Thursday, August 6, 2015

More Quirks Of A Blind Dog

Since Henry has gone blind, there are some things we have expected and some things we did not expect. We knew that his sense of smell would be heightened but we did not expect that he would begin "over sniffing" on things that may be considered inappropriate. Trash cans are one of those things he over sniffs. We can literally spend 3-5 minutes waiting for him to finish taking in the smells of a nasty ol' trash can!

Another weird thing that we did not expect was how he has sort of turned into Ben with the odd places he will poop. (Sorry if I lost some of you with the "TMI: or too much information.) And fortunately, these odd places have all been outside the house! (Unlike Benny on a rainy day!) Recently, though, after over sniffing a light pole with a square base, he immediately turned around an pooped it!

But that still doesn't hold a candle to one of Benny's worst poop stories. Benny once poopd at the entrance of a store that had automatic doors. He decided right at that moment to drop his waste just as the doors slid apart and out popped customers giving us the stink eye. I cannot say that I blame them. In our defense, we did try to drag Baby Benny away from the location but what else can you do when nature calls, your dog is copping a squat and you are dragging him while he is still squatting?! We thought if we kept dragging him, we'd just leave a trail. At least this way it would be one small pile and we are the most diligent poop picker uppers in the land. Benny had many other inappropriate poop scenarios but this was an all time high! OR SHOULD I SAY LOW?!) #Embarrassing

Anyway, back to Henry, I am not sure if metal and plastic hold smells more than wood (like a tree) but those are the objects he tends to sniff the most. He will choose to sniff industrial things over natural things more now that he is blind. There are places that we go for Henry to actually take a walk (such as Memorial Park,Reed Canal Park, the beach) and places we go that give Henry an overload of smells (City Center, the dog park). We have labeled the extra smelly places with a new compound word. These are Henry's "Sniffortunities" (Sniff + Opportunities). Places where Henry has ample opportunities to sniff (and over sniff) are great sniffortuniities for him!

Not sure if this is normal blind dog behavior. But this is our Henry. And we will take him as he comes to us. Quirks and all. #OneCoolPug #BlindDogQuirks #WhosAGoodBoy? #SniffortunitiesForAll