Re: [pyrnet] Limited Sight Advice

Jascha is nearly blind as well as somewhat deaf. We knew about his ears but didn't realize his eyes were as bad as they are until this week. He went to the usual groomer who he knows well (and who adores him) for a bath and trim but kept walking into the walls. I took him tho the vet because this was so extreme and so sudden. We all decided that he has cataracts and some retina damage, but had managed to get around pretty well by memory until we got him disoriented by going to a different place. He has been unable to get into my car unassisted for over a year but I had thought that was simply arthritis (of which he has a lot in this back and hips). Now it seems that he couldn't see to jump in so he would let me pick up the front half, then the back half and guide him in. We reconstructed the back steps this week end to make a more gradual incline for his hips and he could not walk down the steps until the combination of cheese on each step and a bladder about to burst gave him the necessary gumption. I am sure I would not step off a secure deck without a very good reason either! It was quite a sight to see him following his nose to the cheese and discovering the location of each step as he went. By now he has made the trip several times and it seems like he knows it. The vet says many dogs get along just fine when blind as long as no one moves the furniture. Does any one have any other suggestions to make this as easy on the dog as possible?