# Something I need to air



## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

My first thought is that the fever spiked so high, that is what caused her blindness. The fever could have been from almost anything. I am not a medical person, but to me, that just makes logical sense.

Don't blame yourself for this or the toys. I would try to keep her involved in as much as possible, as long as her health is okay.


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## coppers-mom (Jan 9, 2009)

I think everything something traumatic happens to one of our pets, we search for what happened in order to better understand and maybe avoid it later.......

I do remember Saffy and her beautiful sweet self, but I don't know what might have caused her illness and consequent blindness. Once my dogs and pups have had their shots they are exposed to many, many things, experiences and people and have never gotten sick from that to my knowledge.

I do think Saffy would benefit from the obedience class. If for nothing else than the time spent together and bonding. My third rescue flunked his obedience class 3 times:doh:, but it didn't matter. He was scared of the real world and we really went just for him to have a good time and meet other people and dogs.

Good luck with your decision and give Saffy a kiss for me!


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## Deber (Aug 23, 2011)

Don't think you should worry yourself so about the reasons for Saffy's blindness. Our immune systems are genetically set and in many it is lacking. We see this in so many of the newer dog breeds. Though outside influences could attribute, I would suspect her immune system. I know I told you my brother was blind. When it was diagnosed (at age 4) my parents went through the gammet of what they might have done to cause this. It was nothing they did, it was neuroblastoma which in simple terms is a mishap in the first few hours after conception. For whatever reasons one set of cells didn't divide correctly and it started the cancer. Got to say even some of our church members were quick to jump on "Sins of the Father" crap, which really upset my parents and left a wedge in their beliefs for the rest of their lives. 

My brothers cancer was genetic, he got it, he was able to preform at a very high level, gratuated college, married and adopted his wife's son. His blindness was one of the biggest contributors to his wonderful personality and his lifelong help for other blind children learn to adapt to a sighted world. I am humbled that he did so much in his 48 yrs before the cancer he was born with took his life. I love and miss him so.

Saffy is blind, perhaps it was her own system that triggered this as in my brother, but the point is that through your loving efforts, she will have the best life and feel complete. You are her Mom, she loves you and this is all she wants. As for class, I bet she would LOVE it. When you lose one sense, the other seem to overdevelope and you may find that while training her poses some thought, she will love having something new to do that keeps her mind alert and her other senses keen.

Keep on plugging, don't look back anymore..you are beating yourself up for nothing. Saffy is with you and Abby, she is smart, and ready to keep busy in mind and action. Soooo get up and GO! Hugs to you and your family in this. I love hearing about her and getting the updates.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

I don't think we can always know why certain things happen to our dogs health wise. Things happen in life that we don't anticipate. 

I can speak from experience-- visually impaired dogs deserve to do everything a dog with perfect vision can do, be it obedience training or anything else, but you might need to modify certain activities to accommodate the disability. Obedience training shouldn't be a problem and is actually important from a safety perspective because you will be relying on voice commands to keep her from harm. You might need her to stop in her tracks to prevent an accident or injury and since she can't see the danger or you, she needs your verbal commands to keep her safe. IMO training is essential. 

Dogs with disabilities cope very well with them. IMO, some of us humans could learn a thing or two about how our dogs handle them. 

Our Toby had double cataract removal surgery, with a complication in one eye. That complication messed up his depth perception so he can no longer track his beloved balls when we take him for retrieving sessions. While he can't track the balls, he has a fantastic time running and searching for them by smell and with my verbal directions. He adapted to it instantly and is so happy and excited. I, on the other hand, *could* feel guilty that we brought him through the surgery and he had a complication in the eye with the congenital cataract, but it doesn't change the fact that his vision is still impaired permanently. Rather than feeling guilty about it (because not even his eye surgeon could guarantee a 100% result), I'm channeling my efforts into finding new activities for him that we can enjoy together. I actually just made an order for "talking balls" and hope this will help him find his balls easier on our outings.


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## Deber (Aug 23, 2011)

Way to go Toby!! Proud of you Dallas Gold. Dogs can learn so much even with a disability if we, the human, just expand our imagination a bit. The ideas are limitless and bet the dogs will adapt and love just doing something!


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## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

All I have to say is dont her hold her back from living a full life. There are all kinds of things you can do with her take the classes she will have fun and so will you. If she is the type of dog that would maek a great therapy dog do that with her then take her and let her be an inspiration to people with handicapps if a dog can do it so can i type of thing.

You can not change the past but you can change her future.


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## cyman1964uk (Jan 6, 2008)

Thanks ever so much for these replies, folks, they mean a lot.

I know I shouldn't beat myself up about her - just can't help thinking how things could have been different, I guess, plus I have had a genuine concern that asking her to do obedience might be putting on her too much. For example, she's not really been put in amongst a large number of dogs all at once since she went blind - probably not met more than about 3 in one go. Someone in the Border Collie forum suggested maybe getting a private trainer who would come to us and maybe that's worth looking into - to start with at least.

Everyone that meets Saffy is astonished when we tell her she is blind, she's adjusted so well. In fact, she went to the vets today for a checkup and you should have seen the look on this woman's face (who'd already been petting and fussing her for a good 5 minutes before we told her) when she found out! I actually don't think she believed us. Saf's so tuned in that she knows how to look at people directly and so still gives that sheepdog stare to people even now she can't see them. Put a wall she's never known before right in front of her, though, and she'll walk straight into it.

Yes, she's a happy girl indeed. She loves to chase and herd Abbie even now, loves tummy tickles and loves her food. We're looking at maintaining a low dose of steroids for the next few weeks with the possibility of just making it permanent to act as a preventative measure against her fevers.

Deber, I do recall you telling me about your brother before and he sounds like the kind of person we really need more of on this planet, to be honest. So many people with silver spoons in their mouths these days who offer so little to the world and your brother with his disability preferring to help others - kinda puts those self-serving church members to shame, doesn't it? You should be very proud of him.

And as for balls, Dallas Gold, what are these talking balls you've ordered for Toby? Saffy has (ahem) FIVE Babble Balls which are just fabulous. Three of them speak and the other two make animal sounds. I don't know if you are talking about these, but I have a few clips on Youtube with Saffy playing with her Babbles (just search Saffy and Babble Ball or something similar or I put a few clips together in a video called "Saffy's Story", also on Youtube). They are also really resilient in that neither Abbie or Saffy have even dented them. More recently, I got a Fusion Ball for Saffy, which lights up, makes sounds and spins and jumps, etc ... but I reckon that'd last 5 minutes unattended, so it's reserved for very special occasions. I also got a proper blind soccer ball from the RNIB (Royal National Inst for the Blind) which has ball bearings inside, but unfortunately that's gone a bit flat and Saffy's interest in that didn't really last that long anyway.

Saffy definitely 'savours' her walks much more also since she lost her sight. Before, it was just a trudge around, just desperate to get to the park where she chases Abbie and then a trudge around the rest of the loop. Nowadays, she stops and savours things much more and that's a sweet thing to see. She'll catch the scent of a flower and have to get up on her hind legs and sniff them out - never would have done that before.

So, I'm thinking I might just use the classes we went to before for Abbie and try find a one-on-one trainer for Saffy. I still want to fulfill a couple of kind of promises I made at the start of this year; to teach her the cross-paws trick and to get her to try out flyball. Of course the 'crowded environment' issue I mentioned earlier might be a problem for the flyball but I want her to do that at least just once just to see if she could take to it. The other thing I wanted to do was to write a book about her life. 

The cross-paws I started and actually Abbie took pretty well to it; Saffy, hmmm, she just sees it as a treat-fest! The flyball I have my reservations about and TBH I wonder if the lady at the club has too - just wonder if she is trying to be nice, really. The book, I have written page 1, lol!

Bout time I got some of Saffy's drive and moved things along, eh? Anyway thanks again for your comments, I do take them on board. Any more ideas for 'other senses' activities or toys, please let me know ...


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

I bought a Giggler ball and an isqueak ball, both from JW pets and Chuck It Whistler Ball and a Chuck It Glow ball. They haven't arrived yet, and it's still 100 degrees here so we need to wait until it's a little cooler to get him to his field of dreams for a play session with them.


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## cgriffin (Nov 30, 2011)

I remember hearing and reading about genetic eye problems in collies, all types of collies.
I am sorry that Saffy is blind.


Here is a link, maybe it helps: 
American Border Collie Association: Promoting the Working Border Collie


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