As I’ve mentioned before, I foster dogs through Dog Gone Seattle (see a running list of the dogs I’ve fostered here). Or current foster dog, Blue, is different than any of the other dogs I’ve fostered.
He’s a senior (12 years old) and completely blind.
Generally I prefer older foster dogs – their energy is a better match for Ranger and Grizzly than energetic puppies.
At this point I’ve only had him for two days but I’ve already learned a lot about caring for a blind dog. Walking him is a different experience entirely to walking other dogs. I must pay close attention to him at all times and guide him safely down the sidewalk. Overgrown brush could hit him in the eyes, he could fall off a curb, or walk right into a wall. He’s a great little trooper, though, and despite his blindness confidently walks forward with a wagging tail.
Steps have proven to be the most difficult – especially the three steps leading down from our backdoor. He has managed to get down one step but can’t seem to make it to the second one. He freezes up or moves backward. I’ve been trying to teach him “up” and “down” so he will know when to step up or down but that’ll take awhile for him to learn. In the meantime I do my best to guide him and carry him down if I have to.
Another issue I noticed is he has tried to pee (or “mark”) various places inside the house. I’ve been in control of him the whole time so I stopped him before he peed on anything, but this is something we hope he will learn not to do on his own. A lot of dogs will mark new spaces, but I wonder if his motivation was more to map out the house by scent.
Ranger and Grizzly have been great foster brothers to all my foster dogs – but it’s clear they like some more than others. Most of them Ranger just tolerates – even growling at them a few times (usually when they on the couch with us). Others, like Blue here, they really like.
In fact I think Blue is their favorite so far. They’ve both been so sweet and gentle with him and Ranger hasn’t growled even ounce. They accepted him as part of the household right away – so much so that Blue sleeps in his crate in the living room with them. Usually the fosters end up in our bedroom due to separation anxiety, but not Blue! He feels comfortable and safe with Grizzly and Ranger so sleeps soundly with them in the living room at night.
Grizzly is especially obsessed with Blue and I’ve caught him on multiple occasions napping “with” Blue:
So far Blue has been pretty easy – as long as someone is in the room with him (this includes dogs) he’s totally quiet and fine. We’ll see how he progresses over the next week or so. In my experience foster dogs often change once they’ve settled in – sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. We shall see!
While I was looking on Amazon for some items that would help Blue navigate better I came across this book:
I thought it was so funny because the dog on the cover looks JUST like Blue.
I’ll share more updates on Blue while I have him – I’m sure I’ll learn a lot about training blind dogs while he’s here!
aussiedoodleadventures.com 