About some new actions of newly blind dogs
Hi,
My apologies foroffering only explanations-not cures, but perhaps offering consoling science-understanding?
Several recent Blind-dog posts wonderfully described recently improved responses of newly blind dogs to their environments. We hope to offer some of the scientific understanding about what some of the dogs have been achieving.
The April 2012 issue of the Scientific American Journal contains an article describing the response of nervous systems to extreme and prolonged stress (such as would be nearly certain to be felt by dogs who become blind from glaucoma or other reasons and then lose an eye and/or suffer partial or complete optical blindness from PRA or SARDs. ) Part of their stress would likely or certainly arise from the dog’s feeling and reacting to the misery and distress of its human companions, which various persons have aptly remarked about in other posts.
The recent science reports indicate that during extreme stress /pain major parts of the nervous system sort of shut down (such as possibly the case when a dog’s pupils – one or both- stop responding to changes in brightness of light.) After a comparatively long time (it feels to the dog and people like nearly forever) if safety and security and a caring bond is provided to the dog (or person?) it seems that in time many of the “shut down” responses will recover of themselves. The eye nerve systems are notoriously sensitive to pain and extreme stress, so reactions such as months long loss of pupil size response are entirely plausible, followed by recovery later if there was little or no physical damage to the nerves. [The automatic controls of pupil size are somewhat separate from the nerves involved in PRA and SARD so might not be much harmed during the nerves degeneration loss of vision from those two causes.]
In addition, reports of research, since 2004 by S. Coren and others, indicate that dog’s have naturally genetically several less effective ways to partly replace the functions for getting about that were best served by their eyes.
1. Dogs’ can sense warmth with their skin, such as on their nose or around their eyes, and maybe with large floppy ears, the heat-rays (infra-red) of sunlight, indoor lamps and night-lights. Indeed at birth, heat-seeking is how puppies find the places on their mother where they can get milk! So when a newly blind dog at last begins to feel quite safe and secure with her persons, she will instinctively begin to seek out warm places for the comfort they offer (including human warmth!). Early photos were posted showing blind dogs enjoying the sun, outdoors, exactly as do seeing dogs.
2. Blind dog noses will also come into use as the dogs discover or remember that sun and lamp warmed places smell stronger and probably better than cold places do. (There are complex laws of Physics and Chemistry that make that true.) So from discovering and recalling the locations of good and bad aromas newly blind dogs will in perhaps 30 to 60 days or more begin to get about as though they could see (poorly) again.
3. In addition, many blind-hearing dogs were conclusively known to learn to get about remarkably well by a kind of 3-D sound-vision roughly like the little flying animals called “bats” use. Often the dogs are combining a detection of the texture under-foot such as carpet or wood, plus the sounds and the echoes to understand where they are and what is nearby, where. Some blind dogs bark or make other sounds more after becoming blind, for use of the echoes. An amusing side-effect reported was the tendency of some blind dogs to bark into corners, which reflect sound as mirrors do light, for fun or with the at first mistaken impression that there was a barking dog (themselves!) in the corner.
4. Blind-deaf dogs can also of course use the ability to sense warmth, smells, textures under foot to get about safely and by reports remarkably happily with kind caring people. In addition, dogs who are genetically deaf to sounds the way people hear with their inner ears, have several less effective ways to detect mechanical vibrations (sound) carried by the air, floors or walls of their surroundings. The reports indicate that many genetically deaf dogs after several years gradually begin to recover some useful hearing to vibrations of certain sounds, such as car brakes, tires on the road, doors slammed, and loud coughs of their people nearby, etc.- -
5. An Internet web site that tries to explain some of this stuff for blind, deaf and blind-deaf dogs people in more detail is http://deafdogsforever.weebly.com They are sort of slow in answering questions, but anyone who wishes is welcome to contact me directly & I’ll do my best to reply as soon and as best I can.
With respect and admiration for the companions of blind dogs and their dogs,
Dr Hal G----
Hi,
My apologies foroffering only explanations-not cures, but perhaps offering consoling science-understanding?
Several recent Blind-dog posts wonderfully described recently improved responses of newly blind dogs to their environments. We hope to offer some of the scientific understanding about what some of the dogs have been achieving.
The April 2012 issue of the Scientific American Journal contains an article describing the response of nervous systems to extreme and prolonged stress (such as would be nearly certain to be felt by dogs who become blind from glaucoma or other reasons and then lose an eye and/or suffer partial or complete optical blindness from PRA or SARDs. ) Part of their stress would likely or certainly arise from the dog’s feeling and reacting to the misery and distress of its human companions, which various persons have aptly remarked about in other posts.
The recent science reports indicate that during extreme stress /pain major parts of the nervous system sort of shut down (such as possibly the case when a dog’s pupils – one or both- stop responding to changes in brightness of light.) After a comparatively long time (it feels to the dog and people like nearly forever) if safety and security and a caring bond is provided to the dog (or person?) it seems that in time many of the “shut down” responses will recover of themselves. The eye nerve systems are notoriously sensitive to pain and extreme stress, so reactions such as months long loss of pupil size response are entirely plausible, followed by recovery later if there was little or no physical damage to the nerves. [The automatic controls of pupil size are somewhat separate from the nerves involved in PRA and SARD so might not be much harmed during the nerves degeneration loss of vision from those two causes.]
In addition, reports of research, since 2004 by S. Coren and others, indicate that dog’s have naturally genetically several less effective ways to partly replace the functions for getting about that were best served by their eyes.
1. Dogs’ can sense warmth with their skin, such as on their nose or around their eyes, and maybe with large floppy ears, the heat-rays (infra-red) of sunlight, indoor lamps and night-lights. Indeed at birth, heat-seeking is how puppies find the places on their mother where they can get milk! So when a newly blind dog at last begins to feel quite safe and secure with her persons, she will instinctively begin to seek out warm places for the comfort they offer (including human warmth!). Early photos were posted showing blind dogs enjoying the sun, outdoors, exactly as do seeing dogs.
2. Blind dog noses will also come into use as the dogs discover or remember that sun and lamp warmed places smell stronger and probably better than cold places do. (There are complex laws of Physics and Chemistry that make that true.) So from discovering and recalling the locations of good and bad aromas newly blind dogs will in perhaps 30 to 60 days or more begin to get about as though they could see (poorly) again.
3. In addition, many blind-hearing dogs were conclusively known to learn to get about remarkably well by a kind of 3-D sound-vision roughly like the little flying animals called “bats” use. Often the dogs are combining a detection of the texture under-foot such as carpet or wood, plus the sounds and the echoes to understand where they are and what is nearby, where. Some blind dogs bark or make other sounds more after becoming blind, for use of the echoes. An amusing side-effect reported was the tendency of some blind dogs to bark into corners, which reflect sound as mirrors do light, for fun or with the at first mistaken impression that there was a barking dog (themselves!) in the corner.
4. Blind-deaf dogs can also of course use the ability to sense warmth, smells, textures under foot to get about safely and by reports remarkably happily with kind caring people. In addition, dogs who are genetically deaf to sounds the way people hear with their inner ears, have several less effective ways to detect mechanical vibrations (sound) carried by the air, floors or walls of their surroundings. The reports indicate that many genetically deaf dogs after several years gradually begin to recover some useful hearing to vibrations of certain sounds, such as car brakes, tires on the road, doors slammed, and loud coughs of their people nearby, etc.- -
5. An Internet web site that tries to explain some of this stuff for blind, deaf and blind-deaf dogs people in more detail is http://deafdogsforever.weebly.com They are sort of slow in answering questions, but anyone who wishes is welcome to contact me directly & I’ll do my best to reply as soon and as best I can.
With respect and admiration for the companions of blind dogs and their dogs,
Dr Hal G----