'Saving Grace'(BLIND doggy needs a home)

This is good news, indeed!

Well, the last day has come…sniff sniff…tomorrow Grace goes to live with Totallytika in Hualien. Looking forward to the road trip there…
Going to miss Gracie a lot…she’s such a sweetheart.
Here are 2 more videos of her. Again, if anyone knows of any websites that advertise dogs to be adopted overseas, or know of anyone that has a nice yard and time for a dog…pls let me know. (Savedogs arent returning my emails:()

youtube.com/watch?v=iWrhCdL1z68

youtube.com/watch?v=h7F3hJxVdLw

A cat identified dog? An FTC (feline to canine)?

I can see why you’ll miss her!

Yup, I’m already bawling my eyes out…so silly.

Grace, Battery9 and friend arrived in Hualien today and Grace quickly made herself at home. She is doing well, Battery9, and even went for a barbecue at SouldragonN’s house where she adapted to being with a total of 10 other dogs without any problems. She was also very well behaved! Tomorrow, it’s off to the park for Dog Day Afternoon with other dogs and their people.

This dog is truly delightful! Sweet, mild mannered, and very people oriented, Grace will make someone a wonderful companion. Please take a moment to consider whether you would be willing to adopt Grace or if you know of someone in Canada or the the U.S. who would make a good partner to this little girl.

It was a pleasure meeting Battery9 and her wonderful friend who made the trip possible with providing transportation. Some people really go out of their way to ensure that animals receive the care they so need and deserve and both of these women deserve recognition for the compassion and commitment they have shown this little dog.:bravo: :bravo:

Battery9, you are not alone in feeling sad about Grace’s leaving you… I’m going to feel the same way!

YAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAAAAAAAAAA
Grace found a stunning home in Canada. Near lake Shawnigan on Vancouver island with a family with 2 kids, a cat, dog and AN ACRE OF LAND…

yeeeessss!! Thanks all for spreading the word…the family found her ad on a site that I dont even know about. Great job to whoever is responsible for that.

(now to get her there…heheh)

Yihaa! Congratulations. Coming back to Taiwan to great news all around!

We’re having such tough luck with getting her to Canada. First someone was interested in Calgary, but Air Canada doesn’t allow animals anymore. So that was a dead-end because the girl also couldnt get to Vancouver to pick her up.

Now I havent heard from the lake people interested in her for a week…and I sent them mails with news. Now I’m worried. PLUS we had someone over the weekend who told us shes flying on the 26th of Aug and will take her…we were soo happy. Turns out she’s flying to Vancouver with an Eva plane, but she booked through Air Canada…and now even Eva airlines isnt allowing her to take Grace on the flight to Vancouver. I think she only flies with Air Canada from Vancouver onwards…

AAAAAAAAAAAARGH and more AAAAAAAAAARGHsss…

Grace has gone completely blind.

Grace has being staying with me while we search for a home for her. Now I don’t know what we will do as Grace suddenly lost all her vision over the weekend. The Vet has put her on some medication hoping to stimulate her eyes and in three days we’ll go back to see him. The prognosis for her eyesight isn’t good. This is rather uncommon, but there are several potential causes for her blindness and until we know what has caused this and if any good results could happen, we are forced to try to do the best we can for her knowing that she most likely will remain blind.

This changes things in terms of looking for a home for Grace. She still needs a home but that home will have to be able to meet her special needs now. For the moment, I am going to keep her until we have resolved the issue of her blindness and treatment. After that, we’ll look at options.

Anyone with previous experience or knowledge of how to care for a blind dog, please speak up. Battery9 and I could use your help.

ok i got this from another website and thought it would be helpful with training.

. Don’t coddle or overcompensate. Make him stand on his own four paws. His ability to cope and adjust may surprise you. Just learn to be patient. It takes a long time for a blind dog to do even the simplest things. Po might take 10 minutes just to come down a set of stairs. Don’t get in the habit of carrying him, make the dog do it.

  1. Buy some expensive perfume, without an alcohol base and dab little spots on the corners of furniture, backs of chairs and places where the dog is likely to bump into things. Also, put a drop on each step in the center so he can sniff the next stair. Why good perfume? It smells nice and without the alcohol they use in less expensive lines and sprays it won’t evaporate so quickly. In the beginning use enough so that even you can smell it if you get close to the spot, though even that should be a tiny amount. One drop from an eyedropper. Later you can mark the rooms every three or four weeks.

  2. Teaching stairs. Place the dog on the first step from the bottom and coax him down with a tasty treat placed on the floor just out of reach. Once he masters the first step, move him up to the second and place the treat on the first, and so on. Once he understands he can go down the stairs he’ll get confidence and be motoring up and down at will. Use the same one step at a time routine for going up the stairs. When you start the first step use the word “Step” to tell him there is an elevation change. Later when walking him outside and you come to a curb or elevation change, say Step, and he’ll know he has to pay extra attention.

  3. Games. I learned how to play with Po from one of my other dogs. At first when he came here as a puppy, they couldn’t understand why he didn’t pay respect to them as alphas when they would posture and growl at him. Since he didn’t understand dog body language, they might as well have been speaking dog greek to him. In the yard they would try to get him to play tag by running at him and bumping into him. Since he couldn’t see them coming they would body slam him, knock him over and continue on. I could see he was getting frustrated and I seriously thought about banning him from play with the older dogs. I’m glad I didn’t because I witnessed the most amazing thing. My senior male Pan Tu was tagging Po one day with the same results. At one point Po had been spun around and was facing the opposite direction. Pan Tu stopped and looked at the puppy, and barked once as if to say, “Over here dummy”. Po immediately turned toward the bark. I swear I saw a light in Pan Tu’s eyes come on. He quietly moved ninety degrees in an arc and barked again. Po turned. Once more Pan Tu moved and barked. Po turned. Suddenly Pan Tu takes off in a big sweeping arc and comes barreling full speed at Po. Five feet before he tags him, Pan Tu starts barking like “Here I come”, and as he bumped him and moved away he continued to bark. Po now had a chance and took off after the barking Pan Tu. By the second time Pan Tu did this my other dog joined in, and that’s how they now play. The point here is that you have to learn to vocalize everyhting and adapt, and be willing to watch and take a cue from the dog. When he gets confused slow down a little and allow him to regroup.

  4. Lastly, and it seems most obvious but sometimes we forget these things. Learn to verbalize everything. If you start to walk away and you want him to come, say come, pat the side of your leg and continue to do so, so the dog has a sound bearing on you. Whenever you approach, call his name or stomp the floor so he doesn’t get surprised. Tell strangers to talk to him as they approach and give the dog an extra chance to smell them.

Try not to move furniture or alter yards or gardens.
Keep certain things (like water bowl) in the same place.
The use of a “stop” word to give warning they are about to encounter something, stop, wait, step are good words, some strange people even use whoops-a-daisy.

Carpet runners on floor boards, or even to guide then through an area is good.
A battery radio on low all the time will give bearings.

Inside, look for things that may poke into the eye, can be tripped over, or fall down. Use of smells later on can help with this.

Outside, look for similar, and trim those dangerous branches/twigs. The area should be secured to prevent wandering off.

Scent the vertical surfaces like door edges, door frames, and furniture. Outside areas also.

Going for a walk, a bell or something that rattles as you go could be attached to trouser or shoes so you can be located

On the other dogs too, a bell or jangly tags will help. Also the same on the blind dog to warn the others he or she is coming.

Personality changes may happen, aggressiveness trying to hide blindness, or trying to hold on to an alpha position, “hunger” because of the instinct of “where’s my next meal coming from?”, jealousy for the attentions of their human. You must remain in control.

Personality changes may happen, aggressiveness trying to hide blindness, or trying to hold on to an alpha position, “hunger” because of the instinct of “where’s my next meal coming from?”, jealousy for the attentions of their human. You must remain in control.

Hope this is of some help until you find out what is going on with her. Fingers crossed she gets better.

Thanks so much for the info! Grace is quite quiet these past couple of days but is starting to explore a little more when she hears me moving around. I like the idea of the perfume as it should make her feel more secure over time. Also, the bit about play is especially helpful as right now she is so lost around the dogs and I tend to want to protect her as well.

She is such a lovely dog with such a great personality. It’s sad to see her so out of her element. This morning, though, she was waiting for me at the top of the stairs, so she is starting to become a little braver.

Right now, what I’d really like is to find a way to teach her how to get outside again on her own so that she stops peeing on the dining room floor. For the moment, I just praise her when she does her business outside and ignore when she can’t find her way out.

Learning to be a seeing eye person is certainly a challenge!

Thanks again, UKbikerchic!

Luckily she isn’t male…can’t imagine her lifting her leg. I’m sooo gutted…maybe I will feel better when I see her. I’m just looking at pics of our journey there and baaawling my eyes out. Such a cry-baby. I e-mailed two disabled dog sites about her…let’s see on what journey this girl is going to end up taking us.

Hey there Battery9… Has it occurred to you that your having rescued her when you did saved her life in more ways than you know? Imagine what would have happened to her had she been left on the mountain and THEN lost her sight. No, don’t. It wouldn’t have been a pretty picture whatsoever. Grace is so blessed that you came along when you did! Somehow, I think that she is going to adapt quite well to the changes in her life. She’s gone through enough already. Now it’s time for something really good to happen for her.

I took all the “guys and gals” for a walk tonight and Grace did really well. I’ve been using a head harness on her and though it was originally intended to teach her to “heel”, it seems to be really great for her needs at the moment. She feels secure when she can tell by the harness which direction I am going in, if I am stopping or starting. It’s pretty cool to see her have a little confidence!

That’s good news. Makes my heart feel a little better…I’m such a crybaby. I guess best is to look at Grace and how she deals with it…propably in her goofy way. If she can deal with it…so can I:)

Grace is doing a lot better. She has figured out how to move about and is back to her old self…playing with her doggy friends and fetching her toys from the basket…

If you know of anyone that has experience with blind dogs, or has a suitable home for her…please let us know!!! Thank youuu

totallytika,

Reading your last post really made my day… Warm fuzzies and all. You have my respect. :notworthy:

PS: It’s a good thing B9 found you. You guys are an outstanding pair.

Thanks, Bobepine… slowly, but surely, person by person, animal by animal, we will reach a point where all life is respected and valued, won’t we? And yes, Battery9 is awesome! She is truly a compassionate person and any animal lucky enough to find her has a better chance in life.

Grace is ready for adoption now, I think, although it’s going to be really hard to let her go…

For anyone interested, Grace is a normal, happy dog and has a sweet disposition. She loves dogs, children and well, anyone! She requires no special care, other than that she can’t run loose on the street and needs to be kept fairly close for her own safety. Once she knows her surroundings, she’s comfortable and at ease. It would be better for Grace if she were to remain in Taiwan, rather than being flown overseas unless she were to go with her permanent family. We will, however, consider flying her if there is a family / person waiting for her with a permanent home and lots of love to give.

I’ll post some updated pictures soon.

I saw a video of Grace playing and you can’t believe she is blind! Up and down the couch…(oh wait, should I say this if we want to get her adopted hahahahah)

I have contacted many sites and I get no responses…I also contacted people who help disabled dogs…that have much worse problems…but no response. It seems as if nobody is interested in a dog from Taiwan. Also no luck finding her a home in Taiwan…

this lady neeeeeeds a home…does anyone have websites or contacts to organisations in Taiwan that may help?
thank you