Fabric pet crate

It arrived today and we are very impressed with it! The company that made it is RayGar Pets. We had looked at something similar in Pets at Home and weren't 100% impressed but we needed to find an option for Dolly to travel in. So we went ahead and bought one that had good reviews, keeping our fingers crossed...

It is brilliant, the frame is reinforced and can click into place or fold down. It has a top, side and front opening, it has 2 pockets - one of which detaches. Mesh siding all around to good for little dogs who need to smell everything. Best of all it folds done flat so we don't have to find somewhere to store it in our little house. It is small enough for Dolly to be on the backseat of the car in the fabric crate but big enough for her to be able to move and get comfortable. We think it will be something we use a lot when we take her places so that she will get used to it and understand that it means we are going out somewhere.

Fabric pet crate -RayGar pets

So we are all very excited as we get to see Dolly tomorrow. She is still at our friend's (breeder) as we are going off on holiday again for a week and we thought it would be more distressing for her to come to use for 3 days and then go back for a week. But we have been using the time wisely by planning her vaccinations around our holiday that way when we get back she will be able to go outside. But of course we had planned our holidays before we even considered having a puppy. So lots of puppy cuddles and pictures tomorrow!

Essential equipment

So we did our research and did lots of thinking about what we would need for this dog.
So we bought a rug for our living room so that the dog has a safe place to stay on (helps the dog know the boundaries by the edging of the rug).
We worked out where the dog would stay sleep and always be returned to if picked up. We all agreed on using the word 'bed' as well.
We bought a personalised dog lead, we went for blue with white writing. It is personalised with BLIND DOG on it so that warns other dog owners and people passing. We found out that it can be very frightening for the dog if random people come up to it and pet it, as well as letting other dog owners to try and stop their dogs coming up to Dolly. We bought the lead off Amazon as it was easier to personalise.
We bought a personalised harness (to help her know when she is going on a walk) with glow in the dark writing. We bought a padded one so that it is comfortable for her as it is not about controlling her .
We got her dog charm and had it personalised with 'I am a blind dog.' Of course with her name and our number as well as the detail that she is microchipped.
We bought a soft fabric crate for travels and for get visits as she will be able to smell and hear things better when travelling in the car or visiting friends/family.
We haven't bought her a dog bed as she is still a puppy and would more than likely chew it. So she has a cardboard box with fleece blanket. This also saves an additional costs and a fight amongst our little family as we all wanted a different bed for Dolly.
Our little one chose the puppy treats (in preparation for meeting Dolly for her 2nd vaccination).
We are also looking at getting a fabric pet playpen as we will be able to take it with us to the park and she will have some freedom as well as being able to put it up in our backyard or house. Less hassle than a metal pen.
We haven't bought the long lead yet for her to go to open spaces and run around with as our little family is still debating the colour and pattern!
Friends of ours are giving us their puppy crate which we will use while we are out as she will have clear boundaries and space that is hers.
We are also looking at getting a water drinking fountain as she will be able to hear where her water and food is when not in her crate.
We have of course looked into more toys, they are all saved on our Amazon wishlist! There are some great scented ones and ones that make noises. But we have years to buy these...

Fetch in Bradford on Avon

So during our holiday we found out about an amazing independent pet shop called Fetch in Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire. We were able to get a few dog toys that had a scent and made noise. We also bought Dolly's collar!

Various toys that we have bought are:

Tuff Bones from Planet Dog - mint scented

Soft squeaky toys that absorb scent - Planet Dog

Has a bell inside

Freezable dog chew - Petstages 

Our decision

So we spent the evening thinking about it, didn't help that I was besotted with the puppy! We realised that we could offer this puppy an amazing quality of life. So we texted our friend before going on holiday for 2 weeks that we would like to take Dolly! So she is ours.... I say with a big gulp.

We told our little one and all she kept singing in the car on the way down south for our holiday was "we're getting a puppy!" So after a few snapchats to friends with her sharing the news later (in song of course) we explained about having a blind puppy and what this might mean. We got her to think of what things we would need to do and how we would need to take extra care of the dog in future.

So now we all have to wait until after the holidays to meet our Dolly! I can't wait.


Bit of extra info we found
Having a blind dog
Tips for blind dogs
Living with a blind dog

Vet check and first vaccinations

So I took Dolly to the local vets. The vet was really understanding and amazing. Dolly surprised us both by easily coming out of the crate and started investigating immediately. So she is definitely not a shy dog!
The vet checked her missing eye and surrounding area, this was fine but she agreed that it would be easier in the future for her to have it stitched up to avoid infection. The vet recommended that we do this when she was being spayed (we weren't planning to breed her) and it can be done when she is under the anaesthetic. The vet said this could be done in the morning and she would be able to go home one evening.
The vet then checked her other eye and tested her sight. She used her finger to approach Dolly from different directions - sadly no reactions. The vet then tried the flicking close to an eye (normally we would blink or flinch) but sadly Dolly showed no response again. The vet then took a biscuit and held out her hand and it was clear that Dolly couldn't see it and was smelling around for it. The vet said that it would appear that Dolly is blind but that she could go to a proper dog ophthalmologist about it for a definite response. I said it wasn't necessary.
The rest of the examine that the vet did seemed to overwhelm Dolly as she didn't know what was happening. We managed to reassure her by talking and holding her.
The saddest bit was when she had her vaccination because she just had no idea what the vet was going to do. However she got over it in 5 mins and was back to sniffing around and investigating. We had to make sure that she didn't walk off the table as she couldn't see that it was an edge.
But otherwise Dolly was good. So I booked in for her second vaccination in 2 weeks time.

I took her back to our friend's and explained that the puppy was blind. They were surprised as she didn't seem to walk into things and 30secs later she walked into the table! Bless her! So we said that we wanted a bit more time to think about it as we had thought she had some sight in her other eye. So more thinking.....

Pros and Cons

We spent a lot of time going over the pros and cons and trying not to fall in love with a puppy! Hard to do but we got there in the end!

Pros:
Calm, relaxed personality, carefree puppy and docile
Similar nature to the mother
Not the runt of the litter and not aggressive
Independent
Doesn't need lots of exercise (small breed dog)
Not high maintenance dog
Could help our little one when she needs a friend
We know the breeder

Cons:
Existing medical issue and possibly more in the future!?!
Insurance and veterinary premiums could be higher
Needs surgery in future to stitch up missing eye (stitch eye lids together to prevent infection)


We spent the weekend (little one was away for the weekend) checking what we thought. We also the checked the cost of dog food and various bits the dog would need on a monthly basis. We worked it out to roughly £50 a month. Which we thought wasn't too bad! So we came to the agreement we would take the puppy for its vaccinations and get it vet checked. I booked an appointment with our friend's vet and we kept our fingers crossed.

In the beginning...

We always wanted to get a dog, but with moving around a lot it never seemed the right time. A friend of ours, her shih tzu had puppies. She wanted to know if we wanted one, we weren't really sure...
Then we found out that one of them only had one eye so she wouldn't be able to see very well. So we thought maybe. We had huge reservations as the puppy was only 7 weeks old. Our friend said that the puppy had a lovely personality and that she wasn't overly excitable. So again we thought maybe....

So we agreed to see the puppies as we needed to rule the puppy in or out. Plus we had the added pressure of agreeing with our little one that we would get a pet at some point (we didn't let on about the puppy though). So we went to our friend's house and saw the 6 puppies. Then other 5 puppies were as expected jumping, excitable, nipping and curious about us. They licked everything and everyone!

Dolly (puppy's name) walked around the edge and walked in and out of our legs. She didn't really stop and occasionally she would do a little (what appeared to be) a hop skip and a jump. She was the one that ventured farther away than any of the other puppies. We picked her up and she was calm in our arms and gave us the gracious lick. I put my finger in her mouth to check for cleft palate as I had read that a dog with one eye could be symptomatic of this. She was fine and even had a good nibble of my finger.
Our friend got the food out to feed the puppies as we were worried about her being the runt of the litter. The food was put out and the other puppies dived right and Dolly hesitated but then jumped into the middle and scattered the food by digging in the bowl. The other puppies ate from the scattered food and Dolly got the bowl to herself. So we had no worries about her being the runt!
So we left after having lots of puppy cuddles but not giving any promises as we needed to think about  having a dog with one eye.

Research that we had found before meeting the puppy was:

congenital eye defects Caring for a blind dog from birth