The Spotlight shines on a special All American Dog – Aspen, who is deaf and an amazing agility competitor. Aspen runs on the AKC Agility League team Living the Dream based at Dream Acres Agility in Wisconsin. She helped her team win the Season 6 Regulation Sophomore Division Championship with her speed and accuracy. Her owner and handler, Kassie, adopted Aspen from a rescue that specializes in dogs with special needs, and she tells us what it is like to train and compete with a deaf dog.
Call Name: Aspen
Age: 4 years
Registered name: Schmid’s Gunpowder & Lead NAJ
Owners: Kassie & Ryan Schmid
City/state: Wauwatosa, WI
How did you to come to own Aspen and how old was she when she came to live with you?
We adopted Aspen from Speak! St. Louis Rescue and Sanctuary when she was about 6 months old.
Did you already know that she was deaf when you first met her or was this discovered later?
Aspen was born deaf, and we knew this when we adopted her as her rescue specializes in saving and finding good homes for dogs with impairments and special needs.
Can you tell us about the training process for a dog that is deaf? What are important factors for them to learn and what are the challenges?
Training is very much the same for a deaf dog as a hearing dog, just fully reliant on visual communication instead of verbal or verbal+visual. I always tell people new to deafies to talk to the dogs and be just as expressive as if the dog could hear because so much comes through to the dogs in our natural body language and expressions. Training foundations are similar in that a “yes” or clicker-type hand cue is needed for marking the desired behavior. Another important element is training “check-ins.” Since communication is visual, Aspen has to be watching for information. This is also where it can be a little challenging. If Aspen is not attentive or is very focused on something else, she won’t know I’m trying to tell her something. A lot of deaf dogs are naturally very attentive as an adaption to the lack of hearing, and in my opinion, Aspen “listens” much better than my hearing dogs!
How did you decide to do agility with Aspen – and how has she been to train and compete with?
I had tested the agility waters with another of my dogs very briefly and thought agility would be a great activity for enrichment, bonding and exercise with Aspen. It was clear that Aspen loved training, was a quick study, and really enjoyed the game!
In agility, she really keeps me honest as a handler. She’s so in tune with my every nuance on the course that it requires a very high level of precision on my part to tell her the correct information at the right time and requires me to be very deliberate and clear in what I am communicating. Connection is absolutely key, and if I even look at an obstacle or my path (vs. hers) for a moment at the wrong time, rotate too early, etc., she will read it and do exactly what I just (unintentionally) told her! Her awareness, focus, and natural aptitude for the sport continue to amaze me!
I would say there isn’t any advanced skill we haven’t tried and executed successfully where a lot of other handlers use verbals to support – it’s just a matter of finding the right way to communicate! Sometimes finding the right solution to a training challenge requires trial and error to figure out what works best and/or innovation.
We absolutely love practicing ISC, which really pushes our commitment, distance and independence skills, and often see challenges on those courses where we have to get creative to make those sequences a success without using verbals. I am so thankful every day to have found her and to have her as my partner in this agility journey and can’t imagine it being any other way.
What are your favorite things about the Agility League and how has League helped Aspen?
We absolutely love the way Agility League brings “team” into agility, and the support from our team members and the community is absolutely humbling. League offers a really great way to bridge the gap for us between practice and trialing, as well as being just super fun and having opportunity to do all the agility things! Our focus this winter and spring has been increasing our confidence and connection, and Agility League has been a great resource/platform in building up both for us!
What does Aspen like to do on her time off?
Aspen loves just about anything we can do together, so she’s often a great helper around the house and with yard work. Outside of agility, she enjoys playing with her Lab sister, tug and keep away, part-time cuddles, and any sort of adventure away from home, including all types of walks, hikes and kayaking!
What are your future goals for Aspen?
While we haven’t been doing agility long and I’m a fairly new handler, I would love to keep showing how amazing and capable Aspen and other dogs with unique situations are and how they can compete at high levels in agility. My #1 goal is always keeping the sport fun and exciting for Aspen, but I do hope we will have the opportunity to compete successfully at a national level sometime in Aspen’s agility career. We also plan on competing in this year’s AKC Agility League Nationals in August and are so excited about the opportunity!
Anything else you want to add?
It’s easy to underestimate dogs with impairments or special needs, but they absolutely can live their best life in every way! So many of these dogs are in dog sports, winning titles and competitions, often without other competitors knowing these dogs are any different. Please keep seeing possibilities, not disabilities, and thank you to the AKC for supporting these dogs’ participation in so many activities!