Interview Magoo, Love is Blind Photo Contest First Runner Up

 Here is an interview with Magoo's owner, Julie. Magoo was the first runner up on the Love is Blind Photo Contest on the Life with Blind Louie Facebook Page.


How did you hear about Life with Blind Louie?
"I heard of Life with Blind Louie from the Blind Dog Support group. Other members had already liked Blind Louie's Facebook page, and shared. Being a new owner to a blind dog, I like to hear of others experiences and seeing that their dogs are still out there being dogs."

Dad, Magoo and Gus.

When did you have the pleasure of meeting Magoo?
My mom and dad adopted Magoo from a MI shelter. I did see Magoo but not on a daily basis. He was already losing his sight when they adopted him, but he was still a very feisty fellow. After my dad passed and my mom started traveling more, she brought up re-homing Magoo. I didn't want him going to just anyone so she agreed to let him come here for me to look for a new home. I knew in the back of my mind he wasn't going anywhere. My dad adored this dog and I just couldn't let him leave our family.

When did you guys start to notice Magoo was going blind?
Bringing Magoo home I could see that he was not seeing. We went to a specialist where we were told it was PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy). At this point, Magoo was not seeing anything. Again it being new I had lots of questions and did a lot of reading up on it. I can't say I felt pity for him. I was watching a dog that still was having fun everyday. He is feisty and loves to wrestle, play with his flirt pole and fetch. The biggest adjustment was doing these things a little differently. Loud jingle ball really made playing fetch easier. Little scented oil on the flirt pole helped. We learned to walk together and teaching him his words. "careful", easy" and then just brushing up on general commands. Magoo does extremely well getting around. Our first visit to my vet and the vet tech was surprised he couldn't see. He walked around that place like he owned it. It was more of me and him getting in sync.

Magoo and his sister, Sassy

Do you have any other pets in the house? Kids?
Magoo lives with Buddy(pit bull) Sassy(toy poodle) his side kick. They love to play and to cuddle together. I also had to teach Sassy to look out for him, so keep her from getting run over. He tends to follow Sassy around outside a lot, which is not always a good thing. She is always into mischief. Sassy and Magoo also like playing tug together. This I have to watch closely because of the size difference. Magoo also lives with 2 cats. The cats are not fond of him as he gets to close and excited and they get scared. That is still a work in progress.

Does Magoo get around pretty well without being able to see?
Magoo continues to amaze me daily. He gets around like any sighted dog and just continues to live his life like any normal dog.

I know from my experience with Louie, that it is very difficult sometimes dealing with medical problems and their cost. Both financial and emotional.
Taking Magoo I knew there could be high medical costs, it was worth it knowing that I was still taking care of my dads dog. Can't put a price on love.

Somebody LOVES tug!

When I would see dogs needing homes that were blind, I always felt bad but didn't think I could give a blind dog everything they needed. This was the biggest lesson Magoo taught me. You just give them everything every other dog wants, a home, unconditional love and Magoo says lots of toys. : )

I love that! I would have never thought I could care for a blind dog either, and then there was Louie. He surprised me in so many ways. I had no idea how well a blind dog can carry on with life. Sight is more of a luxury now when I look at a dog, not a necessity by any means.

This is why I wanted to write about my life with Blind Louie. I wanted people to know that there are good dogs out there, great dogs, that just can't see. I wanted people to know that these dogs were keepers, they are worth our time and energy. If your dog is diagnosed with a vision problem, it is not the end of the world. There are ways to help them and help yourself and there are a lot of other people dealing with the same thing to help with tips and tricks and support. That is why I'm glad to write about Louie and why I'm glad I found web resources like www.blinddogsupport.com.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. We all love Magoo too! Also, little known fact: Blind Louie's nickname has been 'Mr. Louie Magooie' since he was diagnosed with his glaucoma and I realized why he was bumping into everything. I was a big Mr. Magoo fan growing up.

Can you say spoiled!? Look at all his toys!