Here's lookin' at you, kid...or not

When I first adopted Lil, she was a bit hard of hearing. She can still hear trucks, other dogs, and things that fall on the floor, but she can’t hear me ask her to sit, so I decided to teach her sign language. It wasn’t that hard, really. I invented some signs for simple requests such as “sit” and “come”, and she was rewarded with liver treats when she did as she was asked. (Shiba Inus are not off leash dogs, so there was never the question of what to do if she didn’t come when called from outside). The gradual decline of her ability to hear was a blip on the radar screen. 

Then she started losing her sight due to cataracts. That was much harder. I had to go to the library and get every book I could find to give me some suggestions about helping visually impaired dogs cope. I learned that a dog’s sense of smell is the equivalent of a human’s sight, and dogs can get on just fine without being able to see. They just need some help. Apart from the obvious suggestion not to move the furniture around, I learned that wearing a scent on the cuffs of your pants is helpful during walks so your dog doesn’t walk like a drunken sailor. I also learned that you can scent different parts of your house, and use real or fake plants as buffers to prevent your dog from bumping his or her head against a hard object such as a bookshelf or wall. Some people even get a special vest-like contraption that looks like there’s a hula hoop sticking out of it to prevent the dog from bumping into things. This is totally unnecessary for Lil because she can still see a little. She has precious little peripheral vision, but she can still see in front of her a bit, and even our recent move didn’t throw her that much. Still, if her sight deteriorates further, I feel prepared to handle it. For her part, she doesn’t seem to care that much. She really is a trooper.  

Lil is great at staring contests :-)