By Suzanne Mooney
|
A word of caution to the UPS drivers out there: if you make a delivery in San Dimas and the sign on the door says, “Please do not ring the bell, the baby is sleeping,” the baby is actually a 140-pound Great Dane named Simba. Likewise, if you are driving through San Dimas and think you see a woman walking her pet tiger, that’s Simba too. Simba is four years old, stands over six feet tall on her hind legs, and has a brindle, or tiger-striped, appearance. She is also completely blind. Krista Miner and her family welcomed Simba into their lives when Simba was just five weeks old. They already had a six year old Great Dane named Tasha at the time, but Krista’s mom, Jeanne, had had Great Danes growing up and wanted to continue the tradition with her own daughters. “My dream was to have two at the same time,” Jeanne said. When Simba was about six months old, however, one of her eyes starting getting red. Upon visiting their veterinarian, the Miners learned that their puppy had glaucoma. One and a half months later Simba was completely blind. Glaucoma is the result of increased fluid pressure in the eye and ultimately results in vision loss. This increased pressure, if not tended to, can cause the dog to suffer from constant headaches or migraines. Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in dogs and can either be inherited or result from cataracts and other eye diseases. “It was a very painful disease for her to go through,” Jeanne said. Due to Simba’s young age, the veterinarian recommended surgery, a one-time event, rather than keeping her on medications for the rest of her life. Simba had rubber silicone implants put in her eyes to stabilize the pressure and now just has to have eye drops every few days. |
“You have to do your eyes,” Krista says to her gentle giant. “Do you want to do drops? We have to do your eyes.” Rather than running away when she hears this, Simba rolls over on her back and patiently waits for Krista to put the drops in her eyes. Although some would have given up on a visually impaired dog, the Miners gave Simba a chance. They started by putting a bell on Tasha so Simba could follow her around the house. Then Krista and her sister, Amber, searched the internet for information about training and caring for a blind dog. “It’s important to find things that will stimulate her,” Krista says. Instead of throwing her a tennis ball, which would be difficult to find, Krista began by throwing her a lemon. Simba was able to sniff her way to the lemon and play a game of fetch like most other dogs. Her senses of smell and hearing have developed more acutely in order to compensate for her loss of sight. “She actually liked the lemon,” Krista says. “At first she would spit it out but then she would go back and lick it.” Through patience and repetition, Krista and Amber also taught Simba the word “watch,” which means that Simba is about to bump into something, and “step” which means that Simba needs to go up or down a flight of stairs. Like many dogs, Simba also knows the meaning of “go to bed.” For Simba, however, the meaning might be a little bit different. When someone tells Simba to “go to bed” it means: go upstairs, climb into Jeanne’s Select Comfort bed, crawl under the covers, on top of the pillows, and snuggle up as close to Mom as possible. (And just in case Simba ever spends the night at your house, her Select Comfort preferred sleep number is 55) “Please do not ring the bell, the baby is sleeping.” If you have a question about something your pet is doing or if you would like to introduce your pet to the community, write me at sofarkosmos@hot mail.com. |