Blind dog

Hi, my cocker spaniel is completely blind now due to degenerative retinal atrophy and I am trying to decide what to get him as an aid I.e muffin angel wings or halo or eye protectors. If anyone has any experience or advice I would be very grateful.

Hello Redsky sorry I am at a loss as to what these things are and can only guess

We had a blind cocker years ago and she managed perfectly well without sight using her power of hearing, scent and her vibrissae (the thick whiskers on the muzzle) to detect vibrations and as a warning system to detect close objects.

Sorry to hear about your dog Redsky. As Meg says dog's other sense (especially sense of smell) should be a huge help in adapting.

I hadn't heard of Angel Wings either - so googled them:



They look like they could help and might be worth a try, to begin with at least?

My Beagle is now blind and Ive never used anything like that pictured above. He has adapted really well I even let him off lead because he knows the route we walk and loves to trundle along sniffing his way .
Its rare for Benny to bump into anything and I just make sure there are no sticks or anything blocking his path,
One thing I do think is important is to let them lead a normal life , feeling sorry for them just robs them of independence.

Aww bless him

Bless him Dorrit.

I to think they adapt well. There is a blind and deaf spaniel near me. He has his owner well trained to take him for a walk at least 4 times a day. Just up his road and back and he knows where his gate is and will sometimes pull to go home before the circuit is complete. He is a lovely old soul.

We used to board a blind dog and as long as he went in the same kennel each time he was in he would run out and plod back in without any help from us.

My first Golden became blind due to PRA. She coped really well apart from sheep netting fences, which she couldn't seem to sense. If you don't move the furniture around too much, blind dogs don't seem to have any problem indoors, but you do need to be careful around other dogs and livestock.
There are now white, 'BLIND DOG' leads which might warn other dog owners.

Thanks everyone for replies..he is coping quite well with areas that he knows but I think it would help if he goes to different places/ houses to have something, also I don't think his whiskers are working properly as he does bash his nose a lot as he puts it close to fences/ walls and catches bits that are jutting out...we will keep looking

Dorrit, that is a lovely piece of film of Ben and you wouldn't know he was blind if not told, he just looks like a typical Beagle concentrating.

Thank you for sharing, I'm sure it will prove inspirational.

Redsky did you see the blind dog on POGDOGS recently? I'm sure it will be available on-demand.