Father of a Blind Dog

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Since I am now the father of a blind, 8-year old, Australian Cattle Dog/ Dingo mix, I decided to do a little research on how to cope with having a blind dog. Actually, cope doesn't seem like the right word. It seems too... Pitiful. I'm not coping with Blue's, my baby girl, blindness, I'm learning a new way to train an already well pretty weel trained and intelligent dog. The first thing I've realized, which should actually be common sense, is that having a blind dog is just lkike living with a blind person. You can';t just keep moving the furniture around or it's going to be frustrating for the dog to get around. Teaching her commands, such as STEP or CURB has helped her to understand what is coming ahead of her, and avoid unnecessary falling or tripping, though she is still getting used to these commands. I always have to be cautious around stairs and outside, but these commands will make things a little bit easier around these obstacles. I'm noticing she may be scared around stairs at first, so I found slowly coaxing Blue down with a treat and a gentle tone to my voice helps her. Vocalizing or just general noise making is probably one of the most important things I've learned That I have to do with her. She still loves to play fetch with her ball in the house, I just can't throw it as farand I make sure it hits the wall or a hard part of the floor so she can hear the thud it makes. If I want her to follow me, I call her name and pat my leg as I walk. When I feed her, I shake the bowl, so she understands where it is and what's going on. You get the general idea, I'm sure. And whatever I do, I won't coddle or baby her. Everything I have read or seen has claimed that. With Blue, I obviously treated her like she has some terrible disease at first, making sure she didn't have to move if she didn't want to. I would've gone to the bathroom for her, if I could've. While I was doing all this, I noticed she was doing less and less on her own, and not even trying to do anything she could easily do. So now that I'm not babying her and trying to train her a little morem she's able to stand on her own paws and be independent. Which works, since that's all she really wants anyways. Until next time... Later!