puggy_puggy Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 My male pug has suddenly lost complete vision in one of his eyes, we are not sure of the cause right now, and has somewhat limited vision in the other due to pre existing pigmentary keratitis. He will bump into things on his blind side but is really coping quite well. I am crossing my fingers and toes that the medicine his specalist has prescribed will bring his sight back but in the mean time, and if his sight does not return, I would like to make things as easy for him as possible. Has anyone else used different warning and guiding scents for blind dogs? I am going to use citronella to mark out the sides of doorways and sticking out bits of furniture. I am wondering what I could use to mark out steps and if I would use citronella on the sides of the steps as a warning not to fall off. Or would it be to confusing to have one scent in the middle and one scent on the side/s? He pretty much knows where the doggy beds and water is but should I scent them as well? What scent would be good to use for this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BittyMooPeeb Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 Hi Puggy puggy, I have had a couple of blind foster dogs. I initially uses scent to mark the dog door and the stairs. I am not sure how well they worked . What I found worked well was taking them regularly around so they know where everything is, and then NOT MOVING ANYTHING and not leaving things on the floor. The fosters worked out really quickly where things were, but if I put a shopping bag down along their usual route, they would crash into it. Ditto with moving the furniture, even a few inches. As one of them had hearing, I also trained them (took only a couple of days) to understand the words "up" and "down" to indicate stairs, so when I was walking with them I coudl warn them of what was approaching. There are some great web sites with information for blind dogs. I dont have the links any more, but you should be able to find heaps of info using google. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puggy_puggy Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share Posted November 17, 2009 Thanks BittyMooPeeb. Not sure how the citronella is working either but maybe it is. Someone else has told me that deep heat or dencorub might be an alternative. I don't think he has had any of this sight return but the determined little bugger is going up and down the double story steps without much of a problem now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 With our blind ones all important access areas had carpet runners. This appliex to water bowls most importantly,access doors & a pathway way to beds & essentials. Our found this the easiest & you could tell when they new they werent on the track they would back step. Our biggest issue was summer & making sure they didnt get lost outside or disorientated,We generally shut them up if out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Anne~ Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 I have previously used Vanilla to indicate water bowls, citronella for danger areas, eucalyptus for stairs. If you raid the supermarket, you'll find lemon essence, strawberry and rasberry too as well as lavendar. You just need to be consistent with using the same scents for the same things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jigsaw Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 There is a great yahoo group [email protected] with lots of advice. Also http://www.blinddogs.com/ has lots of tips and links. It can be useful I've read to teach commands such as "slow" if they are moving towards an object that might be in the way, also directional cues such as "left" or "right" and "up" and "down" for stairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfin Posted November 17, 2009 Share Posted November 17, 2009 My male pug has suddenly lost complete vision in one of his eyes, we are not sure of the cause right now, and has somewhat limited vision in the other due to pre existing pigmentary keratitis. He will bump into things on his blind side but is really coping quite well. I am crossing my fingers and toes that the medicine his specalist has prescribed will bring his sight back but in the mean time, and if his sight does not return, I would like to make things as easy for him as possible. puggy, did you find out the cause of his sudden vision loss in the one eye? I hope he is improving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puggy_puggy Posted November 18, 2009 Author Share Posted November 18, 2009 puggy, did you find out the cause of his sudden vision loss in the one eye?I hope he is improving. No sight improvement as yet Elfin. But I think we are both getting more used to things. I walk him with his sister on his blind side so that he bangs into her instead of other things. :D Specalist (at your clinic ) really is as baffled as I am about the whole thing. Thankfully we have almost certainly ruled out SARDS or a brain tumour. Pupils both react to light. The specalist could see nothing internally and certainly nothing externally that would have lead to blindness in the particular eye. Next step is the light test to see if the retina reacts but that is a week away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tatelina Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 I'm curious as to how useful scenting areas would be? Not only would the scent probably either drift to cover large areas, but also need to be re-applied...wouldn't a dog just rely on memory after figuring out the floor plan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puggy_puggy Posted November 18, 2009 Author Share Posted November 18, 2009 I'm curious as to how useful scenting areas would be?Not only would the scent probably either drift to cover large areas, but also need to be re-applied...wouldn't a dog just rely on memory after figuring out the floor plan? I think the scenting works by the stronger it is the closer to the object or area the dog knows it is. Apparently you reapply the scent every four or so weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfin Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 puggy, did you find out the cause of his sudden vision loss in the one eye?I hope he is improving. No sight improvement as yet Elfin. But I think we are both getting more used to things. I walk him with his sister on his blind side so that he bangs into her instead of other things. Specalist (at your clinic ) really is as baffled as I am about the whole thing. Thankfully we have almost certainly ruled out SARDS or a brain tumour. Pupils both react to light. The specalist could see nothing internally and certainly nothing externally that would have lead to blindness in the particular eye. Next step is the light test to see if the retina reacts but that is a week away. Let me know when you are coming in; I will make sure you get the extra special DOLer treatment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Anne~ Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 I'm curious as to how useful scenting areas would be?Not only would the scent probably either drift to cover large areas, but also need to be re-applied...wouldn't a dog just rely on memory after figuring out the floor plan? Dogs, even Pugs, have an acute sense of smell and can detect the source. In fact, it is not even really neccessary to reapply the scent as often as most do because the dogs are still able to smell it even though we can't. Think urine smells and marking.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her Majesty Dogmad Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 I had a blind foster dog and used lavender oil to show her where the dog door was, she was an amazing little girl and got it straight away, she was about 14 or so years of age as well ... Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puggy_puggy Posted November 21, 2009 Author Share Posted November 21, 2009 Steriods have made no improvement so now it could be SARDS. He will be having an ERG on Thursday to try and give us some answers and to rule out a brain tumour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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