Boston Terrier - Sophie! - Beautiful Boston Terrier - Small

　　Sweet Sophie is roughly 12 y/o and without a doubt full Boston Terrier.. She has cataracts, and she is pretty much completely blind. The shelter or the folks that rescued her thought she might see shadows, but she doesn't. She will bump into walls, people, other dogs, not see steps, trip over stuff, etc. Most breeds would compensate for this with their acute sense of smell, but Bostons with their short noses, don't necessarily have the smell talents of other breeds. Her hearing is very good, and she is responding to the name we have given her (Sophie). She didn't come from the shelter with a name. But that doesn't keep her from living life. She always stays in the middle of the action, be it among the dog or human members of the pack. We have 4 dogs of our own - of various breeds, sizes and temperaments. She hasn't had any big issues with any of them. Her blindness contributes to some breakdown of doggy protocols. Our dogs aren't too bothered by that. One of our larger dogs, can be a little bit of a bully with new dogs, making sure that they understand their place in the pack etc. Sophie doesn't react when she is "corrected" by one of the other dogs. Lately, she has been trying to engage them. She tries to hump them, sometimes it almost turns into play, but the blindness mixes up the signals. And again, if the dogs don't like the humping, they let her know she doesn't react with aggression - which is what you want. She enjoys being around them. She is pretty potty trained. As with any change in environments, there needs to be an adjustment period. Being blind just adds to the adjustment. We keep the doors to our backyard always open during the day, so the dogs can get out whenever they need to. From the backdoor, there is a deck and about 2 and a half steps to the yard. At first, she kept missing the steps and dropping off the deck (about a an 18 drop). We put up some barriers on the edge and then she easily found the steps. So just starting today, we have observed her finding her own way out to the backyard, do her stuff and find her way back in, a few times. Yea! Her energy level is appropriate for her age. When our dogs (who are all around 4 years old) get excited about someone at the door or walk time, she is right there in the middle of it. She LOVES going on walks. We just have to make sure she doesn't run into things or fall off the curb. She is very food motivated, and since I do the feeding, she follows me around all the time. She is somewhat agile. She can jump on and off the couch. The bed is a little higher, sometimes she makes it, sometimes not. Due to the blindness, she isn't quite sure when she makes the jump. We feed our own dogs dry food, that we just leave out and they eat when they want. Sophie didn't take to it very well, and we thought she would do better with a dog food formulated for seniors. We have been giving her canned food (half a can in the morning / half in the evening). The shelter vet said she had luxating patellas (knee problems). We haven't seen impacts to her ability to get around, but we think she should try and lose some pounds. I think she is the type of dog that would over-eat, given the opportunity. Her skin is a little dry (flaky). We haven't given her a bath yet as she still has staples from her spaying. When those are removed, then we can try some medicated shampoo. Occasionally, she will initiate wanting affection, but we usually initiate it and she enjoys it. I am thinking the blindness plays a part in that. At first there was a little flinch when we pet her, mostly because she didn't see the hand coming, but there is a lot less of it as we pet her a lot. We crated her the first night she stayed with us. She did fine. We don't typically mandatory crate our dogs. The larger dogs will go to their crates at night to sleep but we don't close the crate doors. The our smaller dogs prefer to sleep on the bed. So after the first night, we let Sophie sleep in the bed. She is great - sleeps through the night. And she doesn't seem to snore nearly as much as our other Boston Terrier - whi

　　CHARACTERISTICS:

　　Breed: Boston Terrier

　　Size: Small

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　　CONTACT:

　　Wonder Dog Rescue | San Francisco, CA | 415-621-DOGS

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