Straydog UPDATE posted TUESDAY 4/15/03 at ~9:30 p.m. CT

Pat's Daily Dog Log

TUESDAY APRIL 15 2003

Blind Puppy Chubs and his seeing-eye sister, Cassie, will have visitors this Saturday afternoon for a possible two-dog adoption!

      How wonderful is this news! Kathy and her husband have been followers of our website and have been keeping up to date on the stories of Chubs and Cassie, two little puppy-dogs who have stolen their hearts. Last Saturday the couple stopped at our Adoption Day and talked with Guy about the puppies (who remain at our shelter on Adoption Days). The couple mentioned to Guy how their hearts had gone out to the pups because of Chubs being blind, and they thought it is wonderful that his sister, Cassie, is his little seeing-eye buddy, and therefore they knew the two puppies would need to be adopted together, and they wanted to adopt them both. They felt that they could give the siblings all the love and attention they would need and, of course, any extra special care that Chubs might need.

      During these last few days Kathy and I have exchanged a few email messages, and I told her all about the pups, and answered the questions she and her husband were having concerning Chubs (because he is blind). His care in the household is mainly a little extra common sense type of care: keep everything in the house in the same place (just as you would do for a blind person). Chubs will bump into things in the house as he learns his way around, but he bumped into things in his kennel here too, and he learned quickly where everything is. Chubs will soon learn his way around his new home too. He is such a happy-go-lucky little puppy. He doesn't even know he is blind, and he takes everything in stride.

      There would be the training involved in going up and down steps, and of course the house potty training for both pups, but this training is a normal occurrence for any new puppy in any household.

      Taking Chubs and Cassie out in public will involve a little more training for Chubs. He will need to hear his mom and dad as they walk. What we do here, whether in the kennel with the pups or when taking Chubs and Cassie to the big, fenced, play yard, is to talk constantly to Chubs as we walk, or jog around the yard, as Caregiver Joel does with the pups.

      Sometimes in the big play yard Chubs will run along beside us as he follows our voices, and sometimes he prefers to dash off, especially when he hears his sister splashing around in the play yard "swimming pool" beneath the big shade tree, and he'll jump right in and go for a swim with Cassie.

      If the new mom and dad like walking the pups in the neighborhood, they could put on shoelaces that have bells on them. Walking the same route over and over again will be helpful for Chubs too. He will develop a mental map of the walks if they go the same route every time. Routine and schedule, we believe, are a very important part of a blind dog's life.

      "Teaching" Chubs how to meet new people is important and can be done with "key words" to let Chubs know someone new is approaching him. This will be no big deal for Chubs tho, because he loves everyone.

      But Kathy and her husband will have to be careful when other folks approach Chubs and Cassie with a dog Chubs is unacquainted with, and they will have to have "key words" for letting Chubs know a "new" dog is approaching. Chubs will have no visual way of knowing if the other dog is friendly or not friendly, so Kathy and her husband must be the ones to quickly make this decision before the dog gets close to Chubs, and they will have to ask the owner of the other dog if their pooch is friendly or not friendly. They will need to protect Chubs from harm because he will not be able to tell visually whether the other dog is displaying aggressive behavior or friendly behavior.

      This has never been a problem for me when I've been at the vets with Chubs and Cassie. If I'm in the waiting room with the pups and people come to me with their dog loosely on his leash, I simply say, "Chubs is blind and can't see your dog. Is your fellow friendly?" Or if I feel that a big dog, or any dog (even though friendly) may make Chubs feel threatened, I simply ask the person to please keep her or his dog away from Chubs because he is blind and sometimes gets confused when other dogs come near him. Everyone has always understood, and we end up sitting several seats away from each other having a friendly conversation about out pets.

      Living with a blind dog is no big deal. It just takes common sense type of care.

How exciting for the pups!

      We are so happy for these precious pups and are looking forward to the visit of the possible adopters this Saturday.