Blind Dogs

This is our late Cleo both eyes removed due to glaucoma. This was her costume for the Big Dog Parade held in Santa Barbara. BTW she never bumped into anything. Most people did not even know she was blind.

Here is another of Blind Cleo with her brother Chulo who is now blind from cataracts, they were out visiting the Humane Society for a photo shoot with Santa. Note Cleo had one prosthetic eye and one sewn shut.
If there was no quality of life, if there was no way for them to get around, she sure would not be out and about. Cleo also went camping blind, and also experienced and camped in snow for the first time after losing her vision. She got around just fine.

Our guy Charlie was blind and he loved life. His favorite word was "walk" He loved his food, and he loved having his belly rubbed. He "learned" the house and rarely got confused. And when he did we would set him right and off he would go.

I will send you pics of Sierra having a quality of life. She did and really enjoyed her time with us. She rarely banged the walls or bumped into things and had the house and yard perfectly mapped after a week or so with us. She was with us for 9 months and it was her heart that gave out finally. It was in bad shape when she came to us. She played with us, barked and wrestled, loved to visit with company and friends, was very pleasant to the other dogs and went to the back door on her own to go out to pee. The only time she would run into things is when WE would move something in the house and she didn't know it was there. When we would take her out in the yard, clap our hands and she would run and play. Her tail wagged all of the time and yes, she did love to eat, but I have three sighted dogs who love to eat too. She adored my son who is in the military and when he would come home on leave, she would smell him and hear his voice and when he squatted down in the living room to talk to her, she bowled him over and played with him, then climbed up on the bed and slept with him, and she never slept on the bed with Angie or I much. She would sleep in my room on her warm doggie bed. What more does a dog want than a kind word, pat on the head, their peoples attention, someone to play with occasionally and a good tummy rub, snuggle in our laps and lots of good eats? She had all of that and was happy the day she died. The reason some blind dogs don't have a quality of life is because their OWNERS don't give them the quality of life possible for them because it does take a little extra work on the owners part to take them out, walk them and mostly talk to them. They don't play with the dog or pay much attention to them at all and extra attention is needed, because they can't see everything we are doing like the sighted dogs can, but they can be involved in every activity the other dogs do and she followed us from room to room, took her a little longer, but she always got there. The only activity she couldn't do was go with us on horseback rides and follow the horses like the queenslands do, but Betsey couldn't do that either. I totally agree with you, it is a bunch of crap and many blind dogs are being destroyed because of that opinion. I adopted a great Dane when I was about 20, she had a blind brother in the pound with her and I wanted to adopt the pair, I nor a rescue could adopt the little male and he was destroyed because he was blind, although he was perfectly playing with his sister and a happy little guy. Quality of life was quoted as one of the reasons for that. Please feel free to add Sierra or any info about her to your page. Thanks, Mary...................Leslie

This is a picture of Callie Sue. She is a 10 year old blind Insulin dependant diabetic dog. She was dumped in our area shelter several months ago. She lives here with me and with 17 other dogs, some special needs as well. She has learned the lay out of the house and yard. She independently uses the dog door and patrols the yard. With and without the other pups. She is a feisty, funny girl. She loves her toys and follows my voice all around. She does not bump into anything in her familiar environment. She enjoys her life and her buddies. She is a joy. She even comes and jumps up when I say " Callie Sue it is time for your shot". Which I do twice a day. then she puts her head back for her eye drops...She has a wonderful quality life. as do most blind dogs that are given half a chance. It is people that worry about disabilities...not pups!!!

Hi Mary!
I can't believe someone that does "rescue" would think this about blind dogs! You are more than welcome to use any of the pictures of Lucy from my www.blinddogs.net web site (there is even one of Lucy watching TV, AND jumping into the air while she is doing it...
blind :-) You are also welcome to use or link to any of the videos there. There are pictures of Lucy playing up at:
www.dogster.com/?81610

Thanks, and here are some pics of Josephine doing her funny little things. Wish I had better ones, but this is it.

He's blind but doesn't know it. He's amazing at home. He was adopted by my friend Gwenn and I'm his aunt. You can not tell he's blind. He plays with toys harasses you while you eat and sleeps at the foot of the bed. His owner used to beat him causing him to go blind. He's a little doll. thanks
Maybe that woman should have a talk with Stevie Wonder. J

I have a Lab (Daisy) who was blind in one eye injury/disease & has had that eye removed. She also has eye disease in the remaining eye but still has some sight. She is just a year old Labrador that we rescued & was fostering till she STOLE our HEART!!! She had been left at a high kill shelter in Indiana, deserted by her "family". She now is a permanent family member along with our two sighted labs. We have all had to learn about what to & not to do to make life easier for her such as, not moving things around. We have an acre that is fenced in that she has free run of & that she does RUN,RUN,RUN! Daisy also enjoys going to work with me, at a center for adults with disabilities. She is the light of our life, the most loving dog we have ever run across! I always say, "She is happy, to be able to have the chance, to LOVE the WORLD!" For the most part she is treated like the rest of our labs. We do take extra care when we are out in unfamiliar areas & in "school" she is learning a few extra commands, to help us, help her. We feel she was brought into our life for a reason, to complete our family! Here are a few pics of her. Karen