My blind jindo/german shepard mix foster puppy

[Joylyn]

Hi, I recently fostered a pregnant Jindo mix, about to be put to sleep at a high kill shelter. She had 8 puppies, 7 of which survived. The puppies are now 4 1/2 months old and all but one have found a home. Two of the pups were blind. Hera, a female, who had some sight, went to a wonderful home. Zeus, however, is still with us. To be honest, I'm thinking of keeping him. He was neutered on Thursday and the entire experience freaked him out. The vet did a horrible job in helping him deal with the surgery and his blindness. He became aggressive and they wouldn't even remove him from his cage. When I got there, I went back and he growled, very seriously, at me, and then I said his name, and he realized it was me and he just sunk to the floor in relief. He came gently with me, as did his brother, Sirius, whom we are keeping. However, he's having a VERY hard time with the collar which is designed to prevent him from messing with his stitches. He loves his crate, he feels safe there, but in the collar outside, he runs into everything (so does Sirius, but it's different.) It's like the collar prevents him from using his ears and nose and whiskers. We only have a few more days of this, but it's still tough. Also, company will come over and he'll be fine with them, and then he will forget they are there or something, and they move or he gets their scent again or something and he barks at them like he's never meet them. He does the same thing at dog parks. I'm thinking that he just needs to be with us forever, which means I need to figure out how to help him learn to be comfortable everywhere. Also, two big dogs (Sirius is supposed to get to be about 80 pounds, Zeus probably 60-70), well, I wasn't really counting on that--mom was only 35 pounds fully pregnant! I had a sheltie, Jasmine, who was blind her last few years, and it wasn't a problem.. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

[Christine]

Welcome Joylyn!

Bless your heart for what you are doing. You have no idea what a perfect place you have stumbled upon....Karen Anderson is our resident deaf/blind expert and will have one on one information for you. Take a look at the stickies under the Blind and Deaf Pets forum until then. It might help you come up with even more questions.

You can tell from your post that this baby has bonded with you, trusts you and that is the biggest hurdle. Once that collar is not an issue, you can get down to business giving him a routine, building his confidence and making him finally feel secure. You are already ahead of the game by having previously owned a blind pup.

We love pictures around here!

[critters]

I would ditch the e-collar and see what happens; unlike many vets, I never assume a critter will need them. Handicappers can be put off their stride by such things far more than an able-bodied critter.

[Joylyn]

Many years ago, I had a Sheltie who had fatty tumors removed from her chest, she had maybe 6-7 fatty tumors removed--most were smallish but one or two were 3-5 inches long... I put her in 4 or so tshirts, pinned them tightly around her chest, middle, etc, and thought that would keep her safe. The next morning, the morning of an important final exam in college, mind you, I woke up to find she had managed to take off all the shirts, and remove every single stitch and I saw more of her insides than I wanted to see. To this day, that horror has not left my memory. I rushed her to her vet, where the vet put her under again and restitched her, and we left with an e-collar AND a note to my professor on why I missed the final. I was allowed to make up the final, and the prof was pretty amused at my excuse note--he said it was the first one he ever got from a vet! So I'm a bit worried about taking the e-collar off too soon. I think maybe by Wednesday. I'll look again closely at night. Wednesday will be 7 days and the self dissolving stitches should be in pretty good shape by then, and the wound pretty healed.
Joyyn

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Socialization and comfort levels are the most important thing for a blind pup. A blinddog in the wild is a dead dog in the wild. Get on floor with pup and crawl around slapping furniture, doorways, etc., saying owie. Avoid the startle response at all costs. Jingle bell your shoes and other pets. Read the stickies in this forum, sorry I'm rushed, I have to get on the road right now, but your baby will adapt beautifully, with good foundation. What's a Jindo? Does it have dilute?

[sdrakkan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Jindo_Dog

Rare dogs in the US, I have only ever met one.

[Joylyn]

That photo looks JUST like the mom, but mom was obviously a mix because she was smaller and didn't meet breed "specifications." She was wonderful, though, if a bit, well, loose, as her litter had four dads. One was a Shepard, one dad was a golden, one was another Jindo mix or cream color retriever or something similar, and the other one, well, only she knows. You can go to facebook, and go to dogs without borders facebook page, and then find the puppies photos, including the blind one. I'll try to post a few photos on here too.

Joylyn, who is trying to get ready to go out of town...

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

The colors don't resemble any dilute I have exp. with but there is a world I''m not familiar with. The light tan and th white may be a clue. But your baby will develop quite well with a good start. Lot's of cuddling, you are thecomfort zone,and mapping.

[Joylyn]

Jindos can be multiple colors, although the white/cream ones are the prized ones. They have very interesting traits. They are hunting dogs and will often go after cats and other small animals, and in fact the mother did attack our cat. They are very much a one family dog, and are slow to warm up to others. Our blind dog, Zeus, has that trait, although we have introduced him, and all the puppies, to our cat, and they are now cat friendly. Jindos can be red, black, brown, sable, etc. I think because Zeus has that Jindo trait of not trusting strangers, that it's going to make his life harder being a blind dog.

Joylyn

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

This is where you amp up the comfort zone. LOTS of silly play, LOTS of fun sing-song in a high-pitched voice, using his name every other word. My AllicksBlindPup has 100 times the energy level of any dog I have ever come across. she tested HIGH for agility I tested low. She is touch and verbal trained. She unfortunately has turned exremely dangerous and canine aggressive, but she turns inside out in delight for humans. Lots of constant socialization at an early age is so important. If you have a puppyschool you can enroll pup in, that is almost essential. Allicks started school at 3 months. She quickly got used to strange people and dogs coming up to her, although no one touched her until I told them to let her know they were there, by saying her name. Whispering isfun for a blind pup because it heightens their listening trigger. But songs and touch are so important. Get pup out now in fun stimulating situations but don't let anyone startle him.

[MysweetdogCharley]

I recently adopted a blind mix and he's incredibly smart. Wanted to tell you when he was young, he was taken to a dog park and not introduced correctly, since he was blind, while very strong, being blind made him the weakest and he was pounced numerous times. He is now very fear aggressive and we are slowly but surely trying to fix that. We put a muzzle on him and have him sniff the butts of the neighboring dogs so that he knows they are friends and not there to attack. So please, please, please be very careful with your pup in the dog park.

Other things that have been helpful are scents and sounds. He has a "room" that we constantly play music (the classical station on the radio) so he always knows how to navigate back to his room. We also scent "his" stuff with lavender and chamomile - there is a spray you can buy at PetSmart. It's helped a lot with him knowing what's "his" and what's not. We also scent his "spots" - so for instance, we scented a corner of our rug in the living room. That's his spot to lay in, he just sniffs it out.

Things that have been helpful in training him to not run into things are "step" and "careful" - his last foster trained him to know a step is coming by saying "Step" and he high steps so he doesn't trip and fall face first into curbs or stairs. We also practice by going up and down different stairs (we live in a new community where houses are being built) - he started out "nosing" up and down them and now he, bounds up a set of stairs like it's nothing. The other word "careful" we use when he's about to run into something. This does a couple things.. 1. stops him from slamming into walls and 2. builds trust so that he knows we're watching out for him. So back to the stairs example, going up... no problem, we start, we say step, step, step, and by the 4th one, he was going. Coming down, that first drop is scary so we say caaaaaareful and he knows to kind of inch towards it. So if he's running around (we have eased him into walking "off leash" but bc he's blind, he stays withing ear distance) and knows when we say careful, that means he's about to run into something that won't feel good. So those are the two we use most and they are so helpful in keeping him safe... which is huge in building trust.

The big thing we learned is building his confidence is key, so when he learns new things, BIG, excited "GOOD BOY" and he has become so much more confident than when we first got him. Oh.. and bathing... start from the feet and go up so they know what's coming. Even when we take him to get washed, we tell the groomer that and that way when water sprays down on his face, he's not shocked

Good luck... you are going to LOVE having this pup!

[Ronald]

Dehydrated diets are also good one for small dogs. Although they are on the higher priced end of dog foods. They are exceptional in their quality and only require measuring out and being mixed with water. It contains enough nutritions and other minerals which are good for small dogs specially.
So its for the owners that Dehydrates must be the part of small dog's food either its German Shepherd or not.