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Our 12 year old Boston Terrier - Waverly, recently lost his vision. This was after about 4 months of trying very hard to save it, including 2 surgeries, various other procedures, and gallons of eye drops and pills. But it was not to be, and after the final blow of developing some awful corneal ulcers, we had to give up and have his very damaged eyes removed altogether.
We were pretty depressed for about a week, but picked up some books about living with a blind dog, watched a bunch of helpful videos, and got things set up to help him learn how to navigate the house and yard. Incredibly, within just a couple of weeks, he had all the basics down, and was quickly his chipper old self, looking to get a good game started.
Newly blind dogs intuitively develop an amazing skill called “mapping”, in order to learn the navigation of a room or other defined area. We’d read about this process, but seeing Waverly start to do it for the first time seemed almost magical. He would begin to pivot around on his back legs, making larger and larger circles, bumping into things as he did this, pause, contemplate, then continue. We’ve now seen him work in a very focused way on mapping every room in the house, the entire backyard, and also at the houses of friends and family where he also spends time. Although he still bonks his head on things now and then, it’s easy to forget his eyes are gone. He can go up and down stairs by himself, come in from the yard when called, go for a leash walk/run, and even go off-leash in the park for a good old blind romp. It’s been an amazing journey, and a very special bonding time in the later years of this dear little dog that we love so much.
I started composing this ditty during the roller coaster ride of surgeries, procedures and emergencies, ending with the eye removal and a nascent sense of hope that he would still be able to have a good life. Pounding on the piano was my therapy during this process.
I’m about to dive into orchestrating this puppy (pardon the pun), but wanted to post it in its original form first. Many thanks to Shay and Andrew for the feedback along the way. This is the Ivory2 German Concert Grand II instrument, for those interested in that detail. Hope you enjoy my little blind doggie ditty!
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I use a little Flip video to record ideas and phrasings during the process of composing a piano piece. It helps me remember what the heck I'm doing, and ultimately helps me figure out how the song is going to go together. I recorded this during a practice session last week, when I just about was able to remember which parts come when. the sound is TERRIBLE, lots of clipping - this is just raw video with no editing or fixing of any kind. but it was a decent run through (for what it was), and I kind of like the mirror effect. Listen at your own risk - enjoy if you dare!!
We were pretty depressed for about a week, but picked up some books about living with a blind dog, watched a bunch of helpful videos, and got things set up to help him learn how to navigate the house and yard. Incredibly, within just a couple of weeks, he had all the basics down, and was quickly his chipper old self, looking to get a good game started.
Newly blind dogs intuitively develop an amazing skill called “mapping”, in order to learn the navigation of a room or other defined area. We’d read about this process, but seeing Waverly start to do it for the first time seemed almost magical. He would begin to pivot around on his back legs, making larger and larger circles, bumping into things as he did this, pause, contemplate, then continue. We’ve now seen him work in a very focused way on mapping every room in the house, the entire backyard, and also at the houses of friends and family where he also spends time. Although he still bonks his head on things now and then, it’s easy to forget his eyes are gone. He can go up and down stairs by himself, come in from the yard when called, go for a leash walk/run, and even go off-leash in the park for a good old blind romp. It’s been an amazing journey, and a very special bonding time in the later years of this dear little dog that we love so much.
I started composing this ditty during the roller coaster ride of surgeries, procedures and emergencies, ending with the eye removal and a nascent sense of hope that he would still be able to have a good life. Pounding on the piano was my therapy during this process.
I’m about to dive into orchestrating this puppy (pardon the pun), but wanted to post it in its original form first. Many thanks to Shay and Andrew for the feedback along the way. This is the Ivory2 German Concert Grand II instrument, for those interested in that detail. Hope you enjoy my little blind doggie ditty!
******
I use a little Flip video to record ideas and phrasings during the process of composing a piano piece. It helps me remember what the heck I'm doing, and ultimately helps me figure out how the song is going to go together. I recorded this during a practice session last week, when I just about was able to remember which parts come when. the sound is TERRIBLE, lots of clipping - this is just raw video with no editing or fixing of any kind. but it was a decent run through (for what it was), and I kind of like the mirror effect. Listen at your own risk - enjoy if you dare!!
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", or wait, you could say "how about a nice big 
??" or....or.....nevermind :D!
alackbass
A truly marvelous composition and performance. Thanks so much for giving me previews of this amazing work. Downloaded!