Tomorrow we drive the 2 hours to Atascadero, CA for the BAER hearing test. BAER stands for Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response. About 22% of Dalmatians are born unilaterally deaf (only hear in one ear) and 8% are deaf in both ears. So responsible breeders have their pups tested at around 6 weeks to make sure the puppies can hear.
Begining at about 2-3 weeks, breeders can home test to determine deafness in their litters. This is done by waiting until all the pups are asleep and then making some sort of noise. I use a small bell and ring it as I watch for reactions for the pups. I have seen all the pups in this current litter react to the bell so I am confident that they all hear. Whether or not they all hear in both ears will be determined at the test tomorrow. And I will update the blog tomorrow evening after the test.
Until then I thought I would share a little video of the pups playing in their play pen. I hung some toys up for them to bat around and it gives them something to stimulate their curiosity. And it's fun to watch them...
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