Rehoming a blind dog

[Littlebee76]

I'm rehoming a blind dog this week along with his life long soul mate !
And just wondered if anyone has any tips for getting him settled in to our home and helping him as even tho I've always had dogs, I've never had any experience with blind dogs.
Can't wait to give all my love to these gorgeous dogs though!

[Lovepancakes]

Oh I hope it goes so well! I'm sorry I don't have any advice but I hope you will be given tips to help him. (My instinct would be to keep him in one room initially with not too much he could bump into? and introduce him more slowly unless he seems confident to the rest of the house?

[daisygirlmac]

We have a blind dog who we rehomed a couple of years ago. How old is yours? And how blind? Ours could see a bit when he came to us but now can't see at all. There are a few things which worked for us -
Water - ours really really struggled to find his water bowl for about a week so we put a drop of milk in it so he could sniff it out
No stuff on the floor for him to bash into and just let him bash into furniture and doors at first, highly unlikely he will hurt himself (ours never has and he likes to go everywhere at speed!) and he will learn the location of your furniture. Don't move the furniture!
Stairs: my dog can't do them. At all. He doesn't have any concept of how to get up or down safely so block them off/keep doors shut
When training we found ours won't follow a treat so we have totally failed to teach him to sit. However he will come to us, his recall is great and he knows to get in his bed when told.
Walks - see how he does. Ours was quite happy initially bumbling along close to us not on the lead but when he totally lost his sight he started to get v stressed if he couldn't hear us. I quite often walk him and witter to him all the way round, it makes you look a bit peculiar to other dog walkers
Be careful with things like grooming, it takes a lot of time for my dog to get used to new things/ways of touching him/administering meds etc because he just doesn't know what you're doing. He also hates being picked up!

Sorry that was such an epic post, what breed is your dog? It's very exciting! I will also need a pic, obviously!

[GinIsIn]

My family have a blind dog - stairgates are a really good idea, as is always putting their water and food in the same place, and making sure not to move the furniture. Make sure you have really clear voice commands for everything you want them to learn as they wont pick up any other cues. I recommend cheese as a treat as they can always smell it. Normally I hate them, but an extendy lead is a great idea - they can get a bit bewildered if they don't have that connection to guide them but this still allows them some freedom on a walk. Good luck!

[GinIsIn]

Just realised I've essentially repeated what daisy said

[daisygirlmac]

fen we have an extendy lead for ours, despite both of us saying we would never have one for any dog ever it does help him though, he's a lot more confident on it

[Jaimx86]

Daisy, you sound so lovely. The amount of work you put into making your rescue pup happy brought a tear to my eye.

[daisygirlmac]

I've just thought of another one re treats, watch your hands!! Ours lunges for treats because he's not 100% sure where it is so flat hand is a must otherwise you get your fingers nibbled. I won't let anyone else give him anything from their hands as he might nip without meaning to

[daisygirlmac]

Aw thanks Jaim

[Resideria]

No advice, but how wonderful are you!

[Littlebee76]

Wow you are lovely people!
I'm super excited to get my new dogs and just want to do the very best I can so your tips are brilliant!
Thank you!!
I will post a picture of our family once they are here!

[user1471453908]

Good luck with your new dogs! When our old blind girl was still alive, we found the following helped -
Food and water beside a wall (they tend to walk alongside walls), and obviously try not to move things.
We put a drop of something smelly (e.g. peppermint oil) at each side of the doorway to outside.
I used verbal instructions outside when she was on her flexi-lead and we approached a kerb etc - "steady", "step down/up".
We had one particular walk with a narrow path with "sides" of gorse and grass and she could navigate that happily off-lead.
Check the eyes regularly in case of any corneal scratches (eyes running and sometimes seem a bit sore = straight to the vet in my opinion for that.)

[villainousbroodmare]

A couple of jingly bells on his colleague might help.