Father of a Blind Dog: Learning to Care for a Recently Blind Dog
The first thing I've realized, which should actually be common sense, is that having a blind dog is just like living with a blind person. You can't keep moving the furniture around or it's going to be frustrating for her to move normally.
Teaching her commands such as STAIR or CURB has helped her to understand what is coming ahead of them, and avoid unnecessary falling or tripping, though she is still getting used to these commands I do still have to be cautious around stairs and outside, but this will make things a little easier around these obstacles. I'm noticing she got scared around stairs at first, so I found slowly coaxing Blue down with a treat and a gentle tone to my voice helped her.
Vocalizing or just general noise making is probably one of the most important things I've learned I have to do with Blue. She still loves to play fetch with her ball in the house, I just can't throw it as far and I make sure it hits hard floor so she can hear the thud it makes. If I want her to follow me, I call her name and pat my leg. When I feed her, I shake the bowl, so she understands where it is and what's going on. You get the general idea, I'm sure.
And whatever I do, I do not coddle or baby Blue. Everything I have seen or read has claimed that. With Blue, I obviously treated her like she has some terrible disease at first, making sure she didn't have to move if she didn't want to. I would've gone to the bathroom for her, if I could've. While I was doing all this, I noticed she was doing less and less on her own, and not even trying to do anything she could easily do. So now that I'm not babying her and trying to train her a little more, she's able to stand on her own paws and be independent. Which works, since that's all they wanna be anyways.
Published by Joshua Cook
I am a freelance writer for hire who has a true passion for writing. Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, I moved to the Seattle area about three years ago. After a recent dark period in my life, I came out stronger... View profile
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28 Comments
Post a CommentMy husband had Annie our black Lab several years before we met. Annie is well trained, sweet tempered and has a wall of ribbons from hunting/retriever competitions including the Grand National. Last year we learned she had PRA and would be losing her eyesight. Our first response was devastation..thus I began researching living with dogs going blind. Tonight as I post this, we just came in from a middle of the night trip outside, in fact, tonight is the first time I took her out and left the flash light inside. She has always stayed in the kennel outside at night and the treat was when she could have a spend the night party inside. We have been gradually working with her as each passing days brings about a little less vision. Using her familiar commands of sit, heel and here are very basic and are commands she is familiar with. I hotglued a narrow band of material on her dog food dish and water dish, then use vanilla and lemon flavoring on each to help her in finding her dishes t
Our red healer/dingo mix 8yr old male just went blind. actually has been for 2 1/2 yrs but other senses kicked in so well that we didn't know until he ran one of our girls over in the grass (we thought it was the strange lighting at dusk time). He has cateracks and we now get him tested every 6mo for eye pressure. He is awesome and very well trained. He is my alert dog and I (his owner) am his seeing eye dog - hehehe. He's bored without the intense mental stimulation that he needs (as an intellegent -extrememely - breed) so we're working on ways to replace his favorite things (fetch, herding, water sports)with him getting certified to go to childrens hospitals, etc. looking for a toy that beeps continually so fetching can be part of his fun again.
my cocker spaniel Ellie went blind last thursday. shes 17 years old but doesnt look it AT ALL! she looks and acts like a 4 yr old. We noticed when we opened her crate that morning she didnt know how to get out with the door wide opened and she was looking all over the place. We have been carrying her bc we dont know what else to do, i have read where it says dont pick them up but if we dont she will bump into things all over the room and become real scared and start whinning and crying. she does the same thing when we put her outside. Our problem is that most of the family is gone during the day and we can no longer leave her with our other 2-yr old lab "Allie". We do have a dog pen she and allie will go in. What should i do during the day? We have the pen, a crate. i have no idea what to so. please email me at kgrady@icomnet.com with any tips/help.
We figured out Jake, our 6.5 year old Boxer/Shepard mix was actually blind when he became frustrated with our 12 year old twins and a school project they had spread all over the living room. He couldn't maneuver around without running into or stepping on something. After an audible sigh he just laid in the middle of it! Later that night my husband I tested his eyesight. He could see light from the flashlight in a dark room but couldn't follow it!
we were a little concerned but he is diabetic and we knew it was a possibly so we just moved forward. At first people are sad for Jake as he has to test his surrounding daily! He does this like an obstacle course. He is very excited when he maneuvers someplace new and sighs in frustration, much like I do, when the kids leave things laying around. His gate has changed, he prances more than walks now. He maneuvers the (leash free)dog park trails by feel and smell. He can tell if the terrain changes and knows if he is going off trail.
I have an 10 year old pitt mix that has been a loving member of my family since we rescued him as a pup. We noticed him acting funny just last week. He was bumping in to things, and acting startled at times. after a trip to the vets, we found out he was going blind. The only thing the vet could tell me was old age, which wasent the answer i wanted to hear. I was looking for that quick fix seargury to make all right again. Now, he seems to be nerovous and unsetteld all the time. He has even snaped at our other dog when she aproches him. I hav a two year old daughter i wont let around the dog any more, in fear that he will do the same to her. I am not willing to give up on such a deadecated member of the family yet. Any ideas?????
Just last weekend my 7 year old pug Ally had cloudy eyes and was diagnosed on Feb. 18 with diabetes and cataracts - she can't see too much anymore. I think it has been harder on me than for her as she is adjusting very well. I am so amazed and proud of her for her strength and determination. She certainly has taught me a few things in the 4 short days since the vet visit. I have learnt the impotance of the placement of carpets and such, it sure helps her. She will go down the stairs outside but isn't sure about coming back up them but I'm certain she'll learn!
Thanks for your article - great information.
healthy39- I have pretty much the same story as you. We just found out about a month ago that our 8 yr old Spring Spaniel had diabetes, and today she was acting funny, almost as if she couldnt keep her eyes open and they looked cloudy, so I took her to the vet and they said she has cataracts already - I cant believe how fast all of this happened! i thought it would take years for something like this to happen just because of diabetes..
My 4 yr old Cocker, Angel, has a cataract on one eye that I'd noticed a couple of weeks prior to her suddenly having no vision last Saturday morning, and in taking her to the Emergency Clinic -she was so disoriented, I was afraid of a tumor or something, so at 2:15 a.m., I was driving to somewhere I didn't want to go. I found out that she could not see, and the eye that did not look effected, actually did have an immature cataract, also. This is killing me, seeing her go from my baby who would dash out my kitchen door, through my screened in porch and around my fenced back yard in record time, to having to be taken out on a leash, as she gets disoriented if she bumps something. I had a blond cocker who passed away (ironically) three days after Angel was born (hence, the name Angel), and she lived to be 13 yrs 364 days old, and still had her sight, so yes, this took me totally by surprise. My heart is broken for her, she's afraid most of the time right now, and I don't want to "get
I have an 11 year old cocker spaniel, named Whoopi. She's been a part of the family almost her whole life. This dog is the most amazing PERSON I've ever had the pleasure of loving. Last year she was diagnosed with glaucoma and lost sight in one eye. The vet said that the other eye would go in 3-6 months. She became completely blind yesterday, more than a year later. I can't stand seeing her like this. She takes baby steps and pees from being so scared. Whoopi used to be so frisky and she has an amazing personlaity, but I am so scared that she's going to start showing her age. I appreciate your article and will take what you said into consideration. Thank you. If anyone who reads this wants to give me some tips on how i can keep my baby young and alive, please don't hesitate to reach me. grackle99@gmail.com thanks
My dog, Emelie, just lost her vision to Glaucoma 4 days ago. She is a small Black Lab mix. I have heard that some dogs memorize the house in 2-3 days, so I'm quite sad today because she still seems so confused, going in circles and can't find her food or water dish on her own. I thought she wood find the food easily because of smell. She has learned some things though, as she is at my feet right now and found her way in here on her own. She is 11 y.o. and has been such an energetic dog that followed me everywhere, so the change has just saddened me so much. Thank you for your story, and I will try to be patient. I will also try not to coddle her so much, and that will be hard for me.