Here she comes!

Here is Rosie. She is an older dog with a common problem. She is going blind. Her blindness has progressed quite a bit since last year when she first started showing signs of her cataract disease.
Up until last month Rosie was bumping and stumbling her way around the house she shares with her mom and dad (Steve and Cassandra) and a furry sister, Maddie.
I first started working with Rosie about 3 years ago for arthritis in her hips. Using Acupressure Massage to help her with mobility and to boost her general well being which is also helpful in an aging dog.
She also has issues with a thyroid problem and hearing loss as well. By the sound of her problems you might think that Rosie is not leading a very good quality of life, but I will tell you that is not true. Rosie is a happy, active dog who is learning to adjust to the process of getting old, she not only is meeting it with gusto she is an inspiration to me. She is my oldest client and I am very grateful to be able to help her along with Acupressure Massage. Being involved with Rosie's care and seeing her teach herself to live within her changing body has been such a learning experience for me.
The contraption you see in the photos was made by Steve after he and Cassandra researched information for "blind dogs" on the Internet. They eventually found a man who made this bumper-type harness for his own blind dog. He even provided a tutorial on how to fashion one for other people with vision impaired dogs. Rosie has only been wearing this for about 3 weeks, but she is already much more confident and really eager to move around now. When she first started to go blind she was very slow and cautious as can be expected. I also felt she was depressed and lethargic, almost like she was ready to give up and just sit in one place because she was constantly hurting her little face on the furniture and walls.
I am posting about this because I would like to point out that there are some great ideas and ways to help our animal friends live a happy life. I am not talking about tuning out their pain for selfish reasons, that is never right in my opinion. But as far as assisting older dogs with appliances like older people have with canes, hearing aides and things like that- why not give it a try? Most dogs are surprisingly game to give it a go. I think you can teach an old dog new tricks! Just look at Rosie!
website for harness:http://www.blindpets.com/harness/index.htm