Blind Leading the Blind

So I have one blind dog that I occasionally walk.  She's been blind for a few years now.  She is and older dog (Ginger), and lives with her litter mate brother (Oreo).  She's been blind for a few years now and is very comfortable with her disability.  Unfortunately for her, Oreo doesn't make the best seeing eye dog.  They leash the two dogs together, but he just runs Ginger into things.  Ginger gets along on her own just fine at home, and when she knows where she is.  It is only when she goes out into the wider world that you'd even notice that she can't see where she is going.

I am a soccer player, have played my entire life.  Wednesday night I got my head on a rocket shot at close range, and it knocked me silly.  Not an entirely unusual thing.  But usually the blind spots disappear fairly quickly, like within five minutes.  This time there was one, it was huge, and it didn't go away for the rest of the game, although it did shrink a bit.  When it was still there the next morning, I figured I'd better go make sure I hadn't detached my retina, which can happen from blunt force trauma.  Fortunately, I hadn't, and the blind spot is supposed to shrink and then disappear.  Good news!  But in order to check me out, they did give me drops to dilate my eyes yesterday.

I am sure you can see where this is going.  The drops usually go away fairly quickly, but not for me, not yesterday anyway.  And because of the drops, my eyesight was all screwy, plus I still have the blind spot.  So indeed, we did have a situation yesterday where it was the blind leading the blind!  Well, the very blind at the end of the leash, and the nearly blind following along behind at any rate.  And yes, I did have someone else drive me.  Just another adventure in dog walking!

When the fur flies...

Had an interesting conversation with another dog walker at the park the other day.  I had helped her break up a fight amongst her dogs.  She has two labs that live together who tend to pick on another dog in her pack.  And the other dog is one who is up for the fight.  Apparently this is a fairly common thing for them.  But usually it isn't much of an issue because when this third dog is in a grumpy mood, she muzzles him.  You may not think this is fair, but it is his reaction to their play that escalates the situation, so this is her solution.

Fortunately, this most of the time they get along pretty well, and usually if they are having a bad day she manages to muzzle him before they really get into it.  Last week was not one of those days.  I was out in the water and looked to shore to see her with the two labs, one in each hand, held as far apart as possible, and the other dog still trying to get at them, because once the skirmish starts, he is willing to finish it. 

Now, one person keeping two dogs apart is really hard.  Heck, two people keeping two dogs apart is not particularly easy.  One person keeping three dogs apart is totally impossible.  So in jumped a good Samaritan to help, and given that my dogs were completely disinterested in me or the skirmish, I came to shore to help as well.  We got everyone separated, and the muzzle on, and everything ended up being just fine.  No blood, no harm, no foul.

On the walk back from the water to the parking area, we ended up walking together and had a long talk.  And she was really thankful for the help, and a bit frustrated that it had happened at all, because she felt like she maybe ignored some clues that should have told her to muzzle him earlier.  She was also a bit interested to see why more help hadn't come from other dog walkers.  And after thinking about it for a while, I pointed out that my thought process was in situations like that. 

My responsibility is to the dogs in my pack first and foremost.  If I bring my pack of dogs toward a dog fight, I may be doing more harm than good.  It just depends upon who I have in my pack, and how severe the fight is.  If the dogs I have with me will most likely add on, I am probably going to do everything I can to walk them away to minimize my impact.  If, like during this incident, my dogs are ignoring me...I will go and help out.  And if the fight is bad enough that someone is going to get severely hurt, then I will jump in no matter what, but in the safest manner possible. 

I am glad I shared this with her.  It was a perspective she had never considered before, and I think it reassured her that the people who aren't helping aren't necessarily doing so out of indifference.  They may be making the right choice given what they know about their own dogs' behaviors.  It was an interesting day, and I'm glad I helped, on both fronts.