Tips/ideas for helping a blind dog

[lolli94]

Any ideas you have will be appreciated. I've already gotten good ones, like keeping things in place. One question I have...how to scent his outdoor kennel so he can find it. Every evening I let them inside through a door at the front of the house, feed them, then take them out the back door into our fenced backyard, through that gate, and out to their kennel for the night. He has no way of knowing if the yard gate and the kennel door are opened without bumping into them. I can scent the house doors with vanilla, but I can't think of any way to scent or otherwise mark the gates. Thank you in advance for any advice! :)

[Karen]

I think making sure the gate is open will be up to you, as there's no way I can think of to mark it with scent. BUT you can tie a bell rope to the gate so he can hear it being moved - opened OR closed, for example!

[kuhio98]

A friend of mine put bells on the laces of all her shoes so that her dog could hear her coming.

[Freedom]

What Karen said, plus, you said, "them," so you have more than one dog -- he will quickly learn to follow the lead of the other dog(s).

Or he will be stubborn and keep bumping his nose, lol.

[Asiel]

Dogs adapt so well if they go blind as long as you leave everything the way it was when they could see. My cousin had a blind Bichon that lived happily for 4 yrs after she went blind. The family just made sure they didn't move stuff around and they did talk to her so she would follow their voices. I had no idea she was blind until my cousin told me, she was going around the house as usual, didn't act different at all.

[Freedom]

If you haven't already used Google, there are some tips on this site:
http://www.blinddogs.net/blind_dog_tips.html

I didn't try, but you could search for a blind dog forum, to see what other owners have devised.

[lolli94]

Thank you all! Yes I found the blinddogs.net website...they have a lot of awesome tips on there. I tried putting a Christmas jingle bell collar on Lolli to help him locate her better, but they were both having fun trying to get it off of her, so I took it off again.:) It made me want to cry last night when he banged his head on my car...hard. :( A few of my friends were at my house and we were just hanging out it our driveway and talking, and Buddy was confused because of the extra vehicles. He was trying to go back to his water bowl to use it as a 'home base', but I guess he forgot where I park my car. I've figured out he has no night vision left, but I'm pretty sure he still has some daytime vision. That is usual with PRA, but it won't last long. He'll lose his daytime vision completely soon. Again, thank you all for your advice, and if you have any other ideas let me know :)

[jessewills]

A friend of mine put bells on the laces of all her shoes so that her dog could hear her coming.

Dogs have their own intelligence patterns to perceive coming of their masters, so maybe that don't actually need those laces. Dogs react to blindness differently. Some owners witness severe depression in their dogs. Some owners report aggressive behavior changes. And yet, other owners report that they never even suspected that their dogs went blind because nothing changed. Some dogs remain totally unfazed by the situation. As with humans, dogs may utilize a variety of behaviors to help them cope with vision loss. They may utilize more than one behavior at a time, and they may switch back and forth between behaviors. Typical behaviors a dog may display include depression, fear, aggression, and dependence. Since a dog cannot understand what is happening, and since we cannot communicate that to him, we can only surmise what is going through the dog’s mind. One animal behaviorist believes that animals perceive physical ailments akin to being attacked by another animal.Do not allow your dog to become dependent upon you. Once coddling stops, and training new skills begins, your dog can regain confidence in himself and the world around him. As you progress further into the training program, you will learn how to better deal with this issue.

[Karen]

I brought this up on the radio show, and the vet said not to worry too much - Buddy likely doesn't feel as bad as you do when he bumps into things. Just don't move furniture around often, or leave a box in an unexpected place ...

She has a dog that has been completely blind for more than three years, and still will take advantage of an improperly latched gate and take a jaunt around town - which usually ends with the doc finding her in the assistant sheriff's back yard, usually when he isn't home, thank goodness!

[lolli94]

She has a dog that has been completely blind for more than three years, and still will take advantage of an improperly latched gate and take a jaunt around town - which usually ends with the doc finding her in the assistant sheriff's back yard, usually when he isn't home, thank goodness!

Yeah...I have no doubt that if I would forget his Invisible Fence collar again, he would not hesitate to take off. Silly boy ;)