Aurie is a dog we adopted when he was 7 weeks old (in December of 1992). He started to have eye problems about 3 years ago. We saw numerous vets, but not one of them could tell us why he was going blind. At first we noticed that his eyes were red (we got antibiotics). It went away, and then came back (we got more antibiotics) ... and so on and so on. We had one vet tell us that it "could be bacterial" and other tell us that "it could be genetic" and yet another tell us that "it could be that chemicals got into his eyes" (this possibility being if he ever rubbed his face on the ground). He also had tests to see if his cornea was scratched or his ducts were blocked. Over the last several years I have "had words" with ignorant people who have asked me "why don't you just put him down and get another" and they don't seem to understand that he is our baby and cannot be replaced. I generally reinterate with the question "if your child was blind, would you kill it?", and most don't understand the question as they cannot or will not relate a dog to a human.

I would not trade him for anything. He follows me around (everywhere) and he loves to play. My husband is away quite a bit (he's a long haul truck driver), so Aurie is constantly with me. I take him shopping with me when I can, and he keeps me company when I work in the yard. I have always been an extremely healthy person, but I had a seizure in December, and Aurie was extremely "anxious" whenever I moved. He's always been an extremely affectionate dog, but for a few months after that incident, he kept giving me his rawhides (which he squirrels away and doesn't like anyone to touch). It's a bit hard to describe, but as a dog-owner you probably understand -- it's like he was "sharing" his toys and favorite things with me because he knew I wasn't well.

For the first couple of weeks, after I had the seizure, I was extremely groggy, and I was difficult to wake up. One morning, Aurie jumped on the bed and kept nuzzling me, pushing his nose under my hand and arm, as well as under the covers -- he was extremely insistent, so I finally sat up only to find almost every toy he owned on the bed (his triangle, his wiggly giggly, several tennis balls, his Kong and his fabric "pull toy" (one of those stringy things with knots on the ends). I think about the only toys that were not on there were his frisbees. Aurie sat on his haunches with that "doggy" look of satisfaction -- he looked very pleased with himself.

Aurie was sitting beside me the other night, and I typed in "blind dog" in a search engine to see what would come up (and it was your site). I am the only person that I know with a seeing impaired dog (he has a little sight, but not much). I thought that I was the only one. I am extremely grateful for the knowledge that I am not alone (my babies are not "disposable").

I have another dog Tanza that is quite a bit older that Aurie (she's anywhere from 12 - 16). We noticed when Aurie started to go blind that she "guided" him around. She would walk with Aurie's head at her flank, and she would "bump" him when she turned. They don't seem to do it anymore, so I'm guessing that he's used to it now (and her hips bother her, so she's not as active).

He is otherwise perfectly happy and healthy (I just try not to rearrange my furniture very often). He absolutely loves his Wiggly-Giggly toy. My cats are not thrilled with it, but ... The triangle toy is another great toy for visually impaired dogs. My husband and I hunted for it in every pet store in Winnipeg after we saw one that belonged to a friend's dog (from Calgary). Nobler Pet Supplies in Winnipeg was the only one to have these really great toys!!
(To see Aurie and his triangle toy please go to Toys )

Brenda Anderson @ Winnipeg, Manitoba can be emailed at RAWHYDE4@home.com

 

             The Story of Sammie

I first met Samantha, my beautiful 12-year-old blind dog, in July of 1999 when I was visiting Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, a wonderful place in Utah that is home to hundreds and hundreds of animals, many of them considered "unadoptable."

Sammie had been burned in a fire in May of 1999 and was still healing. The patches of tender, pink skin attested to her recent experience. But what was most striking about Sammie was that both of her eyes had been removed. I had never met a blind dog before, let alone a dog without eyes. My heart immediately went out to this dog, clearly a strong-willed survivor. Beneath the burns, the scars, and the missing eyes was a beautiful, loving dog. I knew that Sammie needed a home, and I desperately wanted to provide her with that home. So knowing nothing about living with a blind dog, I began making arrangements for Sammie to begin the long journey to her new home in Ohio.

On a humid July afternoon, Sammie arrived at Cleveland Hopkins Airport. She was hot and stressed, but we made it home in one piece. I was amazed at her abilities from the first moment she got out of my car and began to explore her new back yard. Sammie was not only newly blind, but she had lived at Best Friends for the last 11 years, virtually all of her life. She was now in a new place, with new people, new dog friends, and many cats. What an adjustment she had to make! But within three weeks, Sammie was finding her way in and out of the back door and down her make-shift ramp to the yard without my guidance. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

Sammie's first months with me were made immeasurably easier by the wonderful advice I received form the best group of people in cyberspace, the members of the blinddog list! I had so many questions: how to introduce my resident dogs; how to get Sammie to overcome her fear of doors; what to use on her, a harness or a collar; what to do in the winter and in the snow. One of the valuable suggestions that we took from Caroline Levin's book Living with Blind Dogs  was to wear bells to let Sammie know where we were. She was no longer startled by the sudden appearance of Meghan the Boxer who always wanted to play. She was more relaxed around the cats, and she began to settle into her new life.

About a week or two after Sammie came to live with me, I looked for her in all her usual places and couldn't find her. When I finally stopped looking down and looked up, there was Sammie, sprawled out on the couch sound asleep. I have no idea how she climbed up there, but she is large and so apparently didn't have much difficulty. When she awoke, she jumped off of the couch as if she had been doing that all her life. She is a natural born couch potato.

Sammie has been in her new home almost a year, and her life now consists of long naps, lots of treats, short daily walks, weekly massage treatments, and an occasional adventure. She has found her place in the pack and seems to enjoy the day-to-day routine of our household.

One of her favorite activities is walking along the shores of Lake Erie. Since she had been a desert dog all her life, the sounds and smells of the lake were completely new to her. The first day that we went to the shore, the waves were particularly high. As Sammie walked nearer and nearer, she stopped and her ears turned wildly from side to side, her head raised alertly. She approached the lake until a wave came crashing onto the shore. Then she half ran, half walked backwards! When the wave subsided, she began her cautious approach again, ears twitching like mad, only to repeat the entire scene. But the best part of that walk (for Sammie, anyway) was when she dragged me down the beach, probably about 20 yards or so. She came to an abrupt stop, fell to the ground, and began to roll with obvious pleasure. As you can guess, beneath her was a dead, smelly, partially decomposed big fish!

On a recent walk by the lake, Sammie was having so much fun that she suddenly raised her head high into the air and broke into a run/trot! It was such a sight to see. She was on a 26-foot retractable leash in a large open area, so I let her run as long as I could keep up (that was a sight, too). What trust she must have to run, unable to see where she is going.

Sammie also has learned to steal. One afternoon, I was sitting on the floor preparing to do her massage therapy "homework" when Sammie jumped up and pushed her nose deep into my front shirt pocket. I tried to get her to move, but Sam is very stubborn when she has her mind set to anything. She had half of her head in my pocket when I heard a crunching sound. The treats the mail carrier leaves every day were still in my shirt pocket, and Sammie ate all four of them before she agreed to remove her head. Luckily, no important parts of my anatomy were anywhere near the treats!

Sammie loves to eat paper so much that she often finds my briefcase, gets in it (I never remember to zip all the pouches), removes a stack of papers, and starts to shred them. I teach English, so I always have a lot of ungraded papers around just waiting for my attention. One night I awoke with a start because I heard paper shredding. I rushed into the dining room, and, sure enough, there sat Sammie with a stack of ungraded papers in her two front paws, shredding them systematically. I had to face my class (luckily it was a college class, so the students were a little older!) and tell them that MY dog ate THEIR homework. Needless to say, I never lived it down. The standing joke in that class was "I turned my homework in. Your dog must have eaten it!"

Three months after Sammie came to live with me, I adopted a ten-year-old deaf Shepherd mix named Ralph who had been badly abused and neglected. After some initial difficulties because Ralph could not hear Sammie's warning growls and Sammie could not see Ralph's approach, the two of them became best friends. They often sat together passing the time holding paws. I only heard Sammie bark once in her first six months with me and that was when Ralph had stumbled--he had extreme rear leg weakness--and fallen squarely on Sammie's head! She let out one loud yip and promptly went back to sleep. Sadly, Sammie lost her best friend Ralph in March 2000, after enjoying his friendship for only five months.

Sammie and her best friend Ralph
In May 2000, I adopted Rose, a 12-year-old deaf Shepherd mix, hoping that Sammie and Rose would become fast friends. They are quite the duo, but Sammie does not love Rose in the same way that she did Ralph. Rose and Sammie have little "old dog fights" when they both want the same crate at the same time. Sammie usually ambles in first; then Rose stumbles in and falls down on top of Sammie. Sammie is at least twice Rose's size, but they just bite at the air and make old lady half barking sounds at each other until I come and lift Rose out of the crate. I actually think they enjoy their little spats. Of course, I do not!  

Most days Sammie likes to pass the time sleeping in a patch of sunshine, chewing on a rawhide treat, or just enjoying the company of her three dog friends, Angel, Meghan, and Rose. Sometimes I swear she just sits and smiles, and those are the times when I am so thrilled that we found each other.

I adopted Sammie because I thought she needed me. I had no idea at that time how much I needed her, too. Sammie has brought much joy to my life, but she has also taught me valuable lessons about living with disability, about adapting to life's changes, and most importantly, about the beauty of a relationship built slowly on love and trust. My Sammie "sees with her heart," and every day I try to see with mine, too.

Deborah Workman dogzz1@aol.com

Sadly Sammie went to the Rainbow Bridge due to kidney failure on Sept 11, 2000 She will be extremely loved and missed by Deborah and the members of the Blind Dog list. 

 I wanted to share my story about my blind and deaf dog, Boomer. He was diagnosed with diabetes about 10 months ago. And shortly after went totally blind. a couple of months ago, he suffered from a bad ear infection that left him almost totally deaf. At first, I was so scared I would have to put him to sleep, in fact, my husband thought that was the only fair thing to do for him. But let me tell you! He is so amazing. He continues to do the same things he has always done. He gets around the house and yard almost as well as ever. He loves to scratch his back on the lilac bushes. The only thing different is he can't find the cat to chase. The cat loves it! 

Boomer also  is so gentle with all the grandchildren. He never seems to mind having them around him and he manages some how to get through the obstacle course that is always around when they are visiting.

Every night after he has had his insulin shot he comes to me and makes me take him for a long walk. I think God has some thing to do with it because I am supposed to walk every day and that is the only way I will do it. Only People who are blessed with a blind dog know the wonderful love and closeness that two creatures can share, and I am thankful every day I have him and the closeness we have developed . Boomer is a 90 lb Springer, st. Bernard cross so you know he is no lap dog. Just try to tell him that. 

I believe there is a purpose for every life and I think his was to show us all courage, and unconditional love. Fawn Megaard

Let me tell you about my experience with a blind dog.......

Having had dogs all my life, it was inevitable that my three sons would grow up amidst dogs and other animals. Having lost our beloved Malamute, Panda, after 12 years, I was, oddly enough, not ready for another dog and certainly not for a puppy. After considerable campaigning on their part, I agreed reluctantly to another dog but suggested we obtain one from rescue. We visited several shelters with our three boys and invariably, they'd choose the largest dog there only to find that the dog was a "runner" or wasn't fully housebroken, or other attributes I wasn't ready to deal with. My husband remembered a pet shop in the area and we stopped on the way home. He knows me well. There were puppies from one end to another and while I doubt that any of them were full bred, they were all adorable. My youngest, John, who was 9 the time, fell in love in the Australian Shepherd puppies, a litter of ten. I finally agreed to getting the puppy but insisted the dog be a female. They chose a sleepy little white and blue merle pup and she dozed all the way home. 

John dutifully took his puppy to the back yard when we got home so she could piddle. Imagine my shock when I saw this little one bounce right into a tree. Then she ran into the shed. Then she ran into the fence. I picked her up and her icy blue eyes were strangely misshapen  and unseeing. A trip the Vet the following day confirmed that she was in fact blind, in both eyes, and probably would never see anything but the
faintest shadows, if that. The boys were given the choice of keeping the pup or taking her back. I cautioned them that if we kept her, she would never do all those things that they looked forward to having a dog for...going on walks, playing catch, romping through the woods. Matthew, the eldest, went right to the heart of the conversation and asked what they would do with her when we took her back. I explained that they would probably put her down, being damaged goods. "It's not her fault she's blind", they all chimed. We kept the pup, now named Samantha. 

Sam was a good girl. She never made a mess in the house and gave us years of laughter and fierce loyalty. She was completely at home in her house, her yard and at her vet. The vet was the only one in the area who would board her willingly and gave her the same space anytime we had to go out of town. Take her outside of any one of those areas and it became apparent that she couldn't see. The boys would run her in open spaces on a leash, exercise for them both. She would bring the shoes in the hallway to the rightful owner. She played catch on the patio, listening intently for the sound of the ball. She loved to play and would herd the boys down the hall to their rooms. Anyone coming to the house with a family member would be sniffed up and down -- she never forgot -- because if they came again, she let them in without barking. However, if you had never been there before, she'd treat you as an intruder until she got an OKay from one of us. This beautiful
animal taught us so much I would never hesitate to acquire another dog with a disability. Sam loved to chew gum and if she found a pack, somehow, the paper came off and you'd find her sitting there, chewing away. She could sit up and beg, lay down and play "dead", dance on her hind legs, and would even retrieve a toy if you said, "go find your ball". Cat food, however, was a problem and we learned to put the cat food aside where the cats could get to it but Sam couldn't. Our cats played with Sam and it was hysterical to see them racing through the house. All you had to do to set Sam off was to say, "Where's Tigger?" and off she'd go. Tigger would look down from a high perch and watch the fun for awhile before he decided to join the fun. 

Sam was put to sleep three months ago. I cried; my vet cried and when I called the boys, all away at school, they cried too. Sam had become disoriented and would lock herself in the bathroom by closing the door. After years of never bumping into furniture or people, she was now doing both on a daily basis. Her eyes were blood red from hemorrhaging. She was losing control of her back legs and my greatest fear was that she'd fall down the stairs while I was at work. It was a hard thing to do but after being such a good girl for 12 years, Sam knew -- she was embarrassed at her lack of control. I couldn't let her suffer. 

We don't have a dog now as the time has come for us to move to smaller home....but when we do acquire another canine, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she was blind from birth. 

Jan D'Ambrosia
Itasca, IL

Last year I was a care provider for an elderly gentleman for the last few months of his life. He had a buff-colored 7-year-old Cocker Spaniel named Sam. Sam always slept on the floor next to his Dad's bed at night and next to his recliner during the day. He never got too far away because he was blind and suffered from separation anxiety. He didn't have a bed but I made a little doggy quilt for him and as soon as I put it on the floor, he knew it was his and would drag it around the house with him so he always had a comfortable spot to take a nap.

When his owner passed away, the family members were present and I was no longer needed so I said my good-byes and headed for the door. Sam must have overheard the family talking about his future and it sounded pretty bleak if you know what I mean. After all, NOBODY wants a blind dog! I barely had that door open and Sam was right at my side. He followed me out to the car and it was pretty obvious to everyone concerned that this
dog was going home with me. He is the BEST pet I've ever had. He rides with me everyday and loves all of the elderly people I care for and they all love him.

I am still amazed that this animal was so perceptive and picked me to be his best friend. I never would have thought that a blind dog could drastically improve the quality of MY life.

Linda Botsford
Eureka, CA