Hi there,
I am new to this board and would appreciate any help, suggestions or advice anyone may be able to give me. We just acquired a 1.5 yr old blind Border Collie. I had 'dogsat' him before he was blind and really liked him; he was just too cool of a dog to put down, so I took him. My question is this: I was wondering if anyone else has experience with different types of toys that he could follow before they hit the ground. He hears when you throw the toy and will run after it, but sometimes once it hits the ground he has a tough time finding it. Does anyone know of a dog toy (or kids toy for that matter) that makes noise the entire time it is being thrown? He loves to play...we have tried bells inside the toys which work once they hit the ground, but still hard for him to follow accurately and sometimes find. Scent also works a certain amount if he's close. Any other suggestions anyone may have would be great.!!

This might help. I have no experience with a blind dog, but there are lots of suggestions from other blind dog owners.

http://www.blinddogs.com/toys.htm

 Quote: Denise Babiy

Hi there,
I am new to this board and would appreciate any help, suggestions or advice anyone may be able to give me. We just acquired a 1.5 yr old blind Border Collie. I had 'dogsat' him before he was blind and really liked him; he was just too cool of a dog to put down, so I took him. My question is this: I was wondering if anyone else has experience with different types of toys that he could follow before they hit the ground. He hears when you throw the toy and will run after it, but sometimes once it hits the ground he has a tough time finding it. Does anyone know of a dog toy (or kids toy for that matter) that makes noise the entire time it is being thrown? He loves to play...we have tried bells inside the toys which work once they hit the ground, but still hard for him to follow accurately and sometimes find. Scent also works a certain amount if he's close. Any other suggestions anyone may have would be great.!!

Was he born blind or recently blinded?

I took care of a blind dog while his owner was hospitalized and I found my way with scents. I used Caroline Levin's great book:
http://www.petcarebooks.com/books/living_blind.htm
and when I saw what the essence scents did, I branched out.

I started with vanilla and lemon so the scents wouldn't get disgusting or clash-y, and I lined the route to the door and the dishes with one and things to watch out for with the other.

When I saw how great they worked (even not reapplying the scents! ... but being careful not to move stuff), I started using another one on stuffed toys, like a stuffed ball. The stuff apparently really sticks with fabric.

The toys here http://leerburg.com/toy.htm that have treat-balls inside should work great, too, although I didn't know about them at the time.

Happily there are groups for this kind of information. You might try linking up the senses by using a treat toy combined with a bell. You want him to start picking the item up in his mouth after the chase.

 Quote: Angela Burrell

This might help. I have no experience with a blind dog, but there are lots of suggestions from other blind dog owners.

http://www.blinddogs.com/toys.htm

Nice site!

Thanks! This has some good ideas!

He just went blind a couple months ago. He was one of my Mom's trial dogs and was ran over by a horsetrailer. Our family were out in the yard loading garbage into a horsetrailer and my Dad jumped in to move it ahead a few feet. We made sure there weren't any dogs under the truck, but we never looked under the trailer - it was totally our fault - we should have looked. It is a horrible sick feeling to know that due to your neglect a dog lives the rest of his life blind...all of us feel terrible about it. So, here we are now. My husband and I took the dog because we really liked him and have lots of extra time for him. Aside from the first few days after coming out from the Vets, he hasn't seem to be upset at all. I thought he would be sad and cowardly or unsure, but he's not...as a matter of fact he has really started to push all boundaries of his obedience - he's a very confident dog. I truly find it amazing how he can navigate. We have about 2 acres of lawn/yard and he knows his way around with no issues. Very seldom does he ever run into anything - sometimes new things on the ground he will run into so we are very careful not to leave things on the ground. He is kennelled outside at night, and in the morning he goes over to the bathroom area with the other dogs and then heads straight out to the middle of the big lawn and waits to play ball or be brushed. He does this day in and day out without variation. He goes for walks down the road with us and jeep rides - he also makes sure he has a window seat to hang his head out....funny considering he can't see a thing! Smell and wind I guess.