Coping With Vision Loss

[Guest coastersbysteve]

Curious about any ideas or suggestions anyone has with a greyhounds loss of vision. We already have the other two wearing bells around the house & yard. We are making sure to keep the yard and house clear of scattered toys, etc. and making sure not to move any beds or furniture...

Our main problem seems to be stairs...

We are walking beside him any time anyone goes outside to help guide him.

Any other ideas would be appreciated...

 

-Steve, Lisa, Jazz, Nightie, Raker

 

edit for content

Edited May 25, 2009 by coastersbysteve

[Anne]

I have a blind greyhound and have had him for many years now. He does VERY well. Blind dogs are totally different than blind humans.

I show him when I moved anything around in the house. I only need to show him once.

I found it helpful to teach him some different commands. They are: step up, step down, stop, watch your head, backup, watchout, and I know there are more, just can't think of them right now. He does each of them flawlessly after all these years. Watch your head... means he's about to run into something. (actually it's watch your noggin, but most people wouldn't use noggin!) Watchout means he's about to wander onto a bed who already has another dog in it.

He does occasionally step on the dog who is silly enough to lay down and spread out in the middle of the floor! But I'm also amazed at how he senses another dog, especially outside, walks by or trots by (yes, he runs in our backyard, not fast, but you can tell he gets joy from it!) someone. He goes potty in the same spot every day, never misses unless he's had/having a vestibular issue.

All in all, my best advice is to treat them like you would any other dog. We wear no bells, the stepping on other dogs isn't when they are moving, it's when they are sound asleep on a bed usually. I also disagree with those who say you can never move furniture, move it, but be sure to show him where you moved it to and the path from different points.

When we lived in Ohio, he was able to do a full set of stairs by himself, no help at all from me at all.

I do check all 4 paws when he comes in from outside as he occasionally steps in poop.

I'd say it's made little difference in Lynch's life in the long run, he's a happy boy. If you were to watch him getting around, it would take you a while to realize that he's blind, and he's been blind since about age 2.

 

 

[Anne]

I keep the yard free of stuff, but the house has beds, toys and stuffies in it. As far as teaching the stairs, you have to show them a few times and then encourage them to do it alone, the dog will adapt.

I showed Lynch the yard here (when we moved to Az) once and let him wander, and he ran into the fence a few times and bounced gently off the house a few times and that was that for the most part.

I love the way he goes out into the yard, and lifts his head and sniffs the air in all 4 directions to see what's going on in the world around him!

 

Just like anything else, if you are nervious, you are going to make your dog nervous. So try to be confident when you take him up and down the stairs and then let him try it alone. Use treats to boost his desire to go up or down. He'll get it!!

 

Oh, and make sure to police the yard for holes or gopher tunnels, they can cause a problem for blind dogs.

[GeorgeofNE]

A blind dog should do just fine as long as you don't move stuff around.

 

Their other senses are so much stronger than ours, blindness isn't as devastating as it would be for a person.

[Brindles]

Their other senses are so much stronger than ours, blindness isn't as devastating as it would be for a person.

Yup. Julio is blind AND deaf and still doesn't even care. He's just as happy as he's always been. Having a blind dog really is not that big of a deal, especially if the dog is older and sleeping more and more often.

 

Is your pup's blindness a sudden thing or a gradual thing? The reason I ask is because a gradual blindness is much easier for the dog to adapt to and often it will barely phase them. There's really no need for bells and all that. Just keep things picked up and make sure furniture stays in the same place.

 

If the dog is fast asleep, make sure you speak to them and wake them up before touching them. And touch them A LOT. You don't want them to get in the habit of startling when they're touched, because a scared blind dog will bite. Like I said, Julio is deaf now and speaking/clapping doesn't work. Sometimes he'll startle when I touch him, but it's incredibly important to KEEP PETTING even if they do startle, because then they know it's you and they know that they're getting affection. If you startle them and pull back when they jump, they don't always know you're there and it can be unsettling. Make sense? Hope I'm not rambling. If you want, I can record some video to show you exactly what I'm talking about. Just make sure that you touch them and touch them often.

[TheFullHouse]

When Emmy lost her sight it threw us all for a loop and we had to adapt very quickly. Since some of my hounds were sleep aggressive and space aggressive, we used the bells. It helped Emmy a lot because she was able to tell where everyone was. The stairs we taught her over a period of days. Since she already knew how to use them it was just a matter of her gaining enough confidence to tackle them. I would go to the top and Kevin would walk behind her for a while until she could manage them on her own. Still we never let her go up without someone behind her because of our fear of her fall. She was also ill so that made the situation different than a healthy hound going blind. We walked her through each room until she had patterned the room in her head and we did the same with the yard. In the beginning she would walk out a little way and just stop because she had no clue where she was or what lay ahead.

 

I truly believe if Emmy and been well she would have adapted a lot better than she did. I think there is a big difference in a hound who goes slowly blind and one who goes suddenly blind. Hannahsmom's Hanna lost her sight slowly and is doing wonderfully. You might talk with her.

[Brindles]

Also, like Anne said, commands are good! I forget about vocal commands because Julio can't hear them anymore. He responds so well to touch that I use physical commands instead. For example...

 

leash tug up = step up or step down (for curbs on walks)

leash tug back = stop

pat on the back of the head or butt = move forward

pat on either side = move sideways (he responds to this just like a horse does to leg)

tail tug = stop & turn around (useful if I'm behind him and he's about to run into a wall)

 

Those aren't things I went out of my way to teach him. Just things that we've both picked up along the way. let me know if you have any more questions and I'll be happy to answer.

 

And Anne is right, confidence is key with a blind dog. With any dog, really, but especially with a blind dog. Treat them just as you would treat a "normal" dog and they won't let the blindness slow them down at all. That I can promise.

Edited May 25, 2009 by Brindles

[seeh2o]

One thing that helped my girl a lot when she lost her sight in a matter of hours - rubbing essential oils on door jams and making sure that each room had it's own separate oil scent. I also joined the Owners of Blind Dogs Yahoo bulletin board, they have a wealth of knowledge on that board!

[Guest MnMDogs]

I'm also wondering if he went blind suddenly or gradually? Mork was diagnosed with PRA in Nov 07 and I was told by the vet that he would be blind within a year. He still can see a bit, although quite poorly at night, and his peripheral vision seems to be non-existent.

 

Did you get a copy of the book "Living with Blind Dogs"? I found that very helpful, and they made suggestion to use scents on furniture, corners, stairs, etc. A different scent would be placed on different items/obstacles so that the dog would associate say, lavender, with a corner.

 

I had started using voice commands to indicate stepping down or up, but like I said, he can still see so we don't employ them now.

 

As others have said, they seem to adjust really well. Especially with a gradual loss of vision.

[Guest KennelMom]

Hanna is blind from PRA. She knows a few basic commands but for the most part she adapted well and nothing special was really done on our part. It is amazing how well they adapt.

[Guest hannahmom]

You have been given some excellent advice in this thread

GT'ers are the best

 

What worked for us...

Essential oils - just a drop at the door jamb - different scent in every room so she knows where she is.

A drop on the top and bottom stairs and a drop halfway up so she can do the stairs without having to see-we have a long staircase so I put the middle one in. Not too much, that stuff is strong. An added bonus, your home wil smell nice

 

Hannah knew the command " stairs" before she lost her sight - I find that the more I assoicate a verbal cue with an action, dancer or landmark, the easier it is for her

 

We did bells when I had Chinghis and Grover, but with just Grover and Hannah, we don't seem to need it, and the noise drove me batsh!t.

 

Her appetite took a dive, so I make sure to add something stinky in each meal. Winter here in igloo land was rough because things are FROZEN - just something to be aware of.

 

Hannah also got a tad more short tempered around other dog - she can't see them. Of course, she wasn't MAry Poppins to begin with, so the 2 might be completely unconnected.

 

Our yard is fenced, and Hannah goes out by herself - she even runs laps. She has attempted to do flyby's a few time, but that hasn't always gone over so well. She knocked me flat on my butt twice.

 

I think this hit my Boo hard as she is my stubborn opinionated bossy little goober who loved being into everything. She needs a little more TLC and lots more verbal encouragement, but she's still full of mischief and loves life

 

Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions

 

Tena

 

[Guest EmilyAnne]

I had a pointer mix who was blind for the last several years of his life. He still loved to run and play. He came to trust so much that we would never move stuff around on him, and he relied on that. One day I forgot to put my kid's plastic slide back to it's proper spot after mowing the lawn, and Alfalfa went running into the slide full force, THWACK! He stood there dazed for several minutes, and then had a very hard time getting around the yard after that cause it was like he thought he was in a whole different yard. So very important not to move things around if can be helped!

 

Also, for walks, he still liked to go, but relied on me to let him know if there would be a step/obstacle or etc. When I said 'step' he would slow down knowing there was something I was telling him about that he couldnt see. After the obstacle was past, I'd say 'come on', and he'd resume his pace. When we visited people's houses, I kept him in an ex-pen, and let him explore on leash only. He would slowly walk gently around going 'bump, bump, bump....' He enjoyed the exploring anyways, just did so slowly.

[Guest coastersbysteve]

Jazz thanks all of you for the ideas and suggestions.

We have already started implementing some of the ideas.

We are doing very well so far and don't foresee many adjustments in our day to day lives.

Jazz is a very smart boy who will be able to adapt rather well.

-Steve, Lisa, Jazz, Nightie, Raker

[Guest RedTigerJazz]

Thank you, everyone. GreyTalkers Rock!!!

For those who asked:

 

We think it's PRA and that Jazz has been losing his sight for a while now. We really have no idea how long, though, because until yesterday he seemed to be seeing everything just fine. In hindsight, though, we realized that there have been at least two incidents in the past two months that can be explained by vision loss. You know what they say about hindsight.

 

Jazz seems to have night blindness and loss of peripheral vision at this point. Today was a much better day than yesterday. We think that's mostly because all of us are less nervous/scared than we were yesterday. Jazz was much more confident today. During the first half of our morning walk, he was in perfect heel (Jazz doesn't heel. ) but before our walk he ran the length of the yard.

 

The bells are for Nightie & Raker's protection. Jazz has always had sleep startle, so we want to make sure he knows when someone's coming near him when he's resting.

 

~Lisa~

[ahicks51]

My only suggestion would be to be on the lookout for any signs of aggression, as vision loss may manifest in the form of fear. Most hounds I wouldn't worry about, but if Minerva started losing her sight, I am certain one of her first forms of expressing this loss would be through her teeth.

[Guest vahoundlover]

My only suggestion would be to be on the lookout for any signs of aggression, as vision loss may manifest in the form of fear. Most hounds I wouldn't worry about, but if Minerva started losing her sight, I am certain one of her first forms of expressing this loss would be through her teeth.

 

Mack has lashed out a few times, particularly when a dog comes up from behind him. But he also has some food issues. He's hasn't put a mark on any of them, but to watch him lash out is quite unsettling.

 

My std pdl, Katie has lost all peripheral vision and does fine, you'd never know! I am careful with her and Mack out in the yard when the young'ins get to whooping it up.