Guiding a Blind Dog

snorepez

My dog has recently went blind due to inoperable cataracts, and she is constantly bumping her head and eyes into chairs, etc. I have also noticed a slight swelling of her left eye, due to this constant contact with objects. So, I googled for some type of contraption to help her guide herself better throughout the house (she isn't outdoors much), and found this:
http://angelvest.homestead.com/

Does this look like it would be at all effective? It appears to be so.
My conclusion as to how it works: If the hoop in front of the dog's head touches an object, then that vibration would travel to the vest attached to the dog's upper torso, which in turn would theoretically guide the dog to move away from that spot where the object was.

Can you think of any Pro's or Con's to this thing?

Thanks!~

mrbernz

It would hit the object before the dog. Seems simple enough. It is possible that over time the dog would learn to deal with the disability on its own. They say that the other senses get stronger at the loss of one. So helping him with verbal commands and maybe even scent. Like leaving a trail to its food bowl or something.

Dman

It looks somewhat reasonable to me, depending on how cramped/cluttered your place is you would need to make sure he wouldn't be constantly bumping his halo off stuff.

My parent's dog has lost alot of vision but she isn't bumping her head off stuff.

RUNN1NGMAN

I doubt your dog will ever develop some sort of extrasensory space awareness--the best you could hope for is that, similar to a blind human, she would learn where objects are. If you think about it, that device operates on the same principle as a blind person's cane.

Tube

I read this as blinding a guide dog.

LadyM

Her sense of smell will help her eventually, plus just getting to know where everything is like a blind person does. Needless to say, don't rearrange the furniture if you can help it!

Push Button / Receive Cat

I imagine it will most certainly stop your dog from hurting herself. However, the wait is 4 weeks, and by then she might have already learned to navigate her way around the house. Maybe. It's probably a good thing to try. I don't see any Con's to this contraption.

Trillian

She'll be fine so long as you don't move the furniture on her. All of my old blind dogs managed to get around just fine after a week or two of bumbling around.

starmanbrand

...So I guess I'll be the cold one and ask. You have a blind dog. Why...Don't you put it to sleep?

Fagadaba

Because she ain't suffering. She can still do everything a normal dog can. She can go to sleep and not wake up in a puddle of piss.

EggyToast

The only con is that you could make something yourself out of a harness and some coat hangers or other stiff wire, rather than waiting a month for her to make you one. Buy a harness (which you may already own) and see if you can put something together that won't be pokey and will stay up.

The dog will get more used to being blind, and using that as a guide will be good. The downside of course is that once she gets used to a space, she probably won't need the thing anymore.

Also, since she may be scared from the lack of vision, make sure you speak with her a lot. You may already be doing this, but make sure you're talking or saying something or even just singing or humming to yourself. Make noise. It will likely help guide her around a great deal, using your guide and how it sounds as she (and you) move around, and will probably be soothing as well.

Bliss 101

My aunt had a blind cat who learned to live perfectly well to the point that a casual observer couldn't tell she was blind. They moved to a new house and she still wouldn't bump into things, suggesting some awesome radar sense.

Humans have one primary sense: sight. Cats have two primary senses: sight and hearing. Dogs have sight and olfactory. Cats can, apparently, live perfectly well with only the sense of hearing. Maybe your dog could learn to navigate with the sense of smell alone? This is pure conjecture, but it might be worth a try since it won't cause any harm and costs very little: Get some aromatic substances (commercial eau de toilettes, fish oil, whatever) and dilute them in water (or alcohol) until you can't (or can only barely) smell them (your dog has a million times more accurate sense of smell than you). Dip a towel in the mix and use it to wipe specific surfaces: one smell for wood, one for (whatever your walls are made of), one for leather, etc. Just make everything in your house smell (mildy!) of something. Maybe that'll help her navigate.

Like I said this is pure conjecture, based on my experiences with a blind cat, but I do think your dog should be able to navigate using the sense of smell alone after this (she'd bump into things a few more times until she learns). You'll probably have to wipe the surfaces again every week or so since stuff evaporates.

Zeromus

My uncle once had a blind dog that could still fetch. I'm not really sure what advice to give as it pertains to your situation, but I think there's a good chance your dog will figure things out on its own eventually

Djeet

You could try using a cone, the type you affix around the neck after getting the dog neutered or some other surgery. It would do the same thing and you won't have to wait a month.

Dman

No, my parent's dog gets depressed as hell when you put a cone on her.

It makes it hard for the dog to do alot of things, eating, drinking, going up stairs, nussle you affectionately and so on.

Although, maybe you could get a cone and cut it up till it was just a halo type thing.

EggyToast

Bliss 101 wrote: »

My aunt had a blind cat who learned to live perfectly well to the point that a casual observer couldn't tell she was blind. They moved to a new house and she still wouldn't bump into things, suggesting some awesome radar sense.

That's actually just from having whiskers. That's how cats know they can squeeze into something -- if they can fit their whiskers, they can fit their whole body. Unless they're fat. But yeah, cats are better at being blind because they use their sense of touch much more than dogs do -- whiskers give them a lot of information around their surroundings, and they walk by putting their back foot where their front foot was, so they're less likely to bump into things in general.

Willeth

As long as you keep everything in your house where it currently is, your dog will learn.

ceres

Second the "don't move the furniture" thing. We had a blind dog for a while. She tended to navigate her way around the house basically by bumping gently into things. She would walk at a normal pace, and then slow down when she felt like she was at the point where there would be an object in her path. She would then gently bump against it while turning, using it to guide her trajectory to the next thing. She learned the entire house this way, and lived like that for a number of years.

If you left anything in the hallway, though, she was likely to ram it with full force.

snorepez

Thanks for everyone's keen advice...

I forgot to mention that my dog is also deaf, which makes guiding her using my voice out of the question. But vibrations of my footsteps tend to work sometimes. I'll try catering to her sense of smell by marking the furniture - that sounds like an interesting method.

Trowizilla

Make sure you keep the floor absolutely clear and don't move the furniture. She'll probably adapt just fine. I'd try to keep from having furniture with sharp edges; you could tape some foam over them if you don't have a choice about keeping them.

Also, be careful when you touch her if she's not expecting it. Not to say that your dog would intentionally hurt you, but she might react badly out of startlement. Try walking a little heavier when you come up to her and, when you're petting her, try to keep your hands touching her as you move them around so she knows where you are.

Magus`

Get him a seeing eye dog. He'll have a guide AND a friend.

Basar

Hmmm very sorry about the vision loss

My grandparents had a blind dog and he had zero problems navigating but your's is also deaf, which may be a little more complicated. I suggest you still go ahead with the linked angelvest. If your dog gets used to the situation before it arrives, you can just post it for sale on a few of the million pet forums.

Good luck.

FyreWulff

I'd probably get at least some eye protection for the dog in the meantime, whatever you do.

EggyToast

Actually it's good that you mentioned she's deaf, too -- I have a bunch of suggestions for dealing with deaf animals, but not blind ones, so now those are useful!

Yes, use your feet to make different vibrations to teach your dog what's going on. When it's time for food, stomp your foot a set number of times. When you want to, say, give her belly rubs, stomp quickly or just once. You'll figure something out, but she'll definitely feel the floor vibrations when you stomp with your heel. If she's close by and you want to say you're near, you can rub your toe or foot across the ground, or tap gently with your toe.

If you spend some time with her, you should be able to devise a pretty good communication system with her using just her sense of touch with the ground.