dog people, input needed

cliffs at bottom

my 8 year old pup ellie(named after the 'Eleanor'mustang cause shes fast and low). got her when she was 10-12 weeks old.
hands down the best dog ive ever had. if i could i would clone her and have one of her forever.

my girl has been diabetic since February. over the last few weeks we started noticing that she cant catch as well. took her to the vet today and says that diabetic cataracts might be forming(i believe yes).
he told us the disturbing news that they form even with proper blood sugar control and he has seen them develop in 2 week. even with this she is very healthy and active and i she many more years with her.

i am research thing that can help her vision any info would be helpful and preparing for the wcs by trying to re arrange stuff to make it easier moving with possible bad vision in the future .

after seeing many stories online about it happening naturally(neat stories if you want some reading). i am wondering about training a seeing eye dog for her.

my thought is getting a young (3 month or less) female lab pup and raising it with her hoping for kinda maternal attachment and caring to develop. i would have her go through obedience school to help her ability to be trained to do stuff like hold a door open and a go find ellie command or

does sound like it might work, do think i can them to bond or is this just something that happens?


cliffs: dogs possibly going blind, want raise lab pup to be her seeing eye dog.

Tough situation to be in. Sorry to hear it. I would not know what to do in your situation.

Give it a try - just make sure you have the time to do all that training !


PS: I would do just about anything for my GSD so seems reasonable to me

200 - I would give it a try; dogs can do just about anything with the proper training. I have four 100lb American bulldogs that are family members not pets I completely understand trying anything. Good luck and keep us up to date on your situation.

My dog is also diabetic, we found that out 2 years ago. She's also had four lumps of cancer removed. I'm in to this dog for over $6,000 at this point so I think you know my answer. I'd do whatever it takes to keep my dog happy for as long as I can. Sadie is the best dog I've ever been around. I'm not too sure you'll need a seeing eye dog for your dog though. I have a friend whos dog went blind, it got along just fine for 3 years beefore old age took it.

Our dogs have been part of our family for 30 plus years. Mostly female labs, but a couple of heniez in the mix.Six or so were akc labs and the other were rescues. Most of the time there where always two. When ther was only one she got a new sister pretty quickly. In every case the older dog hated the puppy for a hour or so ( ok a day or two) but always became sisters after that. One of the rescues was blind the other deaf. One of them had two sisters here. In every case they grew close quickly and helped each other like people should. The rescues were probally the best of the lot. Just to consider a rescure. Mine were always well trained ( i WASNT) skipped the puppy stage with us.

Lost both my last girls last spring. The kids 26&31 talked me into two new pups yellow & black. Lucy & Pepper. WOW

Thier both doing great and are about 16 mos. old now. They almost have me trained...lol

Just some thoughts.. The more people I meet the more I love my dogs.

River

Dogs are amazing creatures that adapt to their situations very well.

The dog I had growing up was a very good dog. When she was about 12 or 13 we started to notice that she stumbled some and would occasionally run into your leg if walking and stopped quickly. She was still chasing squirrels and fetching her tennis balls but something was just not right.

Long story short, vet said she had probably been blind for a couple of years at that point.

She knew where everything in the yard was and just followed her nose and ears. We did have to be careful with parking cars in the driveway and yard though. It was funny to watch her run down the driveway and go around an empty spot where a car was normally parked. Every now and then if something was parked where it shouldn't be she would run into it or skid going around it when chasing squirrels.

She lived another few years blind as a bat but never slowed down.

My uncle had a GSD that was stomped by a horse as a puppy and lost its sight. He had that dog for many, many years and it was a very good dog but couldn't see a thing.

I don't know that your dog would need a seeing eye dog honestly.

Sorry to learn of your little buddy's trouble. I don't know if you will find this useful, but, I did a little looking and came across a set of instructions for a homemade collar for a blind dog that helps keep it from running into things. Uses a car "curb feeler" approach. Here's the plans.....

https://www.blindbuddy.info/Blind Dog Collar Plans.pdf

Good luck with whatever you do to help him.

DocWatson said:

Sorry to learn of your little buddy's trouble. I don't know if you will find this useful, but, I did a little looking and came across a set of instructions for a homemade collar for a blind dog that helps keep it from running into things. Uses a car "curb feeler" approach. Here's the plans.....

https://www.blindbuddy.info/Blind Dog Collar Plans.pdf

Good luck with whatever you do to help him.

Click to expand...

Doc...THAT is an amazing idea. Great find.

200.....Good luck, and please keep us posted. My only advice would be that you talk to a couple trainers that might have experience with this sort of thing. Even a trainer that teaches seeing eye dogs.......they might have all the answers you need.

My GF's dog is now totally blind. it was a slow process but at the dog's age, my GF believes that the dog couldn't survive an eye operation as she also has other health issues. The dog is still able to sniff and bump her way around the house and still is able to use the doggie door. The funniest part is trying to clean her face after eating (no nose to speak of) before she makes a racing stripe on the wall.

thanks guys,. good to here the stories of dog doing good while blind. i will keep the lab idea in mind but give her a chance to adapt. if any dog can adjust its this smart little booger.

Sorry to hear about that, 200. I know she will adjust! My chocolate lab mix is about the best dog I have ever had too, so I can relate to what you are going through. Little rascals get into your heart... Keep us posted.

she doing good. i made her rattle tennis balls yesterday. i cut the ball just enough to put a empty bic pen tube in then put a dozen bb's in. then hot glued the hole shut. she still does fine with the regular ball i just want her accustomed to it if her vision gets worse.

Hey 200 - I am so sorry to hear about Ellie's troubles. That link Doc put up is very cool. Just to add to other stories here though...we had a minpin that was blind and he got around great. I was always amazed at how fast he would run around the house. Every once in a while he might run into something but he would just shake it off and take off again.

When I see threads like this it always makes me want to know all of you guys better -- you like to fish and you love your dogs --very good people here.

We will keep Ellie in our prayers that everything works out for you guys. [-o< [-o< [-o<