arrived in her foster home it became pretty clear that something wasn’t quite right. Sage wasn’t reacting to sounds and noises as she should be and her foster mom suspected she may potentially have some hearing loss. This was confirmed with a hearing test called a BAER test performed by a board certified veterinary neurologist. Sage is completely deaf. Since we don’t know about her past, we have no way of knowing if she was born deaf or if this may have been related to other causes but we love her either way. Owning a deaf dog can be difficult but with some safety measures in place as well as some modified training methods, deaf dogs can make wonderful pets. Having another dog in the home can really help a deaf dog learn some nonverbal cues, as well as hand signal training. Fenced in yards are a must as a deaf dog will not be able to hear other animals approaching or cars driving on the street. A deaf dog must never be allowed to off leash roam. It’s important to understand that many deaf dogs get returned or dumped in shelters for being “untrained” or “wild” simply because their owners didn’t take the time to understand the different needs deaf dogs have and working with them through hand signals and positive reinforcement to help affirm good behaviors. It’s also important to understand that a deaf dog will take a lot longer to train as it’s much more difficult to train without being able to use positive markers like signal phrases or clickers to immediately signify desired behavior to the dog. While we understand Sage is adorable, German shepherds in general are a very active and high drive breed and when paired with her being deaf, she may be a bit of a handful until she is more mature and has begun to master some of her training. It’s also important to understand that caution should be taken with children and deaf dogs as sometimes being startled in their sleep by small hands can be quite frightening when they’re not able to hear that they’re being approached. Sage is a very sweet and loving girl with a wild heart and loads of energy. We will be very cautious in selecting her new home to ensure that she will stay there forever and will receive lots of love and patience.