Our dog was 11 when our son was born and 16 when he died. He lost a great deal of hearing over those five years. He was pretty tolerant of my son, and then my daughter when she was born, but the last two years, we had to keep the kids and dog separate or watch very carefully. When he didn't hear them coming, got stepped on, etc., it was a problem. My son was old enough to know not to startle Lucky, but sometimes he would forget or just lose control of himself playing ball and superheroes in the house. The toddler was a stumblng train wreck. I won't say don't get the dog, but I think you are right to think carefully about it.

We are considering adopting an adult (not elderly) deaf dog who seems very sweet. I didn't notice that he was deaf while interacting with him and probably wouldn't have known if I hadn't been told.

I read some info online about training deaf dogs, and it seems like it can be a very positive experience. I'm a little worried, however, about having a deaf dog with a young child. We had a dog previously who was very understanding as my son learned to interact properly (i.e. poking, petting too hard, pulling, etc.). I'm worried that any new dog could be an issue with a toddler, but am looking for some feedback on a deaf dog in particular.

Mostly, I'm concerned that the dog may not have needed warning while sleeping if our child runs into him accidentally or runs over and jumps on him playfully before we can stop him. Ideally, this wouldn't happen, but it's basically impossible to prevent it from ever happening, so I want to be careful.

The dog was well behaved and very friendly when we met him and did not seem at all intimidated by a toddler, so that's a good sign. Does anyone have any feedback on this? I don't want to not adopt a really sweet dog who needs a home if this really isn't something to be too concerned about.