Hunting dog hearing loss

[whoami-72]

Has anyone developed a test to see if their dogs have lost hearing over the years?

I don't hunt enough to really worry about killing my dogs ears. On the other hand, I do want to provide them the best life possible and at a minimum understand if any harm is happening to them. I also just got a new hunting pup so I was thinking I could track it through her lifespan.

 

[KurtR]

i dont know of a way to track it but i know of dogs who have been retired from running trials because of hearing loss

 

[BigMiss]

Boy, I am not sure how you'd test it. I can definitely see duck dogs losing hearing, and if I was a high volume waterfowler I would invest in dog ear pro. But for upland birds, my dog is usually at least 10, maybe 20 yards from the shotgun blast. I've not seen hearing loss in my 12 year old dog, so I am not concerned with my younger girl. Post a pic of the new pup!

 

[Wheels]

My 12 year old Chessie can’t hear thunder now. I do a lot of waterfowl hunting and always keep the dogs behind the barrel, but old dogs just like people lose their hearing.
He looks at me now waiting on his signal to go.

 

[johnnycake]

My 8.5 yr old pudelpointer is starting to show signs of hearing loss. It's sad, but it's also not surprising given that I hunt birds over her, often in groups with multiple shooters, and have her along big game hunting 9-10 months of the year. She probably averages a few thousand shotgun shells fired over her at 1-40 yards each year, on top of being at my side for a handful of rifle shots.