Walking With My Blind Dog

Walking with my Blind Dog By Burton Goldstein, owner of Sunny

My wife and I adopted Sunny as a rescue in November 2023. We believe that he is mostly Maltese…possibly with a poodle and Shih Tzu mix. The rescuer knew almost nothing about his history, leaving us without information about his age or prior health.

Sunny had several veterinarian visits during the adoption process which included multiple vaccinations. They opined that Sunny was middle aged by evaluating his teeth. Sunny’s neglected care required 2 rotten teeth to be removed a few weeks before adoption and a lesion removed from his right upper lid along with neutering.

Sunny has gradually tolerated my brushing his teeth each day. His lid margins collect a yellowish greasy sebum like material which requires warm compresses and lid cleaning each day or his lids get stuck together.

Within 2 weeks of the adoption he became lame in his right back leg which required surgery for a totally luxated right hip. He was charged and attacked a few days after surgery by 2 large unleashed dogs while we were walking in the park. Some of the stitches were broken open but fortunately he healed and the surgery has remained successful.

About two months later we noted signs of visual impairment, when he started missing the curbs during a walk. We took him immediately to a veterinary retinologist. who after an extensive exam including an electroretinogram and blood tests diagnosed the devastating incurable Immune Mediated Retinopathy (IMR), an autoimmune disease which seems to lead inexorably to blindness.

After the ophthalmic exam it was established that Sunny had iris atrophy as well which meant essentially that he had no iris to protect him from the sun. I would therefore walk him with an umbrella for whatever protection and possibly comfort that would provide as he was getting full sun exposure with no ability for the eye to control the light reaching the retina because he did not have the protection of an iris and a functioning pupil.

When we adopted Sunny he was in a home with several other dogs. He was the most subdued of all the dogs. We took that to mean he was ‘chill’. In retrospect maybe he was sad from neglect, from losing his vision and/or lack of care. Hair almost completely covered his eyes and his hair was matted. Bilateral black tear stains from the inner corners of his eyes down to his mouth. He developed kennel cough while at the rescuer which required a course of antibiotics.

We were asked by the rescuer if we wanted to return Sunny because of these medical issues. We decided that we did not want Sunny to be in an anxiety provoking environment with other dogs while he was blind, or be cage or even euthanized and decided to keep him and care for him the best that we could.

His eye condition initially responded to intra muscular steroid injections and subsequent chronic potent oral immuno-suppressive treatment. We supplemented this treatment with eye vitamins that contained multiple antioxidants thought beneficial for the retina. However subtle signs of persistent visual impairment persisted such as trouble finding his food bowl and then trouble finding the stairs.

But after a few bouts Sunny became blind and no longer responded to these emergency treatments. He has remained blind since about March of 2025. There is no further treatment possible and he will remain blind for the rest of his life. He had two separate episodes of bloody diarrhea from a GI ulcer as complications of his treatment for IMR which required intensive care during which we are fortunate that he did not die. Because his medicines had multiple potential side effects his urine was checked with dipstick and noted to have a small amount of albumin. A formal urine test showed normal kidney function but also revealed that he had calcium oxalate crystals which can predispose to kidney stones. After removing blueberries from his diet (which are high in oxalates) this resolved.

When we first adopted Sunny we would try to introduce a fetch game or toys however he was never interested. This may have been a clue that we didn’t recognize that he was visually impaired. In addition he changed to walking up the stairs rather than friskily running up the stairs and then jumping onto the couch. We assumed that this was due to his back leg not feeling well and felt reassured because he had just had a checkup with his orthopedic surgeon who did not find a problem. In retrospect the visual cause became apparent.

Since he had his first bout of blindness I introduced him to music to offer stimulation, anticipating possible blindness. It seems to help calm him to listen to bird sounds with accompanying relaxing piano compositions which I find on you tube. The only ‘game’ that I have noticed that he enjoys is when I put a blanket over him he will roll playfully and paw at it. However since blindness there is no more carefree running.

I am writing about my experience with my blind dog, especially walking Sunny, as it has been a challenging learning experience that hopefully other dog owners walking blind dogs may benefit from. I am offering my observations only and I do not know to what extent, if at all, they are applicable to other dogs. Although there was quite a bit of trial and error, these observations are not based on any sound scientific experiments. I did read extensively on what was available on the subject to try guide my efforts to help Sunny.

Since we have had Sunny he has had separation anxiety which intensified after he became blind. For a period of weeks prior to becoming blind, when we would leave him for a few hours he began missing the pee pad. This was likely another sign of his visual deterioration. We try never to leave him alone since he became blind and take him with us virtually everywhere. We don’t want him to get hurt if alone, we don’t want to cage him and we don’t want to create anxiety by leaving him alone or with other dogs.

After he lost all sight he began to cry at night. This may have been due to the side effect of high dose steroids and steroid withdrawal which was attempted for 2 weeks before giving up and/or depression from his huge sensory loss. We tried putting him in the bed with us but he seemed to sleep better if his bed was directly next to our bed, which I lowered so that he could sense that we were close to him.

Sunny was never a big water drinker but after blindness I added liquid to his food because he could no longer find the water bowl. We have a gate across the steps to try to avoid a big fall, but when he ventures out on his own he will bump into things despite having a stable furniture layout. He mitigates this by learning to move slowly and feels safe within the parameters of our large play room rug.

He spends much of his time on the couch and prefers not to jump off even if he gets excited when someone comes to the door or he hears the garage door open. We have learned that when he sits up ‘at attention’ that he most likely has to go out to pee. Even if I don’t see that I usually take him out by about an hour after he eats his wet food and liquids meal. He will usually respond to ‘stay’ (on the couch) until I finish preparing his meals which fortunately he seems to thoroughly enjoy and I therefore feed him 3 small meals per day.

Prior to blindness he was always so excited to run to the door to greet people when they arrived and investigate his surroundings. It is heartbreaking when we contemplate the loss in his agency and enthusiasm for the pleasures sight offers a dog in its life. It especially strikes me when we walk past homes where dogs are sitting at the front window and animated when we pass, or when dogs play frisbee with their owners, or are running playfully in a dog park.

Sunny was a high stamina very enthusiastic jaunty walker prior to losing vision. In fact he was so enthusiastic that it was hard for me to gauge when to stop our walks. He was always in brisk walk mode. We would average about 2.5-3 miles per walk, twice per day which I would measure with a Fitbit. In fact his orthopedic surgeon opined that long walks would strengthen Sunny’s surgical leg.

I settled on 2 walks per day because he more than 95% of the time had 2 poops per day. For the first few weeks after we had him he would vomit and have diarrhea at least once a week and pee and poop at various times in the middle of the night. This has stopped and his pee and poop schedule has been fairly regular and routine since his meds were stopped and diet stabilized.

We were told by the rescuer that for the few weeks that she had him he was a ‘finicky’ eater. However soon after we took possession of him we discovered that he did not like the kibble that he was being fed. After trial and error with wet diets we found one that we have settled on that he tolerates well. He gained about a half pound over the first months. Thereafter his his weight has been stable at between 14.75 and 14.95 pounds which I measure before his morning poop. He has also stopped picking up scraps from the ground during our walks that I had to remove from his mouth for the first few months.

Since Sunny has become blind I no longer measure distance, but measure time of the walk. Over the past months Sunny seems to do best with about 45 minute walks. I know we are nearing the end of a walk as the periods of walking between the intervals of stopping get shorter.

He ambulates very slowly. He loves to sniff bushes. He will often turn around and sniff the bushes on the other side of the sidewalk after he finishes one side or alternate from one side to the other. And sometimes he ignores the bushes entirely. I play a mental game trying to guess which bushes he will stop at because he definitely has his favorite types of bushes that attract his interest. He is less interested in sniffing flowering plants.

Fortunately, being retired I have the time to drive him to walk areas that I know will most likely engage him. I am presuming that he therefore is given the opportunity to investigate his environment which may help stimulate his brain and aid in future navigation.

When Sunny first became blind he dramatically cut back his walking time. Was he depressed? Did he have to learn how to increasingly use smell to navigate and so was reluctant to walk? Did he not trust that I could protect him from danger? When he had sight he would jump up when I put the car into park anticipating a walk…since blindness I rarely see that anticipatory excitement.

Soon after becoming blind he would often sit down or lie down or ‘dig his heels in’ after walking past just a few houses. I would then check for burrs stuck in his paws. I did not notice a limp. I tried going to the park and in open fields and to take the leash off hoping that the freedom would entice him to walk. However it seems that after a year of experimenting since he became blind he prefers the sidewalk and to be leashed. Maybe this gives him some sense of security that I am controlling him and that he can feel the sidewalk. I was concerned that his reluctance to walk was related to difficulty with his back leg or that it was due to arthritis/aging, but the increased interest recently makes those possibilities less likely.

I have read that blind dogs prefer a similar walk routine. However Sunny’s preference is the opposite. He is more interested in his walk when I vary the places where we walk. He has learned to respond to ‘step up’ and ‘step down’ when we get to uneven spots in the sidewalk or when crossing the street. Over time he has seemed to have learned to anticipate stepping up onto the curb after crossing the street and will elevate his paws usually a step or two before we even get to the curb. He is much less apt to step down from the curb.

When we are approaching the end of a block I will usually say ‘let’s cross the street.’ He will more often try to turn the corner rather than crossing the street. Upon crossing the street he often will wait until I step down before he does, possibly to determine how far down he must go as even on the steps at home he is very hesitant to go down.

He will often jump back away from the street while walking if a fast or loud car passes. If I can anticipate this in time and tell him ‘you’re ok Sunny’ he will most often ignore the car. I try to always walk between Sunny and the street as this seems to lessen his aversion reaction and to walk alongside or slightly behind him, but never in front of him.

He has learned ‘let’s leave that alone’ or ‘careful’ if there is a cactus or sticker bush that he is getting close to but remarkably he mostly seems to avoid the cacti and sticker bushes. When he veers off the sidewalk for a while, he is able to self correct and almost always responds to the slightest tug on the leash while we are walking. At first I thought these signs meant that he had some sight. However he has no aversion blink reflex.

Although I was always vigilant and anxious that Sunny would lose all of his vision I was mostly in denial hoping that because he navigated, especially outdoors more so than at home, that he would remain visual. Even as he was losing vision he navigated much better outdoors and still does. Dogs obviously have memory. We would walk in many different places while he was visual- an anthropomorphic reaction on my part to his likely blind future.

He is more apt to bump into a non organic object like a telephone pole than into living things. He will often overshoot the bark of a tree and bump into it although over time he has been approaching the trunks more slowly. I will often try to knock something solid as he is approaching it so he can use sound to help gauge distance and that something solid is in front of him. Fortunately, so far at least, Sunny’s nose seems to be resilient to the many bumps.

I try to be aware at all times when walking Sunny. No looking at phones or taking my eye off what he is doing. He could have a disaster at any time. It could be stepping in a hole or stepping on something sharp or an ant hill. It could be a twig sticking out that can scratch his cornea or cause a penetrating injury with loss of his eye and chronic pain. It could be a bone that he could choke on. It could be a cat or coyote lurking in the bushes waiting to pounce. It could be a dog sneaking up from behind not on a leash. It is always scary as to will possible danger lurking when Sunny sticks his nose inside a bush. I keep the leash at minimal slack so I can try to micromanage him if I see that he is getting close to danger.

Sunny will often bark at other dogs especially if they bark first, but sometimes I can be surprised by a dog being approached from behind. If a dog gets close Sunny gets excited and turns around in circles trying to find the other dog while barking….with his tail up.

We have no history of Sunny’s interactions with other dogs. Almost as soon as we adopted him we kept him away from other dogs because he was substantially immunosuppressed. I try not to let Sunny get too close to other dogs following a few episodes with attempts at socialization after his immunosuppression was discontinued. That is because when I attempted these interactions with what seemed to me to be calm dogs, Sunny would often lunge at the other dog, paws first. Being cautious and kneeling right beside Sunny, I was able to intercept him before there was contact. Since I could not determine if this was playful or aggressive I do not want to take a chance that Sunny or another dog will get hurt. I believe Sunny is beginning to increasingly trust that I will try to protect him since his blindness…by picking him up or avoiding other dogs or dangerous situations.

He not uncommonly stops a few times during his walk and turns his head backwards with tail down..which I have learned to mean that he is likely not walking further. Over time it has become more likely that with encouragement eg by stroking under his chin and a ‘how’s my boy’ he will continue on with the walk. But sometimes not, and then I will put him in the stroller or we will sit for awhile. I have increasingly made it a habit to take the stroller with me on walks so that, especially if we have a stretch with no bushes, I can stroll him for a while.

It is funny that he will commonly turn around and walk the area that we just passed while he was in the stroller, I surmise, to make sure that he did not miss any ‘important sniffs’. It is also amusing to observe him sniffing the bushes on one side of the sidewalk and then turning around when we get to the end of the block to sniff the other side of the sidewalk. He will increasingly respond correctly to ‘turn around’.

I sometimes intersperse a sit down with him if there is a nearby ledge, or put down a mat in an open area where he can rest in the shade or the sun, whatever suits him. He always preferred to lead when he was visual, and still does. Sometimes he will turn around in circles until he decides which way he wants to go and then must be careful not to trip on him. I assume that he is trying to decide by sniffing where his best ‘bush sniffing’ options are. I allow this agency as I see no downside to him deciding his preference, since his choices for action have become much more limited.

I assume that the walks improve his quality of life. I enjoy the walks with him although it is never a care free walk. Because he is disabled I feel lighter when I watch his progress and encourage him whenever I can. But I am also discouraged when we have a bad walking day and concerned if this will portend badly.

Since blindness Sunny’s corneas have gradually clouded and some blood vessels are growing into the cornea. It is sad for us to look into Sunny’s eyes. However it does not seem that Sunny has pain from his eyes. We dread that possibility that Sunny might develop chronic pain.

I decided early on to thoroughly commit to trying to take care of Sunny in the best way that I could.
I may be more susceptible to Sunny’s disability than most because a dog that I loved when I was a child got hit by a car and died while under my care. This left a tremendous scar which has never healed.

Can a dog have courage?…if so we feel very proud of Sunny who seems to be compensating for a tremendous loss. Sunny and I are in a learning process together.

Is it worth all of the extra effort and worry caring for my blind dog. I can only speak for myself with Sunny…we always appreciate and don’t take for granted his sweet, loving spirit. I look forward to his purring when I put him to sleep each night, stroke his ears and chin and sing him ‘You are my sunshine…’ It may sound like we ‘spoil’ Sunny. We are willing to accept that, if there is such a thing and are grateful that Sunny is in our lives.