Can you housebreak a blind dog? I need to know!?

Question

Please let me know as soon as you can!

He is about six weeks old, we're pretty sure he was born blind, but we're not sure if its being caused by head, what I mean is that his head is unusually large so we think there might be some brain swelling because his head is kinda sensitive. If he does have a brain swelling prob do you think that it could be causeing his blind ness, and is there a way to help him

Answer 1

Oh YEah!!

We have one in the program. His foster is adopting him because he is so good. He was born blind (We named him Ray) HE is about 5 months and doing fine on housebreaking. It does help if there are other animals for him to follow.

Answer 2

Well, in order to really answer this question, we need a little more information. Such as, is this an adult dog? How long has it been blind? Was it housebroken prior to going blind? If this is a puppy, how old is it? Was it born blind or was the blindness caused by accident or illness? If so, how long ago did this happen?

All of this information is needed to give you a complete answer, because it all bears on how to go about the housebreaking. You can definitely housebreak a blind dog. As some general guidlelines, I can say you should always go outside with the dog, so you can praise it when it goes, and make sure it has ample time to both get it's bearings and take care of it's business. Accidents in the house should be cleaned up thoroughly, but essentially ignored. Punishment, without knowing the complete history on this dog, may cause fear, and compound your problem. Routes in and out of the house should not be changed (as in rearranging furniture, adding a patio set to the deck), so the dog doesn't have to figure out how to get to the place where it does it's business. Maintain as regular a routine as possible, so that it knows when it will be able to go, and feed on a regular schedule to help control the times it will have to go. If you have multiple dogs, make sure the blind dog has time alone to take care of business, the other dogs may confuse and/or bully it (even unintentionally), since it is now disabled. If this dog was recently blinded, keep in mind that it is getting used to a whole new world. It's afraid and unsure. Time and patience will solve the problem. I know it can be incredibly annoying and tiresome, if you need a little reminder of how this dog feels, blindfold yourself (no peeking!) and then go to the bathroom. You'll feel a whole new sense of compassion. Good Luck!

Answer 3

Training A Blind Dog

Answer 4

Of course you can, the dog doesn't need eyes to be housebroken. Treat him as a pup, GO OUT WITH THE DOG, obviously he has to be leashed if not in a fence. Buy 2 cheap diff smelling perfumes, spray one on paths he uses to find the door, food bowl, beds and the other on obstacles, walk him around showing him the layout. Pay attention to his signals, not all dogs sighted or not, go to the door or scratch on it to go out. My dogs always have know the question "Do you wanna go out? and get up and run to the door. My parents' poodle went blind and lived happily another 6 yrs and he never made a mistake in the house. My toy poodle was blind and deaf for about 2 yrs and she still did her obed routine and went for walks. Never had a problem with her going in the house either. There is a lady who has several rescued Danes including a blind one and he goes to the dog park, he gets run into some but since he is so huge it doesn't hurt him. I would never bring a blind dog or deaf dog that was smaller then a Dane as it could be hurt.

Answer 5

Hi, I understand that you are looking for some advice or resources to help fully train your dog or fix behavior problems. If a professional dog trainer is not an option at this time, or if you want to trt training your dog on your own (a great way to bond), I'd suggest you https://bitly.im/aOeuv

A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

Answer 6

my dog is practically blind (cataracts), and still very well house broken, however I advise you to close off any stairs, keep breakable stuff on high shelves, and try not to move your furniture around because I have noticed these things have all been issues for my dog
here's a site with some creative tips on how to make things easier for your blind dog around the house:
http://www.blinddogs.com/tips.htm
my favorite tip is to use different scents to distinguish different rooms (hang a bag of potpourri on the door knob or use scented candles near the door of the room), they also discuss using pet water fountains so that the dog can hear where it's water is, and wind chimes outside so that your dog can find the back door from the yard.

Answer 7

Of course you can. Try crate training. It will work for a blind dog. Blind dogs have a very good sense of where they are once they learn where home is and they identify the potty area by smell.

Answer 8

Of course you can. His/her eyesight has nothing to do with the urge urge to relieve his/herself. I have a 12 year old chihuahua who is blind. She knows when she has to pee and she knows where the door is to ask to go out. My vet says the eyesight is nowhere near as important as the sense of smell. My dog does fine on stairs, with the other dogs, etc. The only thing that really throws her is if you move furniture around. Even then, it doesn't take her long to sort it out!
Just let your dog know what is expected. He/she will figure it out without too much trouble.

Answer 9

Of course. Dogs have a strong sense of smell. Surely they will learn when they go outside to do their job that they are outside. When you would take him out to go you should call it something so the associates the sound with the action.

My sisters dog wasn't blind, but she taught her dog to ring a bell hanging from the door when she had to go.

Answer 10

As a professional dog trainer for over 16 years, I have to tell you my strong opinion that you need these group classes for obedience training. http://OnlineDogTraining.enle.info/?EZsr

Other pet warehouses are there to get you to buy their products and hang around their strore. And their trainers are their employees...never forget they have an agenda. Most of the trainers have very little education--if they had actual training and skills they wouldn't be there making just over minimum wage--trust me on this. But even if they did have experience and talent...a group setting is a terrible place for learning to take place. It's distraction training and it is the LAST phase of training not the first. You wouldn't have your child try to do their homework in a toy store, would you? Of course not...the level of distraction would be too high! It's the same with dogs. Having said that, these classes can be an excellent way to socialize dogs...but not to train them. And while they appear to be cheaper than a professional trainer...you have to attend many more sessions to get the same results because of the poor learning environment--so you wind up spending MORE money for less training than you would with a professional. Save your money and go to someone who actually knows how to train dogs. OR, read books and try to train your dog yourself. There is nothing they train at a Petsmart or Petco that you can't do yourself with a couple of hours of reading.