What would you do?

[prosefullstop]

While continuing our extensive search for Stella's new buddy, I came across this dog that's listed with a local rescue.

How do you feel about this? To me, it's pretty shocking at first, but the dog seems attentive and relaxed on the video. Curious to hear other opinions.

Dog with no eyes

 

[_Acolyte_]

My initial thought was that I would have PTS - but then I saw the pic, read the blurb, and thought actually, why would I

There are plenty of dogs who go blind in later life who lead very happy and active lives...

I think it would depend on quality of life for me, if the dog was happy and in a comfortable environment where it knew where things were then no reason why it should not be happy? Just a shame it had to end up in rescue

 

[prosefullstop]

My reaction was pretty much the same. Actually, I've met a dog with no eyes before, a pekingese mix that happily mingled and played at the dog park much like any other pup. I recoiled a bit when I first saw the dog, but soon got over it when he wagged his tail and shoved his skull into my leg to be petted.

I might, however, be tempted to add some doggles for public outings re: the dog in question

 

[Skhosu]

Its strange to look at but if she was born blind then she's known no different and in a good home it should all work out ok.

 

[Oneofthepack]

I remember being upset when a friend told me her neighbour had a cat with no eyes and thought it was really cruel but then I don't feel particularly sorry for blind people in the sense that they lead full and real lives so an animal should be able to cope fine in the right home. She looks like a real sweetie too

Not tempted are you?

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

Ahh bless her!

As she knows know different I guess she has adapted to life like this and once she is familiar with her surroundings I'm sure she would be fine. I bet other dogs in her 'pack' would look after her too.

Hope she finds a nice home with lots of cuddles.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Personally, when I f. ex. almost 15 years ago found out that something was wrong with a kitten that we had, as I recall he was only about 3 months old, he was euthanized. For me it is not much about there being healthy animals needing a home in the rescues, to me it is first, last and mostly in between too about my responsibilities towards that animal. F. ex. about the risk of suffering further on in it's life due to the condition and about its chances for a good, "normal" life.


Personally it's different for me with a dog that have been able to see, having learned that there's furnitures, things standing in the way before they go blind and a puppy being born blind, that I presume has to learn the hard way (if they can?), that there's objects that might stand in their way.



In the text it does say "Watch me working with my trainer at" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mrWTWtw_vY , but all I saw was a standing dog sniffing the floor in front of her for about the first 5 seconds and from 10 seconds into the video and to the end, it's about her sitting and learning that click = treat. And on all the three photos of her on the site, she is lying down.
I mean okay, she can lie and sleep/rest on a bed, are capable of sitting down, smell food/treats and can be taught to react on hearing a click. So what? Since she's blind, if I was considering giving her a home, I would f. ex. be more interested in seeing how she walks around in a room, how much furnitures there was in that room etc.



The text on the site says the bitch was born blind, but gives no clues about if the breeder have sold her, given her away or how she ended up in the rescue, but the fact is that at 2 years and 5 months of age she is in a rescue. Now I know that other dogs much younger than that, have and will continue to end up in rescues and that there's all sorts of reasons why they end up there etc.

But regardless of that, I wonder where this dogs breeder is? The breeder that either made the decision to not euthanize the puppy when it was discovered she was blind or didn't find out before selling her that she had been blind since birth.

 

[Skhosu]

sorry but I disagree, but I may be being oversensitive owning a dog that is going blind, and only if her quality of life deteriorates will we consider drastic measures such as PTS.
A blind child learns how to maneouever, a blind dog does have whiskers don't forget, and all her other senses, so long as she is not distressed by it I can see no reason to pts.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I've had old dogs that has lost their night vision and one started to have poor eyesight at daytime too, but something else turned up acutely before she got blind that meant the end. And some time ago when Prose's Stella had her eye-injury and she worried that Stella might lose the sight on both eyes, my advise to her was to take it a little calm and see what happened, because I know of seeing dogs that has gone blind and continued having a good life.
But this bitch is said to have been blind since birth and to me that is different (feels a little strange to me typing it, since all puppies are blind until about between first and second week).


Personally the comparison between blind child and blind puppy doesn't work. F. ex. blind children that I've seen usually could use a hand and arm stretched out in front of them to feel their way and considering the distance between a child's hand and arm stretched out respective a puppy's whiskers, before their head so to say "reaches" an object, they don't sound quite equivalent to me.

Either way, my reply wasn't meant to say what I think they should do now, by the text, photos or video I f. ex. couldn't get an idea about if she could learn to walk around freely in my home without distress, which to me would be one of the things I would want to know before saying what I think the rescue should do with her now.
I thought my reply mainly was about the breeders responsibilities for this bitch now being in a rescue.


Regardless if we disagree about euthanizing a blind puppy, what do you think of the breeder?
Personally I believe this bitch is in the rescue because it is blind, to me there would only have been two options if one of Jonna's puppies had been blind, euthanizing or keeping, this breeder did neither. They have either given her away or sold her, they made the decision to let her live being blind and now she's in a rescue.

 

[Skhosu]

Ok

we'll agree to differ in opinion.
Re: the breeder, absoloute disgrace imo, no way should she have been sent anywhere that wasn't cast iron home/return (I'm thinking eg close family/friends. or kept.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

As others have said many times, it would be a boring world if everyone always agreed about everything

. And after all we seem to agree about the breeder.


Since it doesn't sound as if there is much to do about your dogs eyesight, I hope it goes as well as it can with him/her going blind.

 

[Skhosu]

nope, mine is Progressive retinal atrophy, sounds like what one of yours had, already blind in the night and going in the day, its fairly heartbraking watching her make her little deviations at night to avoid the steps etc. but she does have a doggy 'brother'(not literally) who she follows to steal the stick off

Absoloutely agree re: opinions, something about I may not agree but I defend your right to say it
p.s-pmsl at your siggy

 

[GinaB]

One of my old dogs was blind. In fact it was the original 'Tina' (all our dogs are named after my grandas old dogs, hence I have a Tina who funnily enough only has one eye and is developing a cataract)

She did have full eyesight and worked as a gundog, however went totally blind when older (I am too young to remember the cause, be it cataracts or whatever)
We owned her mother Cindy as well and they were glued together. Tina would have rested her head along Cindys back or tail and just followed her that way or if she was with one of us she laid her nose in your hand and walked like that so you had to have your arm down and your hand turned back to support her nose. She coped brilliantly

Both Cindy and Tina were PTS on the same night.

Back to current Tina - my vet has said that if she loses sight in the other eye he would strongly recommend euthanasia. In fact, seems to think it would be cruel to keep her alive. She is 10 now so I'm hoping the cataract doesn't form fully in her remaining years. I can't stand the thought of losing this dog.

 

[prosefullstop]

Before Stella's accident, I honestly thought that blindness was a death sentence for every dog. But some dogs do cope with losing their vision tremendously well. I'm still stunned by these videos of Lucy the JRT.

As far as the dog with no eyes goes, I delved a bit deeper. The dog was originally a stray, then found and adopted from this organisation (at this point the dog had one eye, but no vision in it). Then its new family moved to a no-dogs building, which is when the dog found itself back at Bideawee. At that point they realised that the dog had primary glaucoma, and took the remaining eye out because it was causing intense pain. Given that the dog was a stray, and no-one realised it was completely blind at first, it probably copes quite well with its disability.

 

[BBH]

I wouldn't worry at all tbh, I really hope these special dogs find special homes as they have been through so much already.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I admit that your reply Prose, filled my head with more questions. She was found as a stray, but does that mean they think she was born as a stray or is it just what she was when she was found? Do they think she was born without one eye, if not when, how did she lose her first eye? And I could go on, but by the way I don't expect you to come up with the answers to me Prose, I'm just pondering.



I followed your Lucy the JRT link, now I'm probably being picky here, but I admit that seeing the text towards the top of the page saying <font color="blue">"Where dogs *see* with their hearts!"</font> didn't get my expectations up so to say. The videos downloaded and sometimes also played a little slow for me so I only looked at three of them, but together with the photos of Lucy (that you can see if you click on her name on the site) I think it gave me a much better idea of her everyday life possibilities, than the photos and the video of the blind rescue dog.
And that was my point about the rescue's photos and video from the start, that to me they didn't present their blind rescue dog in a way that made me feel I could judge her possibilities to live with me in my home. Which since she's in a rescue looking for a new home, I felt was of some importance.