Well I tried to take Paris for a walk today. He seemed to want to go.
I put on his harness and leash and we headed out the front door.
We haven't been out the front door in a while. He did ok. Step down. He did. We walked out to the driveway and he froze. He sniffed the air, a nice breeze. He walked into the ferns on the side of the driveway. Nope. He froze again and started to cry and yip. He didn't have any idea where he was. We went back towards the middle of the driveway, he froze again. More yipping. By this time I knew it was time to go in. I gently led him back to the house.
Boy was he releived to be back inside! I suppose he was just out of his safety zone.
My boy Shatzy loved his daily walks when he was sighted, so I've been trying my best to keep that routine going even though he can't see anymore. He went blind a month after Paris did.
ReplyDeleteFor the first three months of daily attempts it seemed almost hopeless. He'd freeze, walk two steps, freeze, hear ANY sort of noise, freeze. I had quite a lot of frustrated moments to say the least. But I kept pushing him to go and every so often he'd show a glimmer of hope by slowly walking a few more steps than what he did the day or week before. I'm also desperate to get him to exercise because SARDS made him gain a lot of weight.
As of today our walks are still slow. And he still insists on stopping for whatever reason - whether he hears or smells something in the distance, I don't know. But I get down to his level and give him lots of reassuring pats and for the most part I only have to lightly encourage him to start walking again. Only when he hears another dog on a leash do I see the way he moved when he could see. And he also gets to keep all his pee markers he did over the years intact, so I hope that gives him some sort of confidence booster too.
When we have bad days and he just refuses to walk at certain points or he is determined to go in the opposite direction I can just pick him up and walk a few yards, put him down and try again. I don't know if any of this sounds useful, but I thought I'd share it in case it would be.
Thanks Lori, that does make good sense, especially the part about the pee markers! I keep trying, but he is most comfortable in the back yard. I just thought it would be a nice change. I will keep trying, with extra patience and guidance of course.
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