June 21, 2010
Caring For A Blind Dog
By CarolAnn Jarnagin
Humans frequently look upon blind dogs with pity and sorrow, but a blind dog really doesn’t understand why. Your average blind dog is a perfectly well adjusted canine with few problems relating to the perceived disability it carries. Blind dogs play, cuddle, run, eat and love their people just like every other dog does.
Sight is the primary sense in humans. Our sight is our strongest and most complex sense and it has developed in a way that allows us to record our world to be stored in our brains. We see in the entire rainbow of color in three dimensions. Our brain is dominated by the visual cortex. We relate to the world through our vision, and if a human goes blind it is a profound loss.
Not to a dog, though. Even a blind dog still has a nose.
A dog’s world is one big smelly three ring circus. Their visual acuity is poor, except for sighting moving objects, and has an average rating of 20/75. We may hate seeing our dogs sniff each other’s rear ends, but for the dog it’s a very important thing – they don’t recognize each other by sight, but by smell, and their entire environment is alive with the aromas that they map the world with. A dog’s brain is dominated by the olfactory cortex, and when combined with the 220 million scent receptors in their noses it’s easy to see why a dog can take vision or leave it without too many problems.
My house is run by Scruffy Doodle and Shawna Boo. They are two of my five cocker spaniels – and they are both blind. While they may be able to perceive light and dark, the veterinary ophthalmologist considers them to be completely blind since they do not have a level of vision considered usable in daily life.
We make very few compromises for Shawna and Scruffy. When we first brought them into our home, we scented the doorways and stairways with vanilla extract so they had an olfactory cue to help them learn their way around. If I move the furniture I take them around the room to re-learn where everything has been moved. Other than that, they sail around the house with little problem. They chase the cat at top speed through the living room. They play tuggies, they jump on and off the furniture (and in Scruffy’s case, on and off the counters when no one’s in the kitchen with him), they pull things out of bags that are left open (Shawna has an inordinate fondness for my purse if I’m stupid and leave it open), go for walks, take toys out of the toy basket….in short, they are normal Cocker Spaniels. While Shawna has physical evidence of her blindness, Scruffy does not, and people frequently don’t believe me when I tell them he is blind.
Where we do make adjustments for Shawna and Scruffy is in areas that relate to safety. We make sure there is nothing in the yard that is sticking out where they can walk into it, we quickly clean up spills they can slip in, we don’t leave things around to be tripped over. Basically, if your house is safe for an average small child it’s safe for a blind dog. I used to scent their beds and toys with vanilla, but I realized they didn’t need that so now the only thing I scent is a ball so they can find it when I toss it away for them.
Interactions with humans can require a little more patience than with the average dog, but only because they need to get a good scent from new people. Blind dogs may be a little standoffish, but as long as their basic personality/temperament is good they will do fine with strange people. As with a sighted dog, a blind dog should be thoroughly assessed for temperament.
Dogs can go blind for many reasons. Some of the most common reasons are injury, glaucoma, cataracts, blindness at birth, progressive retinal atrophy/degeneration or Suddenly Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome (SARDS). Some of these illnesses require medical treatment for life, but most do not.
A visual impairment should never be the sole reason to pass over a dog for adoption. They don’t see with their eyes, but they do see with their hearts.
Oh – and by the way – Shawna and Scruffy live with a partially deaf Cocker Spaniel, an epileptic Cocker Spaniel, an elderly Cocker Spaniel, two cats, one grandmother, two college-aged kids and the most wonderful husband in the world, so their environment is quite chaotic. Still, not a problem.
Resources for blind dog information:
I am available to all DFW Cocker Spaniel Rescue adopters and potential adopters who have questions about blind dogs or who are considering adopting one of our wonderful blind cocker spaniels. The foster parent of the dog or any board member can put you in contact with me. Shawna and Scruffy would love to meet you!
Owners of Blind Dogs
http://www.blinddogs.com
BlindDogs.net
http://www.blinddogs.net
BlindDog.info
http://www.blinddog.info
Living With Blind Dogs, a book by Caroline Levin, RN
http://www.petcarebooks.com/books/living_blind.htm
Veterinary Medicine @ About.com – information on canine eye diseases
http://vetmedicine.about.com/cs/dogdiseasese/a/dogeye.htm
American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists
http://www.acvo.com/
