OneMind Dogs Coach Channie Elm Ørsted tells us a story about her border collie Lady. This is the second part of a series of two blog posts.
You can read the first part of the story here.
When things came together
Now a picture of the situation began to emerge, Lady had problems seeing properly on the right side. So I started carrying out little tests on the angles in question. It's rather difficult, as surface, colour and overhead light, played a significant role, as well as the shadows that form. When I was training her and something unexpected happened, for example, Lady didn't take the jump or did something wrong, I had to get down to dog height in order to see what she saw - or what she did not see. I actually had to cover my right eye and could suddenly see clearly where I should have positioned myself in relation to what she could see, to get the desired outcome.
Most people have tried looking with only one eye, but have not noticed that it also means that the eye / brain needs to fine-tune the distance perception to the surrounding areas.
So this was probably a reason why Lady jumped 2-2.5 metres before a jump - she had difficulty judging the distance - and what did she use to judge the distance? Yep - the wings! As she was better able to see these. She could not see the crossbar properly, and if the wings were very high on the jumps, she tore almost all of them down. The double jump was also a challenge. It is possible to teach your dog a command so they know to jump a little longer and higher and this is what I had to do with Lady. If I could also control the approach to the jump slightly, it gave her the best opportunity to clear it.
Video: You can see how far Lady takes off before the jump.
Picture 1: Lady jumping double jump.
Lots of things now made sense and I had to go to the eye specialist again. The answer was the same, there is nothing to see. This time I didn't just accept this answer and wanted a second opinion from a leading eye specialist. After a number of discussions back and forth, I was sent to Kristina Narfström in Sweden - I was fortunate that at the time she was in Göteborg (Gothenburg), only a three hour drive for me. I booked an appointment and we had a dialogue on how deeply she could see into the dog's eye, and she would make sure to have the equipment with her in Göteborg.
Meeting with the Swedish eye specialist
I was of course very anxious on the day, and didn't really know what to expect. Lady was given some drops in her eyes to dilate the pupils, and after a little wait we were ready to go. First the vet carried out a prick test around the eyes, to see how Lady reacted and yes, the reaction was slower on the right eye. Then we started with the general lenses - nothing new or fancy in this. It is actually something all eye vets use. But here, the vet said immediately that there were two spots on the right eye. It surprised me that she was already able to see it, and the vet was surprised that the vet in Denmark had overlooked it.
A more thorough examination was now under way and it turned out that in addition to the two spots, there were a further two pigment spots. A blessing in disguise it could be said, as the spots are on top of each other, so the field of vision is not further impaired. The two initial spots that the vet saw with a general lens, were cataracts. The two others, the pigment spots, stem from the day I thought she had something in her eye. Cataracts are something she was born with, according to the vet, and the spots have meant that she cannot correctly judge the distance to the jumps and that she is sensitive to different light conditions.
Bleak news. The good news was that it doesn't spread or worsen. Suddenly, so many things began to make sense with regard to Lady's jumping technique and the things she sometimes did. There is something in her field of vision that becomes a "blind spot".
Picture 2: Lady's eye
Reflections
As can surely be seen in the article, there were many signals indicating that something was wrong, but also that I trusted blindly, the vets and their competence. Deep down, however, I knew that something was wrong.
Only one of the best specialists could see the connection between the problem with the manner in which Lady jumped. I hope that the Danish veterinary eye specialist learns from this episode. The Swedish eye specialist sent him an e-mail with the diagnosis. Lady had undergone an eye examination as a puppy, but this was with the same eye specialist, who initially said that there was nothing wrong with her.
Looking ahead
Now that I have had an answer to why Lady jumped in this way, it all makes sense, and I have started to handle her differently. I had already made changes to the handling but I could easily do more to support her in doing what she loves - agility.
Something I could do right away was give her eye drops to dilate the pupil. When it was sunny her pupils would usually contract, which meant that her vision was further restricted. By giving the eye drops I could dilate the pupils and thus provide her with a better opportunity to see.
Lady continued her agility career in Class 3, and in 2015 went down to Class 2, as I felt that the Class 3 jumping height was too difficult for her. In Class 3 jumps are 65 cm and in Class 2 jumps are 60 cm. This class was far better for her. Now in 2016, she runs senior classes where she jumps 40 cm. Lady is now 9 and if it was not because of her eye, she would certainly still be running in Class 3. Fortunately, Lady is indifferent to running in Class 3 or senior - as long as she is allowed to do some agility.
Picture 3: Here you can see Ladys dark pupils because of the eye drops.
Afterword
Lady is the dog who taught me agility. She got me to see what she saw, or did not see. I was then able to transfer this to my training of others and she got me to listen to what I had to do to train her in the best possible way. Lady has taught me to pass on this knowledge to my students - about listening to what their dog has to tell them. This principle is often emphasized in the core of the OneMind Dogs method. Therefore, OneMind Dogs has so much more meaning for me in my day to day training of dogs.
Channie
www.lazi.dk
Channie@lazi.dk
