4th of July Warning

[dwarven1]

SR, I know a site for blind dogs - www.pepedog.com. The site owner is also in the telecom field, which is how I know of his site.

I have only one critter right now, the Shadowcat. We adopted him from Buddy Dog Humane Society in Sudbury (www.buddydoghs.org). Shadow is the second stray we've adopted from Buddy Dog; we lost Freya to a tumor at age 8.

I'm definitely a cat person, and have never had a dog. Although I got pulled by 16 Huskies in Alaska - Along with 5 other tourists and 2 mushers. Those dogs were awesome and amazingly powerful!

Ross

 

[SiameseRat]

Ross I've actually seen that site several times. Originally I found it when I did a search to see if there was anybody that made special vests for blind dogs. I've had any number of incidents where I'm walking my dog (I live in an urban setting) and people just barrel at him expecting that he'll get out of the way. When people are walking quickly I can only pull so much on his leash. So I've wanted to find some sort of vest that says BLIND DOG or some such thing to give people a head's up. Those halos were the closest thing online, but Banjo gets around well enough I don't think he needs one. Amazing how well dogs do without sight. He could care less if he can see as long as I rub his belly.
And I've come to the conclusion that if it keeps up I'll just buy one of those orange hunting vests and I'll stitch the words on myself.

 

[Lynne]

SR, if you can't find something suitable, I'm a tailor. I could probably come up with something for him if I have his measurements.

 

[MrsWildweasel]

SR How big is your cocker? I have dog coat patterns and could make one in blaze orange with blind dog on it. I have one cocker average size about 30lbs and 2 that are small for cockers around 19lbs. Let me know where yours fits in and i can use one of mine for a model.
Sue

 

[TonyD]

Sounds like he needs a seeing eye human!

Our cocker is 13 and stone deaf but, he can see and smell just fine.

 

[MrsWildweasel]

2 of our cockers have phenomenal noses. We just have to pay attention to them. When our blind and deaf springer was alive we joked that we should turn our younger cocker into a seeing eye dog for him.

 

[dwarven1]

The mind boggles... a seeing eye dog for another dog. [lol]

 

[Lynne]

The mind boggles... a seeing eye dog for another dog. [lol]

I've actually seen that on some amazing animal show. The one who couldn't see was a mutt (IIRC), the "seeing eye dog" was his buddy and he was a lab. He'd steer him around objects in the yard and when they'd go for a walk, they'd hitch up a shorter leash to the two of them and he'd guide him around any obstacles. The lab was never trained, btw - he just started doing it when his buddy started loosing his sight. And some say animals are dumb...right.

 

[SiameseRat]

Patrick has often said that he wants to get a chihuahua to be Banjo's seeing eye dog, but I think it's just fine with us being his seeing eye people.
You guys are great offering to make a vest for Banjo! I'm going to have to take you up on it, the poor guy is always getting trampled...

 

[Lynne]

Patrick has often said that he wants to get a chihuahua to be Banjo's seeing eye dog, but I think it's just fine with us being his seeing eye people.
You guys are great offering to make a vest for Banjo! I'm going to have to take you up on it, the poor guy is always getting trampled...

Anytime hun - just let me know if you need my services.

 

[MrsWildweasel]

Same here and let me no what size your cocker falls into.

 

[KMaurer]

Actually losing their sight isn't nearly the handicap for most dogs as it is for humans. While we tend to use sight as our primary sense, it's only #3 for most dogs, behind smell and hearing. I've had a dog that was totally blind, and most visitors never even noticed any difference in its behavior.

Ken

 

[SiameseRat]

People only notice my dog is blind when he walks into the wall, turns around really quickly, and walks right into the back of the couch...

Poor fella. I think he gets a little turned around every now and then

 

[Lynne]

Actually losing their sight isn't nearly the handicap for most dogs as it is for humans. While we tend to use sight as our primary sense, it's only #3 for most dogs, behind smell and hearing. I've had a dog that was totally blind, and most visitors never even noticed any difference in its behavior.

A friend of my family used to have a Schnauzer (sp?) who was blind. He knew who it was coming to visit by smelling that persons hair. It was funny really - he'd have a crying fit until you bent over or knelt down for him to sniff your hair, then he'd be fine.