The Truth:

Dogs, like human babies, are not born with the instant ability to understand human words. They must be taught. A deaf human learns to read. They learn sign language. All without the benefit of ever hearing a single word.

Dogs can learn the same. Maybe not to read, but they can learn sign language as well as a dog with hearing can learn spoken commands. In fact, because dogs are postural animals, they rely heavily on body language, and, therefore, training a dog with visual signals is more effective than training with verbal commands.

Dogs are expert readers of our body language–they watch us, study us, learn what makes us tick. They know our moods not by what we say, but how we say it. Experts are now coming to believe that tone of voice isn't nearly as important as body language.

Keep that in mind when you are training ANY dog, not just a deaf one. Dogs can't understand most of what we say, but they can understand most of what we DO.