Shelter Dogs (7 page)

Ann gave special instructions to the volunteers who would be working with Tyler and Tipper at the auction: “The border collies
must
walk together down the runway.”

Three celebrities from a local radio station were scheduled to go down the runway at the same time—two men who would have Tyler and Tipper on leashes, and a woman who would walk slightly behind the men and the dogs.

The volunteers got the dogs and celebrities in place. The announcer gave their names. And then, at the last second, there was a misunderstanding: the woman ended up with both dogs, while the men preceded her across the stage.

It is hard for one person to keep two excited dogs under control. In the confusion, Tyler got too close to the edge of the stage. Unable to see, he toppled off.

Ann was backstage getting another dog ready to go on when her walkie-talkie blasted the news. “Ann! Tyler fell off the runway!”

Her heart in her throat, Ann rushed out in time to see a member of the audience lift Tyler back onto the stage. Tyler sniffed for Tipper, who was overjoyed to see him. Tyler wasn't hurt, and the two dogs finished walking down the runway and back with no more problems.

As the auction-goers filed out the door, they passed by all the dogs who had taken part in the event. Many people stopped to pet Tipper and Tyler and to talk with the volunteers about the two beautiful border collies. Ann pointed out that surgery might help Tyler's eyesight.

For the next few days, all the staff and volunteers waited, hoping that someone would want both dogs.

No one did.

Meanwhile, Ann and her partner, Donna Amos, talked about the possibility of taking Tipper and Tyler themselves. Donna had met them when she helped at Tuxes and Tails, and she agreed that they were special dogs. But Ann and Donna already had two dogs: Skip, a fourteen-year-old black Lab who had arthritis and back problems, and Blue, a nine-year-old Australian shepherd/Lab mix.

They worried that it might not be fair to elderly Skip to bring in another dog with medical problems. And they worried about their finances. As a college student, Ann's income was limited to part-time work. In addition to the dogs, Ann and Donna had two cats. They didn't see how they could afford to take care of another animal.

The week after the auction, Ann arrived at the Humane Society for her regular volunteer shift. She went out to the kennel to check on Tipper and Tyler— and found Tyler alone.

“Tipper got adopted yesterday,” she was told. “She went to a good family, with children who are crazy about her.”

“They didn't want both dogs?” Ann asked.

“They didn't want a blind dog.”

Ann worried about Tyler all day. How could he possibly get along without his seeing-eye companion? It's hard enough for any animal to stay at the shelter. What must it be like for one who couldn't see? And now Tyler was left alone in this strange, noisy place, without the sister who had guided him for so long.

When Ann got home and told Donna what had happened, Donna said, “Go get him. We'll work it out somehow.”

The next day, Ann brought Tyler home.

Ann and Donna are foster parents for the Humane Society, often raising litters of kittens who are too young when they're taken from their mothers. The two women also nurse injured dogs and cats back to health so that they can be adopted. Skip, Blue, and the two cats, Billy and Bear, were used to having animal visitors. They were not upset by the appearance of yet another dog.

Tyler cautiously sniffed his way around the house, staying in the center of each room so he wouldn't bump into any furniture. He passed the couch where Bear, Ann's eighteen-pound cat, was sleeping.

As he started past the cat, Tyler stopped and sniffed, putting his nose right on Bear. Then he stuck out his tongue and slurped Bear across the face.

Ann tensed, expecting Bear to hiss or scratch Tyler's nose. To her surprise, the cat seemed to realize that Tyler meant no harm. He just lay there while Tyler moved on. The same thing happened the first time Tyler encountered Billy. Tyler sniffed and slurped; the cat tolerated it.

Skip often slept in the middle of the floor. More than once that first day, Tyler tripped on the inert Skip, startling both of them. Like the cats, Skip seemed to understand that Tyler didn't intend to annoy him. Skip never growled or snapped; he just stood up and moved aside so Tyler could go by.

Blue, on the other hand, wanted Tyler to play. He pranced in front of the newcomer with his upper body down and his tail wagging, inviting Tyler to chase him or to wrestle. Since Tyler could not see what Blue was doing, he made no response.

Finally Blue stopped and stared at Tyler, perplexed. In the next few days, Blue tried again and again to get Tyler to play. Tyler of course ignored him, and Blue finally gave up.

Tyler adjusted quickly to his new home. He had never encountered steps before, and there were four steps from the door to the yard. He hesitated the first few times but then seemed to remember exactly how many steps there were. From then on he went confidently up and down as if he were counting in his head.

When Tyler stumbled on a backpack that had been left on the floor, Ann and Donna quickly picked up all shoes, books, and any other objects that Tyler might trip over.

At first, Ann worried about a dog who had never been house-trained. She and Donna took Tyler outside as soon as he had eaten, and again every two or three hours. Although he had never lived indoors and had not been house-trained, he seemed to know what was expected. As long as he was put outside regularly, he never had an accident in the house.

Skip and Blue had a favorite outdoor game: Ann kicked a ball for them, and they chased it. While they played, Tyler stood patiently by Ann's side, waiting to go back indoors. He couldn't join in the game because he couldn't see the ball.

A few days after adopting Tyler, Ann took him to a veterinarian who specializes in eye problems. The diagnosis was cataracts, a clouding of the lens of the eye. Tyler may have had vision as a puppy, but now the vet said the dog was seeing the world as if he were looking through a windshield that had two feet of snow on it. Tests showed no other problem.

Cataracts, Ann learned, are common in border collies. She also learned that surgery could correct the problem. Although it was expensive to have surgery on both eyes, Ann never hesitated.

“We'll do it,” she told the vet, wondering how she and Donna would find the money to pay for it.

The cataract surgery was scheduled. In this operation, the cloudy lens is removed from each eye and replaced with a thin clear plastic lens. The same surgery is often performed on people.

On the morning of the surgery, Ann left Tyler at the veterinary clinic, hoping the operation would be successful.

When she went back a few hours later, Tyler was wearing a stiff plastic cone-shaped collar that surrounded his head like a large megaphone. The collar would prevent Tyler from scratching at his eyes or from bumping his head.

“Hello, Tyler,” Ann said.

Tyler turned toward her voice, as he always did. And then he did something he had never done before: he walked straight toward her.

Tyler could see.

Ann knelt to look into his clear brown eyes. The white cloudiness was gone.

“The operation was a complete success,” the vet said. “Tyler now has one hundred percent vision in both eyes.”

Although Tyler was still groggy from the anesthetic, he began exploring the house as soon as Ann got him home. He went to Donna, sniffed her, and then looked hard as if putting together for the first time the familiar scent and the unfamiliar sight.

He walked all around the house, sniffing at objects and then pausing to look at them.

“We could almost see his brain computing as he put together the smells he recognized with the brand-new sights he was seeing,” Ann recalls.

He walked past the couch where Bear, the cat, lay snoozing. Tyler stopped, smelled Bear, and stared at him with an expression of total astonishment on his face. Ann and Donna are sure he was thinking, “So that's what a cat looks like!”

Tyler had always walked with his tail tucked down between his legs, a sign of anxiety. It was as if he had tried to make himself as small as possible so that he wouldn't accidentally bump anything.

Now that he could see, he relaxed and began to hold his tail out in a normal position.

When Ann went to the Humane Society the next week, everyone rejoiced at the good news. Ann was handed an envelope full of money. Other volunteers had taken up a collection to help pay for Tyler's surgery.

The collar stayed on for several weeks while Tyler's eyes healed. During that time, Tyler continued to act amazed at the many things he could now see.

Before the surgery, when Tyler had heard a car outside, he would walk to the window, cock his head, and listen. The first time he heard a car after the surgery, he went to the window and then pressed his nose against the glass, staring as the car drove past. From then on, he spent many hours each day looking out the window.

About a month after the surgery, Ann had the three dogs in the yard. She kicked a ball and as always, Skip and Blue chased it. But this time, Tyler ran after them! His tail waved high in the air as he raced along with the other two dogs. For the first time since he had lost his sight, Tyler was playing.

He is now a regular part of the game. But unlike Skip and Blue, Tyler doesn't care about the ball. What he likes to do is herd the other dogs, trying to guide them toward the ball.

He tries to herd them in other situations, too. When Ann comes home, Tyler runs behind Blue, making sure Blue goes straight to Ann.

Soon after Tyler's protective collar was removed, a new litter of kittens in need of foster care joined the household. Bottle-feeding a newborn kitten is a messy affair; usually the kitten's face is quickly covered with milk.

Tyler eagerly took over the job of cleaning up the kittens after they were fed. Just like a mother cat, he carefully licked the spilled milk from each tiny kitten's face. The kittens purred and snuggled close to him.

Tyler has continued to wash every litter of kittens that Ann and Donna have fostered. He also washes Skip's and Blue's ears each night before they go to bed.

Tyler endured three years of neglect. He was blind, afraid, and separated from his sister, the only companion he had ever known. Yet he remained trusting and gentle.

Ann says, “Tyler loves the baby kittens, the other dogs, the cats, us, and all our visitors. We're so happy that he can finally see the world he loves.”

About a Dog's Eyesight

Dogs can see better in the dark than humans can, but they do not see colors as clearly as we do.

Dogs' eyes are sensitive to movement; when something moves, they see it more clearly than when it is still.

One way to test your dog's eyesight is to stand a few feet in front of her and drop a cotton ball. Do it several times. If your dog doesn't look at the cotton ball as it falls, she probably can't see it.

If you suspect that your dog has trouble seeing, take her to your veterinarian. Eye problems might be a symptom of a treatable disease.

Ivan

FIRE-ALARM HERO

Alexandra Brumleve hugs the family dog, American Red Cross Animal Hero Ivan, as Alexandra's mother, Taj Brumleve, looks on. Photograph by David Harrison.

7

T
AJ BRUMLEVE IS LEGALLY DEAF
. She cannot hear a telephone ringing or someone knocking at her door. She cannot hear the high-pitched sound of a smoke alarm going off. She cannot hear when her daughter, Alexandra, cries or calls to her.

When Alexandra was two, Taj decided to get a hearing-ear dog who would let her know when Alexandra needed her or when the phone or doorbell rang. Since there was a long waiting period to receive such a service dog, Taj decided to try to train a dog herself. She had always loved animals and knew she would like the companionship of a dog even if the home training didn't work out.