I am a huge animal lover, and I always have been. I was ecstatic when I finally convinced my mom to let my brother and I get our first dog 8 years ago. She is a spoiled little black toy poodle named Sophie. Aside from being a princess, she is a loyal companion that unconditionally loves every member of our family. Unfortunately, she was recently diagnosed with a heartbreaking disorder called sudden acquired retinal degeneration syndrome or SARDS. The condition caused my dog to go blind. There are a lot of complications and health concerns that can occur in dogs, just as with humans. We are lucky that her condition was not something more serious, but living life with a blind dog can be a little tricky.
Sophie is relatively young and still very healthy in all other aspects. This presents a challenge, because she still wants to go for walks, play fetch, and do all of the fun things she could before losing her vision. In order to compensate for her vision impairment, my family invested in toys that make noises so that she can follow the sound instead. This way, she can still enjoy the same activities.
Another big concern when Sophie went blind was her safety. We were all very worried about her running into furniture and wall corners or even falling down the steps. Dogs are pretty incredible creatures and they can memorize their territories, so thankfully Sophie knows most of the twists and turns of the house. However, if we change the position of anything in the house or we set something in the middle of a hallway, she always runs straight into it. They make head gear for blind dogs to prevent serious injuries when they run into objects, but we did not have the heart to make her look so pitiful. Instead, we do our best to keep the pathways clear and keep a close eye on her.
We have an electric fence at the house, which helps to keep her contained. However, she still tends to wonder around the yard a lot more now than she did before, because she can’t see the yard boundaries. The electric fence collar gives her a beeping warning when she is approaching a boundary, but she can still get disoriented. We have to really watch her when she goes outside to ensure she doesn’t wander into our neighbors yard or even worse in the street.
It is really sad knowing that my dog never gets to see the smile she puts on my face any more. But, I know that she still enjoys belly rubs, attention, and playing just as much as she did before. Despite the fact that we have to keep a slightly closer eye on her, she is still the same energetic pup that we love dearly.