Blindness is not too bad except one can't let them roam unsupervised. JoGI has great hearing & I constantly talk to my dogs anyway....even when I had Leo. He was like my little human soul mate & chatted with him constantly. I handle JoGI the same. The difficult one is Tawny. She is not only blind but mostly deaf too & has some doggie dementia (possibly had a mild stroke sometime this last year.)

I was always able to let her just hang in the front yard with Leo the one on the long line. I came home from shopping late one night & was letting them potty walk while I took the stuff into the house. When I was done she was totally missing at 11pm in the dark & this area has coyotes. I went into panic mode. Called her & told Leo to bark for her. Decided to jump in my truck & check the road before heading into my woods. Just after midnight I found her 1/4 mile away in the neighbor's farm front yard totally lost. That happened one more time but during the day when I was working on my lawn tractor repair. She was hanging close to me then I got distracted on the repair & she disappeared on a HOT day. I drove around but nothing. Then I decided to head into my woods & she was walking in circles in the middle of a grassy area. That was her last free roam time. Now she just stays in the house with puppy pads because she just gets too disoriented when there is a change in her surroundings.

I became a doggie nutritionist last summer trying to fight Leo's cancer. I actually pureed his food & when he had problems I fed him with a syringe. He got pretty much 24 hour care from me from last Aug to Dec. Exhausting....yes, but they are my family & as long as they are not in pain I give them the best care their whole life....it just changes with age just like it does for all of us.

My house right now is a doggie nursing home....but I am ok with that. I miss what I had with them in the past but life is all about stages.

My first blind eskie was Chinook. Had no idea he was blind until I was walking him on a leash out to my mail box & he ran into the tree. That was my learning experience about doggie blindness. Chinook got lots of hugs & kisses so he didn't feel bad about what happened. Leo struggled adapting to older age & then illness. He was so used to being active he would get embarrassed when he couldn't do things he was used to doing. I gave him loving & told him it was ok & gave him a mom hand to do what he wanted.

Even my first horse ended up going blind. He lived until 33. I had to be his seeing eyes when riding him too. So I have had lots of practice caring for my blind fur babies. We adapt just like they do.