Completely Blind but his Nose Works Just Fine

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North Carolina Coast
Two days in a row, cookies come out of the oven and he is right there.
Also his favorite toy that he never saw. He takes it out own his own, hits it around, barks at it until he gets so tired he falls asleep.
We are now in an apartment while our new home gets finished, this has messed him up a little getting around since he was used to the placement of everything in the previous house.
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I had a beagle corgy mix that started to lose her hearing and some vision as she aged. Her nose knew. Always smelled food in the kitchen.
 
Animals are truly gifts from God. I know I love mine beyond reasonable understanding.
You know, I sometimes question myself, is it that I am getting older or what?
This dog has become such a part of our lives and love for him is "beyond reasonable understanding" Boy those are good words you chose.
He has been an outstanding well behaved dog for 13+ years now, just amazes us to this day and everyone he meets. I freely admit to anyone we know, I dont understand our loyalty to him is so strong.

He lost both eyes to disease in July 2021, with the encouragement of 2 medical practices plus his regular vet we stood by him and so glad we did the right thing, family siblings admit how wrong they were thinking maybe he should have been put down at the time, now, just last week mentioned again, what a remarkable dog. So I know it's just not my wife and I. Still harasses us to play every evening after dinner I have to play tug of war until he starts to get tired. He will hit his toy basket around with his nose *LOL*
He walks on a leash and no one even knows he has no eyes until we tell them. I guess his sense of smell is heightened even more, as long as the wind isnt blowing the wrong way he will sense someone as far as 20 feet away if they crossed his path.
 
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Yes!
How did you know?
As you can tell by my post, he is an amazing dog, and being his schnauzer poodle breed I think we shed more than he does 🤣

13 years so far of scary smart!
Yes!
How did you know?
As you can tell by my post, he is an amazing dog, and being his schnauzer poodle breed I think we shed more than he does 🤣

13 years so far of scary smart!
We’ve had two of them. Can’t miss the schnauzer coloring and curly hair. 😊 Our female was incredibly smart and loved everyone. We kept one of her pups from her last litter with a male mini we had. We had to put him down a few months ago just short of his 13th birthday. We miss all three of them but have two mini’s now that we adore. You’ve got a great looking doggie there. Take care
 
We’ve had two of them. Can’t miss the schnauzer coloring and curly hair. 😊 Our female was incredibly smart and loved everyone. We kept one of her pups from her last litter with a male mini we had. We had to put him down a few months ago just short of his 13th birthday. We miss all three of them but have two mini’s now that we adore. You’ve got a great looking doggie there. Take care
Very cool, I remember one time for his annual check up the vet asked if he was a first generation schnoodle. We knew the mother was the schnauzer and the father the mini poodle. SO we said we weren't sure but why? Her answer nailed it. She said his coat on his back is clearly all Schnauzer but his legs Poodle.
The two mini's that you have now are they schnauzers or schnoodles?

They are amazing animals, in all my life this will be the one that I will never be able to forget.
Very special, I look at him now as almost a gift in learning that life goes on and a good life, even with his disabilities. Im very proud that we gave him the chance. He is the same dog and you learn certain things that are much the same but different, makes things interesting such as being he has no eyesight but can still hear though impaired now if we go out for long periods of time "sound" seems to make him happy while we are out so we have this little freebee Amazon Echo and have it play music while we are out.

When we watch TV he gets comfortable on a blanket we put out for him, movie nights he gets a toy ball filled with treats that he goes nuts over. All we have to do is say "want to watch a movie"? and he knows what is coming.
He also positions himself in front of the TV like he always did when he had eyesight. Again, the sound. I guess in a dark world sounds and smell is his entertainment and security, along with playtime and tug of war with a toy. Kind of amazing how he positions himself facing the TV almost without fail 90% of the time or more.

From last night =

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I had a deaf Dalmatian and the dog would obey hand signals but the funny part was if the dog didn't want to comply she would turn her body so she couldn't see me. No see no do. She was a really good dog.
 
Chance had really bad cataracts; he was essentially blind. The eye specialist told us it was most likely exacerbated by him being diabetic (insulin) for 7 years. We spent a weekend in Ukiah just hanging around the motel pool. Not being able to see very well, Chance walked right into the pool. He couldn't see the water.

I used to take him into the front yard before I left on my 4AM commute into the Bay Area, just so I could keep an eye on him. He navigated by the shadows cast by the porch lights. If I picked him up and set him down he would search for a certain shadow to get his bearings - he'd find the garage doors, turn right and find the shadow.

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So nice that you kept him. Some people would figure, he's better off to be put down. Thank You!!
Yeah, we were crushed when we found out.
We did everything humanly possible for him. We even found an animal eye specialist and had them evaluate and treat in addition to another practice plus his own Vet. Tried multiple drugs to get glaucoma under control, nothing worked. It amazed me how three different medical practices worked together for him. Heck, even the follow up calls from all of them, even the one that wasnt directly involved amazed me.
I had an outpatient procedure done on my heart last Nov and didnt get those follow up calls! *LOL*

The bottom line the first eye had to go and not even two days later the other back in 7/2021 they couldn't believe how fast it spread where the first eye ruptured the day before the operation.

With that said, my wife and I being realistic asked each of the doctors what kind of life will he have without sight. They were certain that his breed will do very well being blind and he will no longer be in pain and can lead a happy life. That was the ONLY concern of my wife, that we removed the pain and he can still be the dog he is, even blind. From what I understand not all breeds handle it well.
The doctors were right. In his case it would have been 100% wrong to put him down.

He is a remarkable dog, we learned a lot for him and as weird as this sounds, he is very interesting to watch and see how he goes about life, to this day still amazes us and I always take photos, even videos of him going up and down two flights of stairs on his own.

Ok, one last photo, again, last night, one thing we noticed is is sense of smell is incredible and even though his hearing isnt as good as it was even last year sound seems to make his happy or secure? It's really fascinating to see. Sitting down again last night, TV on, after he is done playing positions himself facing the TV where the sound is coming out of the speaker. Ok two last photos ...

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