I got my dog from an animal shelter in 2008 and what a time it has been. The first week he tore up a queen size mattress, ate the leather pockets off a pool table, and ate my brand new shoes. I wouldn’t trade a minute with this dog. He settled in and became the perfect companion to family and day care kids. They loved watching him go down the slides and doing tricks for them.
They say you save a dogs life when you get them from the shelter. I say he saved mine. Having PTSD, Wrigley has kept me calm and able to live my life.
Fast forward, my dog started bumping into things at the end of 2015 and I could just tell he couldn’t see at all. I took him to the vet where she said it was likely SARDS and there really wasn’t anything they could do. So I took him home and tried to help him adjust. I now know there is some research about changing to a homemade diet and other things that might have helped.
My dog is depressed. He doesn’t want to go on walks anymore. It is a struggle just to get him out. He is gaining weight.
He has learned the word step to go down stairs and up when we go up. I am trying to get him to go on a walk with the same route like the optomologist said.
The optomologist who told me about some tests to find out exactly what it was that was wrong with my dog. He said we could do all these tests that would cost thousands of dollars and it wouldn’t change the fact that in all probability he would never see again.
So right now I have some eye drops because he had a discharge from his eyes and the whites were all red.
And I sure wish they had toys for blind dogs.
My Minature Schnauzer went blind about 4 months ago from Glaucoma and cateracts. We had to really work with the optomologist to get the pressure down. Fortunately we finally did and now her eyes are just shrinking so we didn’t have to do any surgery. She is 13 and otherwise in good health. It took a while for me to get her to walk her old route too before going blind. I bought a couple different harnesses to try since they said don’t use the collar as it causes pressure on their eyes. She starts out slow but then speeds up. I find that if I hold the leash up as if I am guiding her she feels more safe. It really does take time and tons of encouragement. When I walk her I wear a cat collar with a bell on it around my ankle so she knows I am there and talk to her all the time. In regards to the toys, I ordered some balls that talk from Foster Smith and a couple of stuffed animals that make noise off the internet. She doesn’t play with them a ton but she had slowed down before this.
Good luck with your baby. It does get better but takes time. I have found when I get really excited when she accomplishes something she really reacts. The other night she jumped up on the couch beside me for the first time since going blind. We always lift her up. Little things begin to happen.
Thanks so much for the ideas. I definitely need a harness because of the stairs on my apartment. He has slipped a couple of times and I didn’t realize collers put pressure on the eyes.
On to check out the toys…especially the balls. He used to love running after them.
Thanks again.