What I Learned About Blind Dogs

Hind Sight Is Blind . . .

Does your pet exhibit more than a few of these symptoms?

1. Do you notice subtle changes in your dog's behavior?    Subtle changes like his paths around the yard and house. -- Our dog started walking close to the house and the fence line.

2. After years of independence, does your dog stick to you like velcro?   The dog does not want you to leave. -- As our dog began losing his vision, he began to get separation anxiety.  Once he went blind, he would cry or whine until our car left the driveway, and he stayed on his bed until we returned home.

3. After years of eating normal, does your dog now eat like there is no tomorrow?  The dog eats a full bowl of food, and wants more. -- Our dog was a light-weight lean mean mutt machine until he hurt his back.  We did not know our dog was losing his site, and he ate like he was afraid he wouldn't find his next meal.

4. Does your your pet walk so close to the walls that he leaves marks on them?   Little lick marks or wet nose marks on the walls appear in random places around the house. --  While our dog was  making his new paths in the back yard, he was also making his paths in the house.  Our dog was marking his walls with his scent by bumping his nose on the wall.

5. Is your dog playing games with you?  Playing the  game of in one door, out the other .  --   Every puppy I've ever had practiced going up and down stairs, and when our dog was losing his vision, he was practicing the stairs, too.  He literally navigated a flight of ground floor stairs, a set of basement stairs, knocked at the basement door to get out, navigated through the garage through a dog door, wound around the driveway and up another flight of stairs to the deck where he knocked on the sliding glass door to get back in.  One night he did this at least ten times. We did not know he was practicing his path.    

6. Is your pet becoming over protective without reason?  When friends come over, your pet goes alpha like they are protecting you from them, and starts barking in sync with the person who is talking. -- Our dog was a social butterfly.  Once our dog went blind, when friends would stop over,  he would stand between me and the person doing the talking, and out talk (bark) until the person stopped talking or left the room.  He would not leave my side until the guests left. 
   

7. Is your dog starting to bump into things?  There is more than an occasional assured clear distance problem. --   The dog was bumping into things he never bumped into before.   Things like a cupboard, wall, furniture.  Nothing too noticeable,  as it was a general bump into something much like you, me, or anyone else would do if not paying attention.  

8. When you take a picture of your dog, do you see  lights in his eyes?  Rather than the red eye you get from camera flash, the dog's eyes reflects green.   --   Looking back at old photos, the green green lights began two years prior to his going blind. Again, never having a pet with eye issues before, we did not know that was a potential clue.  

9. Does your dog have a pre-existing degenerative eye condition?  Visit your vet for a check up regularly to determine the severity of your pet's vision loss. -- If your dog has a pre-existing degenerative eye condition, this may be of interest.    After our dog went blind, we were at dinner with friends who asked about the dog.  When we explained how his vision went from bad to worse in less than three weeks, the first thing my one friend asked was, "Was your dog on prednisone?" That question stopped me in my tracks. She then explained that her mother has been on prednisone for many years due to her severe arthritic condition, and the medicine exacerbates blindness in most people diagnosed with macula degeneration. With this information, we asked the dog's eye doctor if it were possible, and she confirmed the possibility. (I also researched information about the medication on the internet.)  The vet said our dog may have had SARDS, and his vision was going slowly over a period of time, but it was possible that the medication could have made the problem worse.
   

Home Schooled By A Blind Dog

Blind Dog 101

• KEEP COMPOSURE:  One of the first things I had to do was keep my composure.  Blind or not, your pet picks up on your emotions.  It broke my heart to see our dog so down, and as long as he sensed my broken heart he continued to be down.    Not being one to give up on something just because it is difficult, I tried to keep the dog's spirits up by going on about our daily business.  No mollycoddling, just compassion and support. This helped our dog become more confident in us, less fearful about his food, and his eating habits went back to normal. To help with separation anxiety, before leaving the house we made sure the dog had one of our dirty t-shirts on his bed to comfort him while we were gone.

• NEW COMMANDS:  Anyone that says, "An old dog can't learn new tricks," never met our dog.  He learned plenty of new commands. The most important command for our blind dog was the word, "STOP."  I can't stress this enough. If your dog is blind, and still fears nothing, make sure he learns the "Stop" command.  Our dog thought he could see everything with his nose and ears, and if his ears or nose caught something he thought he could chase, he would take off.  Once he learned the value of the "Stop" command, he stopped on command knowing it was for his own good.  

• HOW TO NAVIGATE STAIRS:   Our dog was very good about letting us know when he wanted in or out.  He never had an accident.  Since our raised ranch home involves navigating stairs,  going in and out of the house was tricky for our old dog, and his 55 pounds made him a bit too heavy for me to carry.  So, I helped the dog learn how to  handle the stairs by teaching the commands "Step Up" and "Step Down," and went with him every step until he was confident  and able to navigate the steps himself. 

  The one thing I remember doing that helped the dog immensely was mark the end of the first step down so he knew where the first step dropped off (so he wouldn't just walk off and break his legs.) I used duct tape on one stairtop, and different rugs at others. Where ever there was a first step, I rubbed his paw on the two surfaces so he would know how far he had left before his toes hung over the edge. I made each stair top a different surface so he would have a better perception of where the stair edge stopped and started, and which room he was in.

More Things I Learned From Our Blind Dog

• HOW TO PLAY WITH A BLIND DOG:    God has a way of helping everything compensate for a loss.  Just because the dog was old didn't mean that he didn't like a little fun and attention.  Our blind dog's hearing and sense of smell were amazing.  My husband missed his friend trotting around the yard, playing catch and fetch.  So, to give the dog a feeling of accomplishment (if that is possible), he would practice playing fetch the stick with the dog in the driveway.  He would take a stick, tap it on the driveway, and tossed it in such a way that the stick would hit the driveway enough times that the dog could follow it.  It would  only be a few feet away, but when the dog figured out he could bring the stick back, he got the dog grin from ear to ear, and knew he would get a big hug and 'good boy.'

• WALKING WITH A BLIND DOG:   My husband always had a way of getting the dog's attention by snapping his fingers.  We figured this may help him know how to follow us when we walked around the yard, around the house, or wherever we went.  The snap of the fingers was not the loud click, but a consistent soft click that he could follow .  This procedure worked especially well for us during the dog's tenth birthday party.  With over a hundred people laughing, talking, singing, and making noise -- plus the loud music, dropped food and exotic smells of strangers -- the dog followed me everywhere to the click of my fingers.  Also, if walk your dog up and down the street, help your dog navigate curbs with the stop, step up and step down commands.

• HOW TO HELP THE DOG FIND HIS WAY:   Years before our dog went blind, my husband inlaid a two-brick border around our back yard to separate our grassed yard from the flower beds.  Our blind dog used that brick border as a path around the yard.   We have a little water fountain that the dog liked to drink from.  Prior to the dog going blind, I ripped out all the mint that was growing around the fountain.  That spring,  I replanted the peppermint by the fountain so he knew where to find it.  I planted other safe things around the yard that would help him find his way by sense of smell. In the winter, we had some really deep snow, and the poor dog couldn't smell anything, but he found his way to the door by following the outer wall of the house until he could smell his way to the door.  My husband used the snow blower in the winter to re-create his summer paths to help him get around easier. I placed a dryer sheet under the rug by the back door so he would know which door he was at.