New Experiences!

Well a couple of weekends ago, Ely and I took the plunge. I have been spending more time with the Girlfriend and since we live a little distance apart I had to find Ely a pup-sitter. The Girlfriend invited Ely and I to spend the weekend with her and her kitty. I packed up our stuff (Ely does not travel light!) and we headed north. Ely thoroughly sniffed the house, she ran the perimeter getting to know the area. I'm sure she noticed the strong cat smell, but did not seem phased by her. The Girlfriend assumed the cat would make herself scarce and hide most of the weekend. It seemed the cat realized that something was up with Ely, she didn't run from her or antagonize her. After some more sniffing Ely settled down and relaxed! A few times she came nose to nose with the cat, who hissed once or twice. This surprised Ely, but didn't scare her. After a fairly relaxing evening (she was a little nervous and pacing throughout the night) and Saturday morning at home with the kids, the Girlfriend and I ventured out to a movie. As you faithful readers know, Ely has been peeing in the house and I worried about this. We removed the cat box from the bathroom, added Ely's blanket, water bowl, a kong-o-cheeze whiz, and some treats. We gave the neighbors a cell phone number and told them to call if Ely got too loud or sounded like she's eating the toilet. This was a successful outing! Ely was fine and hadn't eaten something she shouldn't or peed! Later that night, Ely was off to meet another dog and his mom in their household. Unfortunately, the first thing Ely did was pee on the carpet, luckily our new friends were very understanding. She bumped into a lot of things, invoking lots of sympathy. There were a couple of moments where Ely ran into the new doggie friend and the dog jumped or took this as a sign to play, which freaked Ely out to the point of growling. For those of you who know Ely, this is pretty unusual. They managed to sort it out and the Lab learned to be gentle around Ely. The following morning Ely met the Girlfriend's people, including a couple of kiddos, one who's dog crazy. Ely was so calm! She let people pet her and didn't freak out with the little one around. I was so proud of her!

Ely has been staying outside during the day and doing well. On Halloween, I was a little worried about Ely being outside late at night, so I gave her a go inside. I made her go to the bathroom and loaded up the treat ball for her to roll around. She didn't eat anything she wasn't supposed to or go to the bathroom in the house!

I think we're getting better?

the crate...

So, our good friend P, gave Ely and I a dog crate. Originally I wanted to stick it in my room so Ely could be inside. Well, this this is Great Dane size! In fact, when trying to lure her into the crate, my roommate (officially world's best roommate) crawled in himself. He could sit up and Ely completely fit in there as well. I could have probably crawled in too! This thing is huge. Needless to say we've put it on the back porch. When she ran outside, after we placed the crate on the porch, she ran right into the side of it. Awesome, good first introduction. Then she turned around. And did it again. I don't think I'm too concerned about Ely being outside in the winter, she does have a fur coat and now a fleece lined crate blocked from the elements. When I leave her outside I give her a Kong with cheese whiz, a chewy, or her treat ball in the crate. She goes in there for the yummies.

Unfortunately, she's still been peeing in the house. The other night, Roommate and Tobey's Mom were in the living room, I was in the den. Ely mostly laid in the den with me and when I didn't see her, I would call for her to come. Yet, she still had time to pee in the roommate's room. TWICE! She had plenty of opportunity to let me know she needed to go outside and she knew not to pee in the living room in front of anyone. This makes me think she's doing this on purpose? We've been keeping doors shut. At night, when everyone goes to bed and I'm not home, Ely has been shut into my room, where she's never peed (knocking on wood). This is all puzzling to me! Though, she did eat a tube of chapstick last night before I got back from class.

Ely finished her medicine yesterday! I'm calling Dr. Eye to see what's next. She had said if it was going to improve her vision at all I would have noticed. I don't think it's improved, maybe she can see some blobs far away? We're just not sure. I keep waking up with her chin on the bed "staring" at me. Little creepy.

Tobey keeps trying to play with Ely. She's not so sure about all of this. Sometimes she walks right into Tobey and he takes this as a play invitation. She tries a bit, but not like they used to romp. Yesterday I was able to get her to tug with a toy and she even fetched it once! I threw it close to her and she heard where it landed. Then she ran over to it, found it when she tripped on it. Hey, whatever works...

Always Something New

I'm not sure where to begin this post, so I'll start with the thing that had me laughing the hardest this past week. My closet doors are on a track and open in the center. They were opened about a foot if not less. Ely, for whatever reason, stuck her head in the opening. I giggled and said "Ely, come back." The opening was just wide enough to get her head in, but when she turned it a tiny bit, she was stuck. Then of course she got scared (not as funny) and kept trying to back out but not being able to figure out how to move her head. I had to get up and open the doors for her.

Ely's been taking steroids and has been drinking at least three bowls of water a day! She'd barely get through two with another dog around. Since she's been having a peeing on the carpet problem, I've made her stay outside during the day. This, for whatever reason, makes me paranoid. I worry something with happen to her. In truth, it's probably the funnest option for her. I put a doggie bed under the porch, her water, and I've been leaving her with treats. For those of you that have known Ely for awhile, yes, she typically drags her doggie bed all over the yard in attempts to "get intimate" with it. For some reason, this folded piece of old egg crate doesn't tempt her so. (Thanks Tobey's Mom!) I've resurrected the Kong, something loved by dogs world over, except of course, Ely. Now that she's more food focused, she's a bit more into it, but still didn't totally clean the spoon full of peanut butter out of it.

After looking at barriers for our huge kitchen opening, I've decided a crate is the way to go. My darling friend P has graciously donated a large kennel to the cause, that I'll be picking up this weekend to get the crate training started.

We went on a couple of walks this weekend and little Ely is doing amazingly well! She stays by my side, listens to my warnings, and is very confident. It's such a joy to see her like that. Neither of us ran into anything! On one of the walks it began raining. Pouring really. She wasn't that pleased and stopped at first. I eventually got her to walk/jog briskly with me back to the house.

The other milestone this week was the first trip to the groomers, A.B. Luckily, we've gone there for years and Ely knows her well. I told Ms. Clips to call me if it wasn't working and feel free to muzzle Ely. No one has ever had to do that before, but I really just don't know what to expect. I waited all day without a call, when Ms. Clips called to tell me she was done, she said Ely was LESS anxious then she usually is! Go figure. And of course, as one of you commented, Ely is radiant.

Behavioral Issues

After a wonderful week long vacation, I got the reports of how Ely did while I was away. Not good. She got into three different trash cans, ate numerous boxes of cereal, and peed in the house on the days the door wasn't left open for her. Last night we came back to find she had pulled a drawer open in the kitchen and ate a couple tubs of hot cocoa mix leaving a nice stain on the carpet. She's of course been nice and hyper this morning. Ely woke me up multiple times last night to go outside. Her and Tobey drank a couple of bowls full of water last night, they had to have been so thirsty! I know this isn't completely her fault, but it is so frustrating. I think I may have to start kenneling her inside or outside. This will be a long hard process because she is not fond of the kennel. I hope it makes her feel safer at some point. Frustration is running high in our house this morning, which I know is not helping her calm down. I'll keep working on my patience.

Now, off to rent a carpet cleaner.

Mostly Ups and Downs

Maybe Ely's antics are getting boring for some of you all, but I can't help but get excited when I see her acting like her old self! The down of yesterday and today (which made me laugh a little (I know, mean seeing eye human): I was sitting in the living room, wondering where she was at. I finally went to the back to the house to look and she was standing behind the open bedroom door, nose pointed towards crack, just waiting to get the chance to join the rest of us. She was just standing there, so alert!

Now, some ups:
Ely and I had some BB (before blindness) routines. One of these was that after her breakfast, she would lay on my bed and watch me get ready, while waiting patiently for pets. Or she would just lay there, look comfortable, and lure me back to bed. I've suspected she may have been on my bed, but doesn't seem likely, AB (after blindness). I was getting ready yesterday morning, she walks into my room very confidentially and jumps right on my bed. No hesitation! I squealed in delight, freaking her out a bit, but she soon got comfy and waited for her pets. She later jumped down with equal confidence.

BB, Ely typically slept in two places at night, on my bed or on a little rug about 4' x 2' by my bed. AB, she's only slept on the rug. Which makes total sense, she can feel it, etc. Yesterday, Ely was having a sleepover with her best dog friend, Tobey. When I went to bed last night Tobey had stolen Ely's spot on the rug. I didn't think much of it, Ely was laying in the hallway, half in my room. When I woke up in the middle of the night to make a bathroom run, I flipped the light on as to not step on a pooch. Tobey was still in his original spot and Ely laid down next to him, snuggled up on the little rug! So sweet!

Finally, this evening, Ely initiated playing with Tobey! I haven't seem them do that in awhile. So, mostly ups today!

Doggie torture

I started Ely on diet doggie food. I feel like a total shit. She just acts so hungry all of the time! But I figured she's exercising less and getting more treats with training, so it's a good idea. I'm waiting for her to bite me. That's what I would do if I was eating a third less calories a day. She's being pathetic, like I'm starving her, I would just bite someone. At least snarl a little. As usual she's a good sport. In solidarity (well maybe not wanting to get diabetes and die), I'm cutting some of my calories. I'll try not to bite anyone.

I put the child lock under our kitchen sink so Ely couldn't eat the trash. Well, I got home a couple of days ago and she had gotten under the bathroom sink and pulled out the bathroom trash (this is historically her favorite, mmm used tissues and feminine products). I cleaned that up and had to leave the house again. Came back and she had gotten into my bedroom trash. This little can is mostly paper stuff and has a lid on it so she can't eat the tissues. A lid! It was in a corner, behind a box fan, and my clumsy blind dog got the lid off and her face in the trash! Though, this whole trash thing is annoying and frustrating, I think it's good her nose is working so well. For a time, I'm not sure her other senses were picking up the slack.

Because of everything going on, we've had to postpone a few grooming appointments. While at the pet store, I picked up some of the waterless bath stuff for pets. Now, I know at this point many of you are thinking, "why doesn't she just give her dog a bath?" I'll tell you why. Our bathtub has shower doors. So I can't give her a bath because she just goes to the end of the tub, behind the shower doors, out of my reach. It also hurts to lean on the door tracks. Last time I gave her a bath (it was an emergency, she had gotten into some serious stink) I had to get into the tub with her. The tub is not that big and I emerged looking like I was wrangling a tiger. During this bath, she managed to nose open the closed shower door and scramble half way out. She can be quite agile when it suits her purposes. Moral of the story: Not giving her a bath now that she's blind. Freak out central. She didn't even like being sprayed with the waterless bath.

But, she's a bit cleaner.

Back to the Grind

I've been out of town a couple of days and just got back. She seems a little out of sorts, I think it's getting harder for her to be without me, at least while she's getting used to this blind thing. I've noticed her running into more things. Apparently when I was gone she had some trouble getting inside, she'd run into the closed side of the door. Ely does this thing, especially when she's upset or confused, and goes under the kitchen table. Then she pin balls around amid the chair legs until she gets out. Sometimes, like now, she's just lays under the table, snoozing. The blind book recommends having a safe space for her to retreat to, I think under the table is one of those spots.

The other humans reported that the dogs got into the trash (even with the baby lock!). Ely also went to the bathroom inside the house and wasn't sick. This is very unusual for her. She's hardly ever done this and only when very sick. This is concerning to me, I'm sure it's related, I just don't know how. I got and began reading Living with Blind Dogs by Caroline Levin.
She strongly believes that the Cushing's like symptoms the dog experiences (weight gain, increased hunger, thirst, etc) is actually related to some hormone imbalances. That's why SARD's dogs aren't testing positive for Cushing's. Ely's blood work did not indicate that she has Cushing's, but she just having so many of those symptoms! So, this explanation is helpful and may mean the steroid/anti-biotic treatment may be the way to go. Until reading this book, I thought this treatment would only help Ely regain some of her sight and was reluctant to put her on long term steroids because of possible side effects. Levine says that, untreated the hormone issues could cause more problems. I am at a loss! I don't know what to do. I'm going to keep reading and talk to the vets some more. In the mean time we'll start on our first new "command," "slow." This will help me guide her around obstacles.