Sheepdog who could no longer work after becoming deaf learns sign language to continue rounding up flocks

3 年前
An elderly sheepdog which could no longer work after becoming deaf is now able to continue rounding up flocks after her new owners taught her - SIGN LANGUAGE. Border collie Peggy was signed over to the RSPCA when her previous owners could no longer keep her, after she became deaf and her handler could no longer communicate with her. But when RSPCA animal welfare manager Chloe Shorten, from the Mid Norfolk and North Suffolk Branch, took Peggy in, she fell in love with the pooch. And she vowed to help nine-year-old Peggy get back to the job she loved. Sheepdogs are traditionally trained to obey whistles or voice commands, with short, simple instructions such as 'Away', 'Come-by', and 'Steady'. But now, Peggy is thriving after learning to read hand signals and body language from Chloe and her husband Jason - who just so happens to work as a shepherd. Chloe, 28, said: "We completely fell in love with Peggy almost immediately, and it soon became clear that she wouldn't be going anywhere. "We knew Peggy wanted to be working so we started the long process of teaching her how to herd and work with a shepherd without relying on voice commands. "We started by teaching her to look at us for hand signals. "We used repetitive and positive reinforcement and instead of pairing a verbal command with an action we'd use a physical hand gesture. "She reads our hand signals and body language as a way of telling what we're asking for. For example, thumbs up means 'good girl'." Now, Peggy has learned to watch Chloe and 34-year-old Jason closely for hand signals - and loves being set loose in the fields to help her owners at work.