Helping a blind dog navigate with scents?

[whitewolfe001]

So we have a 6 year old lab mix who we recently learned has gone nearly totally blind.

The good news is that this has been a gradual deterioration over his lifetime so he’s well adjusted and not depressed or fearful.

The bad news is that, well, he can’t see, and while he has a good “mental map” of our house and property, sometimes he misjudges and hits his head on stuff.

So I discovered the idea of scent mapping, and there is a product called Tracerz, which are basically scented felt dots with a sticky back with two different scents you can stick around your house. They are ridiculously overpriced at $40 a pack.

I figured I could make my own scent markers with essential oils for much less and even make more than two “signals.” My idea was to use one scent for “green light” paths (spraying it on the floor to indicate open paths/center of doorways), a “red light” scent to dab on obstacles like doorjambs, objects, and sharp corners, and another scent to mean “change in elevation” like for the top and bottom of stairs, the porch step, etc.

I went and bought some essential oils but then remembered hearing that essential oils can be toxic to cats, and we have a cat in the house.

Does anyone have experience with scent mapping for a blind dog? Is marking with diluted essential oils going to be an actual problem for the cat or is that only in concentrated doses? Also, do I need a “carrier oil” for the essential oils, or is diluting with water or something good enough?

[csaper58]

Never used scent, but I have used sound. In the form of radios. One, by the water, sounded normal. The other by the food, had base turned up high.

[SkipHiLad4me]

We did this to some degree when our Boston first went blind. His was a very sudden blindness so his adjustment had to happen overnight. Keep it really simple or they’ll get overwhelmed by the scents. Remember that their noses are way more sensitive than ours!

You could limit it to just a dab of scent on corners or doorjams. Put door mats at the tops and bottoms of your stairs so that he feels it with his feet before he gets to the stairs. Or you can just make each room have it’s own scent. A spritz of fragrance on an area of carpet, a chair, etc in that room or unlit scented candles/mild potpurri, etc. Nothing too strong but just enough to reinforce that mental map.

Keep food and water in their normal places and he’ll know how to get to them.

If he really struggles and you’re worried about him hurting himself, check into something like this: http://www.halosforpaws.com/

Good luck!

[hastyreply]

You have to remember there are already a lot of scents there already that he can use. Mine still bumps into thing, sometimes it is almost the same as feeling with a hand would be for us. They know something is there and are trying to locate it. If I see him heading into something, I use my voice to redirect him. He is very sensitive to my voice since he was a herding dog. (use to taking direction from my voice command whithout taking his eyes and attention off the sheep). I also suspect he uses how sound bounces off objects to navigate. He knows how it “feels” in particular areas. I’m often amazed at how well he does.