• Help your dog stay safe by padding sharp corners (i.e. coffee tables).
• Place mats next to entrances/exits, or underwater/food bowls to help your dog learn to feel for these places with his feet.
• Try to keep furniture in the same place in your home so your dog can learn to navigate their usual environment.
• In new and unfamiliar places, keep them on a leash and go slowly so they can acclimatize. It’s best to use a long leash in public so there is no risk of panic should your dog become separated from you.
• Warn your blind dog about obstacles in the environment by having a special word such as “careful” when they look like they might knock into something. With repetition, they will learn to slow down and feel around with their feet when they hear you say “careful”.

• Be consistent with any rules and routines you have put in place for your blind dog, so they can be confident and unlikely to become confused about their environment and interactions.
• If you have other pets in the home, keeping a bell on their collars can help your blind dog know where they are.
• Touch should always be positive for any dog, especially blind dogs so try not to interact with your blind dog when you are feeling frustrated or angry about anything, as they might sense this feeling from you and become worried or confused as they can’t understand why you are feeling this way.
• Instead of allowing people to come straight over and pet them, always allow your dog to approach a person in their own time, and only if your dog chooses to.
• Blind dogs can get anxious if you have left the room without them noticing, always tell your dog that you are leaving. You can use a special word or phrase such as “back soon”!

Training any dog takes plenty of patience and time. With blind dogs, you will also need plenty of imagination because sound, touch, and smell are key with a dog that can’t see.

However, keep in mind that most blind dogs will be startled if touched when they are asleep or not expecting it. You can help your dog to get used to this by gently touching them and immediately giving them a treat. Most blind dogs soon learn that being surprised is not necessarily a bad thing!

Occasionally a dog might become aggressive when surprised, as a means of communicating that they are worried and need to be left alone in order to feel safe. If your dog reacts in this way or appears to become increasingly more startled when practising this, you should stop right away and contact a qualified behaviourist to support you reduce your dog’s anxiety.

Here are a few ‘hands-free’ ways to train your dog without touch:

• Use food to lure your dog into the behaviour you would like them to do. For example, to teach a sit you can put a treat near your dog’s nose so that they can sniff it, then slowly lift it over their head – their bottom will naturally go down as they follow the treat with their nose – as soon as it touches the floor you can reward them by giving them the treat.
• Teach your blind dog specific words that are instructions. With the ‘sit’ for example, as your dog’s bottom hits the floor when you’re luring them with the treat say “sit”. After several repetitions they will associate this physical action with the word ‘sit’ – you can now ask them to sit without having to use the treat to lure them, but you can still give it to them as a reward! You may want to teach them commands like: step up/down, this way, wait, forward etc.