Lady Belle - Adventures of a Blind Doodle - Cognitive Mapping

[Thomas, Chari, & Lady Belle]

Google the terms “dog” or “canine” along with “cognitive maps” or “mind maps.”  You’ll be surprised as I was at how little is out there.  There are some technical manuscripts discussing theories on how the information is actually stored.  I don’t care how the information is stored.  More important to me is what is stored and how to make use of cognitive mapping in adapting a blind dog to her environment.

If you are interested in more material on dog cognitive maps and broad general material on blind dogs, you might want to pick up a copy of “Living With Blind Dogs” by Caroline Levin.  She was a Charge Nurse of Ophthalmology Surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland Washington.  She left the field to become Practice Manager of an ophthalmology veterinary clinic and has worked with owners of a tremendous number of blind dogs over the years.  My conclusions are drawn from her book, which is generally regarded at the best book on blind dogs in the field, and from my own experience working with my two blind dogs. 

All creatures have some form of cognitive mapping capability.  We humans certainly do.  We don’t even think about how to get to the grocery store.  We just get in the car and drive.  Because sight is our dominant sense, our cognitive maps are made up primarily of images.   Drive to the corner, turn right, go to the fire station, turn left, etc.

With dogs, the most important senses are smell and sound.  I believe their mind maps are a rich tapestry of smells, sounds, images, and textures.  I suspect the relative amount of each kind of information in each map parallels the importance of each sense to the dog.  That means, take away sight, and even hearing, and a dog can still build and maintain an effective mind map.

Belle began mapping the downstairs of our house as soon as she arrived.  She’s a smart dog who is motivated to learn things that are important to her, and she spends a lot of time in the downstairs of the house.  Because she doesn’t have sight, her map lacks some of the clarity of the map of a sighted dog.  As a result she still brushes against objects she would prefer to avoid.  Yet after 10 days she moves around our downstairs with confidence.  When we come home, she is there to greet us with her tail wagging in the back hallway.

My oldest son stopped by this week after returning from a two week vacation.  He met Belle.  His first comment was, “Apparently you didn’t get the blind dog you were talking about.”  He’s not the only one she has hoodwinked.  I don’t tell dog owners we encounter that she’s blind unless there is a compelling reason to.  They almost always walk away with no idea they just encountered a blind dog.

She has extended her house map in two or more directions.  The first extension is to the walkway in the garage to her dog yard and the dog yard itself.  That walkway is three steps down from our door to the garage.

We can help a blind dog adapt by teaching new commands.  Two that are very important are “step up” and “step down.”  In less than 10 days she has mastered those commands.  Anytime we approach the three step difference between the garage floor and the main inside floor, I try to repeat the appropriate command.   Occasionally I forget.  But there is a texture change (floor mat) just before the steps in both directions that tells her a step is approaching and I believe she now has the “step up” and “step down” commands imbedded at appropriate points in her mind map.  When I forget to issue the command, she still steps up or down because the command is now being issued by her map.

A second extension is to the deck on the rear of the house.  The deck is one step down from our back door and another step down six feet back from the door.  She’s only been on the deck a few times, so the map is incomplete and she hasn’t nailed down the location of the second step.  So if I fail to issue the appropriate command, she stumbles.  I’ll bet within a week the command will be attached to a place in her map that is six feet from the door.

Another example is the step up to get into my Mini Cooper.  When she hears me open the car door she starts looking for the side of the car with her nose then steps up into the car.  I don’t need to say “step up” any more because she has that move mapped.

I also believe she has mapped two other favorite places.  I can tell the route we take on our morning walks is mapped.  At first, she was very tentative on those walks.  Now she walks along side me confidently.   This week we decided to extend those walks from 1 ½ to 2 miles to continue her conditioning.  That meant going straight where we used to turn left.  The first time I tried to take her straight, she resisted.  “Dad, we’re supposed to turn left here.”  The first time we took that route extension she was very skittish.  The screech of an owl made her practically jump out of her skin.  A garbage truck going by scared her.  Three days later, she’s now walking that new route with confidence.

We’ve been to the dog park five times.  The first two visits I wasn’t particularly consistent in the route we took through the park.  In the last three visits, we’ve taken the same route through the park.  In our 4^th visit I noticed her roaming from side to side through the paths.  Path edges are typically grass.  The middle can be grass, mulch, or gravel.  Out of bounds is when she hits tall weeds.  She doesn’t like weeds in her face.   Because she’s sightless, she doesn’t blink when something is about to contact one of her eyeballs.  In observing her move side to side, I noticed a pattern.  She was mapping those pathways in her mind – smell, sound, and texture.

I can see her self-confidence growing with each visit.  One of the dog encounters in our last visit was with a pair of chocolate labs that ran up to me.  One promptly dropped a ball at my feet.  I picked up the ball and threw it back in the direction of their owner who was 50 yards away.  She decided to chase the two dogs.  It was the first time I have seen her run.  Of course the voices in her head saying, “You are going to get hurt!” kicked in and she slowed to a walk and returned to me.  I’m going to continue to take the same path through the dog park each time.  I’m interested in continuing to see her confidence evolve.

The major portion of our standard walk through the park is down a long gravel service road.  It is service-truck wide with grass borders.  Yesterday, for the first time she began to explore the side paths she encountered along the road.  Because most dogs in the park use the side paths, there are interesting smells to check out.  But she knows I’ll be waiting for her on the gravel road, so I let her take these short side paths. 

It is one thing to allow a dog to create her own mind map of a favorite place.  It is another to create a favorite place with all the appropriate smell, sound, and texture cues to allow her to map and enjoy the space.  I want her to be able to feel comfortable running and I want the environment to be safe for her to run.  I think Belle would love to run an agility course.  Don’t get the wrong Idea.  The agility course is in the plans for next summer.  I plan to work on the devices over the winter.  I’ll keep you posted as I proceed.

To make an agility course enjoyable and safe for a blind dog, I need to design it the way a dog would, making use of all her senses and her mind mapping skills – rather than creating the kind of agility course designed by humans, all visual and little else.  In addition, in agility courses designed by humans, dogs aren’t allowed to walk agility courses before the competition.  That effectively eliminates the value of their mind mapping skills.  I’ll explore the agility course design I have in mind in my next post.  Till then, enjoy the next post where Belle will bring you up to date on her adventures in her forever home.

[Gail and Bailey]

I really enjoyed reading about everything that you are doing to help Belle be successful in her outings!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

I've enjoyed reading your updates.  Belle is really a beautiful girl and it sounds like she is adapting beautifully and that you are really enjoying her! I had a Bearded Collie before Finn.  Teddy started to lose his hearing at about 8 years old and I taught him sign language which worked well except when he was headed in the opposite direction.  As time went on, he began to have sight problems diagnosed as inoperable cataracts.  He knew the house and eventually we developed a method where he could still enjoy his walks with my hand gently on top of his head.  Dogs are remarkably adaptable.  As he aged, new situations increasingly stressed him, but we were blessed to have plenty of natural spaces to walk and enjoy. 

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

Thanks for the update.  It's great to hear how  well Lady Belle is doing.

[Jill, Woody & Maxi]

What a wonderful update on Belle…Thank you!

[Carol and Banjo]

It sounds like she is doing wonderfully!    What a beautiful girl she is.

[Stella]

Dogs are so much smarter than some people give them credit for. Love hearing these updates about Belle.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

 Hooray for Lady Belle's mind mapping skills. I see that my mind mapping skills are sorely lacking!