HI Old friends and info please

[picaboo]

Horray! I jumped through all the hoops signing up, though it took me 4 tries to get the code figured out ( i should remember my password now) and I am in. Yes Kathy (how are you?), I did read why this is necessary! I looked at the member list and was surprised how many of you I know from the other list, Hello all.

A friend of mine has a JRT (jack russell), very newly blind who has taken to peeing in the house. She takes him out every hour or so and no UTI, bgs are good. Have any of you ever heard of this? Any ideas/ explanations? I was thinking scent marking for himself but that seems a little sophisticated even for a JRT!

Thanks!
Picaboo aka renajet, Lynne

[peggy0]

He's probably marking to find his way around. He must be very nervous about being blind

[eyelostit]

Hi Lynne,

if he was starting to go blind I would think he got scared as time went by, he probably is marking his territory, does he still play etc. I think with Niki somehow she just accepted her blindness but I do have to do clicks with my fingers to get her around something or if we are taking a walk or jumping in the car, also some other commands. I'll see what I can find for you.

Dolly:)

[k9diabetes]

Hi Lynne!!

What a pleasure to see you here!!

I mentioned recently about our diabetic dogs' stories and how I read a story about Rena when Chris was losing his vision - Rena's story was so heartening to me.

Here's a link to Rena's story: http://www.indulgedfurries.com/petdiabetes/personal_technique/rena.htm

And this is what helped me learn to live with Chris' loss of vision:

As for Rena, she has adjusted to being nearly blind amazingly well. It was awful at first because she ran into things and hurt herself. I seriously considered putting her down. I thought her quality of life would be irretrievable. I was actually grieving over this. In about 8 weeks she began to get a feel for life around home. Our daily routine includes crossing an irrigation ditch on a 12" plank. She fell in once or twice at first but now she can run across it. For hiking we have gotten her a set of boots. We have cactus here and they are not always easy to avoid. The boots also help Rena avoid lacerations from rocks and sticks she isn't able to see. We now call them her magic boots because when she has them on she thinks she is invincible. Rena always could hike the pants off us. She would go all day and still be perky. Our other dog, 3 years her junior never could keep up with Rena. We went through a year or more of reduced activity but now Rena is back almost as strong as before and at the end of the day, stronger than the rest of us -as long as we keep her sugar levels within reason.

Rena passed away several years ago and Jet a few years later.

Lynne is Rena's mom! And her newest canine companion is Picaboo.

http://images.yuku.com/image/png/0083681029ef59aa87dc67b0d17bf14174288000_t.JPG

Natalie

[k9diabetes]

Okay so now that I've said hello...

I can only guess as I haven't seen this problem before. My first thought would be anxiety... possibly navigation too but would think that being anxious would be a big part of it.

Did he do a lot of marking before, just always outside?

How's his temperament? Does he tend to be anxious?

Has the house been marked by any other dogs in the past?

I've thought a lot about what it would mean for Jack if he lost his sight. Unlike Chris, Jack is extremely sight oriented and a much more high strung personality generally than Chris. Like, for example, he is almost incapable of pooping when it's raining and the dogs next door scare him so much that he can't think about anything else... I can imagine that losing vision would cause Jack a great deal of stress. And that stress would get expressed in some strange ways.

It seems like there could be a combination of factors... anxiety combined with greater reliance on smell as a tool and consequently perhaps responding to smells that were there before but didn't come to his attention...

Maybe threats outside that he responds to as if he's outside because the boundaries between inside and outside are fuzzy for him now.

Is he definitely marking or is he possibly leaking?

Are there other dogs in the house? Cats?

Might help to have a good behaviorist come over and watch him do this. S/he might understand the body language conveyed and be able to identify whether this is fear or territorial.

Natalie

[picaboo]

Hi All and thanks,
This woman has lots of JRTs (for me anymore than one JRT would be lots, but I think she has 10!) and does JRT rescue. She has had many deaf dogs before and had just never had one go blind (she says deaf is easy!) She is, like we all are to start, a wee bit, shall i say, overprotective. Actually this dog just went blind on Valentine's Day, and he is begining to adjust pretty well.. figuring it out. He hadn't peed in the house before and it was marking. I would guess that there were plenty of smells in the house with that many dogs! I thought scent marking but wasn't considering the stress/ anxiety angle. I'll ask on the other questions and see if he is still doing it or if he has adjusted and stopped going,er, inside anyway.

Natalie, Thanks for the kind introduction. It always does my heart good to remember Rena's courage and joie d'vivre. It is odd to me to look at her story on the web and see presented like it is the present. It kind of makes time compress and expand all at once! But every once in awhile someone will write with questions or comments and it is also nice to remember that we (me and Rena, as a team) touch(ed) others.

Thanks ya'll I"ll post an update when I get it.

Lynne

[We Hope]

Lynne,

Have just made my way to this "end" of the board and want to say how great it is to see you here! Long time, no post! :D

We went through something like this with Toodles, who's young and foolish and is sighted. He suddenly started doing the same thing a while back. At first we put it to behavior problems because he was an abused rescue. He took an instant dislike to some new neighbors--their dogs, cat, and the ones on two legs--when it began.

We made some tries with behavioral meds, but they never solved the problems. The neighbors moved and we moved a month after they did, and that wasn't it either.

From the minute I took him, I couldn't leave him alone in the house for a minute. Taking out the trash even meant he would start barking and carrying on loudly enough to be heard outside with all windows shut. For a long time, I managed by dropping him at either of the practices when I had to go somewhere where he wasn't welcome (supermarket, etc.), or by just taking him with me everywhere else. Professional training did nothing for this.

When we came home from shopping and grooming one day, I saw him do something strange--he got a blank look on his face and he went. It looked very much like when a person with a seizure disorder has an absence seizure--happens for a very brief period of time and there aren't any "after effect" signs.

Called John and we discussed absence seizures and Toodles. We started him on phenobarbital twice daily; he's now doing well enough to only need a very small dose of it. Since we started this, he no longer feels the need to do that in the house and the cycle of constant carrying on when I'm not there is over. He can be left for hours and there's no commotion.

Lucky, on the other hand, had some very bad anxiety attacks when his diabetic cataracts spontaneously dissolved. He was shocked by the sudden clearing in his vision. We got through that period with Rescue Remedy and Bach's Five Flower in his water, winding down to just a drop of Five Flower in his water. Lucky didn't urinate anywhere; he was just in a state of very high anxiety because he'd apparently gotten used to not seeing clearly. Rescue Remedy and Five Flower helped him get used to normal again.

You and Rena never knew the word "can't"--so don't be a stranger because it's SOO good to see you here!!!!!!!!! :D

Kathy

[picaboo]

HI All!
This just came in from the JRT's mom

in and out all by himself(on lead of course) and did his biz where HE wanted...He LOVES being around the girls(dogs). He gets all silly..he always has. He lOVES his girls. Sadly they dont stay in place long enuf for him to play with them like he used to....
Tonight he wolfed his dinner down and was able to come from the kitchen to the Lroom to me - a direct run!...all waggy and then up on the sofa to wipe his face in the blankets...a first since his blindness....Days like this lift my spirits so...( his too, huh?) No peeing inside!
I AM thinking about those goggles that are mesh-like to protect his eyes....I think a halo would be too restrictive for him as he loves the hedges.... and the inside here is small.
He is gonna be ok...

So things are getting better! I suppose the peeing inside was a anxiety issue. It hasn't lasted so I know I would be relieved! Anyway, more information to file away in our brains that might help the next person...

I will check in from time to time. Very nice job on this Board, It is easy to get around and easy to use. It is nice to be in touch with ya'll again.

Scritches to the critters
Lynne

[BestBuddy]

Hi Lynne,
Just a comment on the mesh doggles.
I got some for Buddy after he had issues with eye ulcers, I thought he may have been walking into things. Not my brightest idea as he really hated them, he just stopped completely when I put them on. I will try to put a pic of the disaster in my album if you care to take a look at a very sad pup.
Jenny

[k9diabetes]

Great news that he's working things out. They really are amazing...

[eyelostit]

That is good news, dogs are amazing :)