Savanna was born in June of 1993. She was big for a Shih-tzu and such a happy dog.
If you praised her she'd wag her whole body.
In April of 2004 she ended up having to have her left eye removed because of glaucoma.
She got around very well with only one eye...it didn't bother her at all. Then in November of 2005 she lost her right eye...also to glaucoma, and she was totally blind, but you'd never know it.
We have a doggie door that goes out onto a little porch and then there's a ramp going down into their fenced-in yard.
They even have indoor/outdoor carpeting covering their whole yard, but they're not spoiled.
Savanna would go in and out on her own and she'd often spend awhile laying out in the sun. I joked once that I should get a seeing eye dog for her for when we let them out of their yard to run around. After she became blind I would walk her around outside their yard on a leash.
In January of 2006 we brought Sadie home...she was 3 months old...also a Shih-tzu, but a small one.
When she was about 6 months old they were outside their yard and when it was time to come back in I got them back in their yard and dropped Savanna's leash so I could close and hook the gate. Well, Sadie picked up the leash and started walking and Savanna followed her right up the ramp, through the doggie door, onto the sun porch, and back into the livingroom. After that whenever I came back into the dog yard with Savanna and dropped the leash, Sadie would pick it up and lead Savanna back inside. Savanna never balked or tried to pull away. I don't know if she knew it was Sadie leading her or if she thought it was me, but I've always believed she knew it was Sadie and knew she wast trying to help her even though she could have done it on her own.
Sadly, we lost Savanna to other health problems in Jan. 2008. For a long time after that I'd still carry the leash with me when I took the other dogs out and I'd drop one end and Sadie would pick it up and lead me inside. Sadie is now 7 years old.
SAVANNA (before she lost her sight)
SADIE
