Day 5 is dedicated to Spicy Tabije! I chose this picture because I had a lot of questions about how her remaining years of being completely blind were….The truth is that she lived a great rest of her life! This photo was taken in June, 11- This was on Father’s Day and also the day I graduated from Cal State, San Bernardino! We were hanging outside and I randomly walked up to Spicy and took this photo of her pretty doggy face.
For those of you that didn’t know Spicy and her backstory, she was my Mom’s dog and decided to get a dog as a companion for when my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Momma came up with 2 names, Hope- To give my mom “hope” in this time, or Spice- to add “spice” to all of our lives. When Mom told me these names I said, “What about Spicy?” Mom liked that suggestion and the rest is history. When Mom passed years later, my brother Brian and I took care of her at our new house in Upland. When Spicy became diagnosed with glaucoma, we had to make an emotional decision of our next move. It was a difficult discussion with my dad to have her get eye surgery. He was old school and thought the best decision would be to put her down so she doesn’t suffer. I also realized that if we decided to keep her that it was our responsibility to take care of her, so I made a promise to myself and to Mom to acknowledge this and that it wasn’t her time yet to go to doggy heaven yet…so she got the surgery.
Spicy adjusted very well after the first surgery…It actually felt like everything was back to normal and things were looking good. My dad was even happy of our decision for keeping her around… but eventually we had to face the glaucoma transferring to the other eye years later (which is very common with this disease), so again we had to make an even harder decision of agreeing to surgically removing her other eye.
It wasn’t easy for her to adapt in the first months but shortly after that it was amazing to see her adjust her other senses to get from point A to point B. To help her in the beginning, I used a leash to guide her path. I made sure this path was clear and didn’t change anything in the house so that she can use her memory and nose to figure out the rest. I also used doggy treats to motivate her to practice because I know deep down she was a little depressed and I had to make sure she stayed active. I did this a few times a day and every week got easier for her. I know it became easier for her because she soon started walking a little faster and the leash to guide her became a little looser.
One day, I was watching TV and I silently observed her go from her bed inside the house to walk through the kitchen, out of her doggy door to go pee outside in the grass, to then sunbathe in her favorite spot in the backyard. Once I saw her do this, I praised her with a doggy treat and a “Good job, Spicy!” As she adjusted even more…The doorbell would ring, she would bark from the backyard, walk back inside and walk to the front to go see who it is. I would eventually re-train her to come upstairs to hang out and sleep with me at night.
I have more to talk about…but I’ll end Part 1 here! Thanks for reading my stories- I appreciate the love.
-JT