Gabe

Just because Gabe has no site does not mean he can not enjoy his daily walks with his loving owner.

Kim Coffey walks her dog, Gabe, every day. The 10-year-old Doberman/German shepherd mix, blinded by glaucoma, wears a metal frame attached to a harness to prevent him from bumping into objects along the way.

In addition to the metal hoop-like device, Gabe also occasionally wears special goggles to protect his eye sockets.

The 80-pound senior dog, owned by Kim Coffey of Dawsonville, Georgia, unfortunately did not have a happy puppyhood. Ten years ago, Hall County Animal Control responded to a call about a horribly mutilated puppy in a Gainesville neighbourhood. The puppy, estimated to be about two months old, had gaping wounds where his ears should have been.

“It looked like somebody had cut the ears off with a pair of scissors,” said Rick Aiken, president of the Humane Society of Hall County in Georgia.

Investigators managed to track down the dog’s owner and were preparing to charge him with animal cruelty, but the man fled the county and hasn’t been seen since, Aiken said.

The case attracted national publicity and a flood of adoption requests bombarded the animal shelter.

“We had so many calls from people all over the state wanting the dog, we had to create a lottery system,” Aiken said.

The puppy was eventually adopted by someone in Athens, but within a month, that person decided he didn’t want the dog.

The humane society immediately offered him to Coffey.

“She had shown such an interest in the case, and you could tell right away she was an ideal match,” Aiken said.

Coffey’s family currently includes five cats and four dogs in addition to Gabe. She said she likes to adopt “special needs” animals.

A year ago, Coffey noticed there was something strange going on with Gabe’s eyes. He was soon diagnosed with glaucoma.

“Within four weeks, he had lost all of his sight,” Coffey said. “The doctors had to remove both his eyes because so much pressure had built up and he was in a lot of pain.”

Fortunately, Gabe enjoyed An active and happy lifestyle as an adult. He rebounded from his traumatic introduction to the world and loves people – he used to visit schools and nursing homes as a therapy dog,

After the abrupt loss of his sight, Gabe was unable to venture outside his home without risking injury by bumping into things.

“It bothers me that he can’t see, because he was always extremely observant,” Coffey said. “When we were driving in the car, he had to sit and look out the window and watch every detail.”

She knew she couldn’t restore Gabe’s sight, but she hoped to at least find a way for her dog to return safely outdoors, where he loved to be so much.

On a Web site about blind dogs, she found an answer. A veterinary ophthalmologist in California had designed a “hoop vest” for dogs without sight and provided instructions on how to build one.

The Gainesville chapter of the Lions Club donated a harness, and Tim McDonald, an instructor with Lanier Technical College’s machine-tool program, used the Internet specifications to craft a metal “bumper hoop” that attaches to the harness and circles around the front of Gabe’s head.

Also, Ray Allen Manufacturing, a company that makes products for police and other working dogs, donated a pair of “dog goggles” to protect Gabe’s empty eye sockets.

Coffey said Gabe doesn’t need the harness in his own yard, where he’s familiar with the surroundings.

“But he does wear it when we go out on walks, which we do every day,” she said. “He still wants to take off into the woods.”

“He’s the kind of dog who gets bored if he’s not constantly doing something,” she continued, “and blindness has not slowed him down at all.”

Gabe doesn’t know, or care, that his appearance generates conversation everywhere he goes.

“It does kind of freak people out when they see him,” Coffey said. “Often, when they see that he has no ears, they ask if he is the same dog who was in the news years ago.”

She added that Gabe is as friendly and outgoing as ever. “His personality is unreal, considering the amount of trauma he’s been through in his life.”

Aiken said Gabe could teach humankind something about coping with life’s uncontrollable twists and turns.

“Animals are so adaptable,” he said. “They don’t sit around feeling sorry for themselves.”

Source:

http://www.dogflu.ca/04032007/19/hoop_vest_enables_blind_dog_to_remain_active