Your Inner Dog

10/20/2026

What fun! Teach your dog to say their prayers!

Watch as Vegas, deaf and visually-impaired, learns how to say his p...

10/16/2026

Looking for a fun way to change up the enrichment and activities you do with your dog very day? Why not let them choose their own activity for the day?

Here's an idea - using the Enrichment and Activity card deck, place some cards into bowls or boxes, each holding a food treat. Which one will your dog choose first? That's their pick for the day!

In this video, Delight (blind and deaf) chooses her enrichment for the day ... what will she choose?

Here's another way to create variety in your dog's activities. Let...

10/13/2026

CONCERN AROUND REACHING AND TOUCHING

Some sensitive dogs move away from hands reaching for them or touching them. This easy game can help them learn to associate reaching and touching with good things.

Reach and Treat:

▪️Reach slightly toward your dog with one hand, and feed/toss a treat to them with the other. Repeat until your dog is fully comfortable with this step. They may even move towards you when they see you reaching.
▪️Reach a bit more so your hand is coming closer to your dog, feed/toss treat with the other hand. Repeat.
▪️As your dog becomes fully comfortable with each step, reach a bit more until you can touch your dog gently for each treat.
▪️Give frequent breaks so your dog doesn’t get overwhelmed. Short sessions with a few reaches at a time it ideal.

Stop if your dog isn’t improving or seems very concerned. Seek a positive reinforcement-based training professional to help if needed.

If you love a sensitive dog, join our free FB community - link in comments.

10/08/2026

Come browse and subscribe to my new channel - I'm moving blind, deaf, and blind/deaf content there, and adding new content for you. I'd love to see you there! And please share :) Let's help everyone see the potential of our super special dogs!

You're in the right place! Whether your dog is deaf, blind or both blind and deaf, you'll find topics here pertaining to communication, training and living with your special dog. I'm Deb Bauer from Your Inner Dog, and I'm an internationally recognized expert on living with and teaching blind and/or....

10/06/2026

A new blog post to help you decide if using a halo harness is the right choice for your blind or visually-impaired dog.

Wondering if your blind dog needs a halo harness? Learn which dogs may benefit, why it depends on the individual dog, and what to consider before buying one.

10/02/2026

What does it look like when we teach a dog how to regulate themselves?

Regulate is a fancy term, and when we're talking about emotions, behavior and the nervous system, it means that what goes up can also come down. Many of our dogs get stuck in hyper, reactive, and over-the-top behavior patterns because they haven't had consistent practice in coming back down from those states.

Nigel has come a long way in learning how to regulate himself and make different choices when faced with triggers he's unsure of or overexcited by. Here's how a recent walk looked ...

Nigel was startled and unsure about a running water fountain that we were passing on our neighborhood walk. He stopped in his tracks and stared at it, unsure what to do. His attention was riveted on the fountain, yet he did not approach it. Previously he would have gone behind me or even on the other side to give that fountain a huge amount of space.

He stared; I waited. I talked to him softly. He walked to the potted flowers alongside the fountain, stuck his nose in and proceeded to sniff. But he wasn't truly interested in that flower ... I could tell because his eye and ear were to the side paying attention to that fountain.

He was processing and gathering information about that fountain without confronting it head on. AND he was also in the process regulating his own responses. Sniffing something else, and having time and space to process a concern both are great ways of bringing down emotions and arousal.

It was fascinating to watch how he chose to deal with the situation. I let him have as much time as he needed and gently let him know he was doing a great job.

Before he was finished, a car passed by (a big trigger for him), and he immediately startled a bit and turned to see the car. I don't think either one of us had noticed it approaching since we were so focused on the fountain. I was ready to jump in to help support him here, but ...

He made another brilliant choice on his own and moved to a nearby patch of grass with another potted flower to sniff for a moment, did a nice little shake off (shaking his body as if he was wet) to relieve the building tension, and then was ready for a treat and to continue the walk.

It was fascinating to watch him navigate this tough situation with very minimal help from me. I was also so proud, because several months ago, he would have reacted very strongly to both of those triggers. He's learning how to make choices with his behavior and the skills I've practiced with him.

So, while regulate is a fancy term, you can see that the process doesn't need to look fancy. To anyone walking past, it would have appeared my dog was sniffing a flower or the grass. But once we learn what to watch for, and how to help our dogs deal with things that they're unsure of or overly excited about (squirrels!), we can see these nuances of behavior, and it's so cool to see our dog's learning how to make those decisions on their own.

If your dog gets worried, reactive, or overly excited about things happening around them, and you'd like to teach them how to make different choices about their behavior, please reach out. You can find a link in my bio. I really love helping people and dogs with this.

09/25/2026

Deaf Dog Awareness week ... here are my top 5 must-haves for deaf dogs ... what I think are the most important things to teach them. Do any of them surprise you?

I’m often asked what I think are the most important things to teach to deaf dogs... my Top 5 Must-Haves for Deaf Dogs.

09/23/2026

We have double to celebrate today! Deaf Dog Awareness week continues - and today is also International Sign Language Day!

Have you taught your dog any sign language? Even if your dog isn't deaf, you may have taught them (intentionally or not) some sign language.

Yes, sign language is an actual official and formal language, but for many of us with deaf dogs, we have made up our own signs as the language we use with them.

If you've taught your dog a behavior like sit or lie down or spin, and you've used a food lure to teach the initial behavior, most likely your dog knows some sign language! How we move our hands and bodies become signs (cues) to our dogs.

Lift your hand upwards, and a dog often sits because they were first taught using a piece of food moving in an upwards motion. Point to the floor, and many dogs will lie down, again because they were first taught with food and that downward motion.

If you haven't taught your dog any sign language, it's easy to get started. Here's one way you can quickly and easily teach some hand signs to your dog (deaf or not!)

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Many basic behaviors can be started quickly by using a food lure. Luring means using the food to help the dog move into the correct position.

For example, when teaching a dog to sit, it’s common to hold food in front of the dog’s nose and then move it upward over the dog’s head and slightly back towards the top of their head. This causes the dog to bring their nose up to follow the food, and when this happens, the behind magically lowers toward the floor until the dog sits.

Luring can be an easy way to get a new behavior. In order to not get stuck always needing to use food, it’s important to move away from using the food once your dog understands the basic body movement of sitting.

When teaching your deaf dog a new hand signal, the movement of the luring hand can become a sign. In our example of sit above, even when we remove the food, if we continue to move our hand from the dog’s nose upward and slightly back, our dog will most likely continue to sit.

This hand motion can either remain as it is and become the hand sign for sit, or it can be gradually changed to a smaller upward motion of the hand. It’s an easy way to teach a new behavior and a new hand signal at the same time!

Follow me for more tips on teaching deaf dogs!

09/22/2026

Oh my goodness! This webinar was certainly a winner!

If you don't know, I run an online support and training group for blind, deaf, and blind/deaf dogs and their people. We have members from around the world - it's so much fun getting to connect with others who are living such a similar experience.

Each month we have an open Q&A coaching call where any question or topic is welcome. And, every month we also have a live webinar/discussion topic call.

This month it was about building our dog's behavior toolbox. All the things that we can use to deal with behavior challenges that come up, or ways to make challenging situations easier ... these are all in our behavior toolbox.

Just like a hardware toolbox with hammer, drill, screwdriver, etc., our behavior toolbox has all the things we need to pull out to best support and teach our dogs in situations when things may not run smoothly. Some of the categories of tools include: management, learned skills, bigger concepts, and lifestyle tools.

We had such a productive call that our members are still talking about it. Not only did we learn what tools we can put in our toolboxes, we then had a brainstorming session about which tools we could use in everyday situations like guests coming to the house, or on a vet visit.

If you live with a blind, deaf, or blind/deaf dog (any degree of impairment) and would like to hear more about our support and training group, please comment below. I'd love to tell you more! We're a super fun group to hang out with - and we get results with our dogs too!

09/22/2026

Deaf Dog Awareness Week continues.

A common question and concern is whether deaf dogs can safely be giving off leash play time. My answer may surprise you!

Find out what it is in this blog post:

I’m often asked if deaf dogs can enjoy off leash playtime and freedom. Two key ingredients for any dog to be given off leash freedom are teaching the dog to pay attention to us and to come back to us when we ask.Deaf dogs can learn these skills too. The tricky part can be getting a deaf dog’s at...