Mariner has funtional eyesight

As many of you know Mariner (F1b GD) suffered a skull fracture at 7 1/2 weeks old, resulting in blindness and a seizure disorder. We adopted him when he was 4 or so months old. For the first couple of weeks he hardly moved and was very unsure of everything. Soon he would be walking around but his tail was down. Little by little his tail started going up. He was navigating by smell, feel and sound. Gradually we started getting hints that his eyesight was returning. We did not beleive that he was seeing we thought he was getting better at compensating for his lack of sight. We started to beleive when one day we had to leave him at a neighbors house and he was able to navigate their backyard and go up and down their steps - although he was bumping into things, this was quite an accomplishment. We noticed that he was getting around better and better.

Over Passover we were at my sister in laws house. He got around without a problem. This was only the second time he has been to this house. The funny thing was that he saw himself in a mirror and started barking. I am sure he sees.

I beleive that he was able to regain at least this functional sight due to a few things - Vitamins and fish oil to help brain development - having him neutered as late as possible, again the hormones help brain development and also that our other two dogs are here to assist and stimulate him. In one sense he was fortunate the accident happened when he was young before his brain was fully developed. His brain was able to develop alternate pathways to replace the injured ones.

Our vet was the one who had said from the very beginning that it was possible for Mariner to develop some sight. But no one ever thought he would do this well. It truly is amazing. Mariner will be 2 in July.

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