Gardening for the Blind Dog

I am facing a bit of a challenge this year. My 12 year old bichon frise had one eye removed last fall and has now gone blind in her remaining eye. She has glaucoma. She had laser on the eye almost two weeks ago to get the pressure down.

My yard is difficult to navigate because of all the beds....many of which are bordered with very hard, cement cottage blocks. I had to do something right away to help Buffy not get lost and perhaps get poked in the eye. We bought some of the short decorative pound in fencing and put that up around all the beds that didn't have cottage blocks. I have scented snow in summer plants along the driveway and she uses that to find her way to the rose arch. I put an outdoor welcome mat there so she knows that is where to turn into the garden. Once under the arch she will feel two cement stepping stones. This is the grassy area where she can relieve herself.

I used just a hint of bone meal to mark the way down and around the yard and back up onto the patio. A dog's first sense is that of smell rather than sight. They can smell 200 times better than humans can. I had remembered how much she could smell the bone meal when I used it. I didn't use much.....just a faint sprinkle.......Certainly not enough for her to try to eat or get sick. I used just enough to put down a smell and it works very well.

To mark the back door I put down two thick hairy mats. Once her feet hit those she knows that is the door to get back in the house. That is working well also. I put any garden statuary inside of beds. The big figure 8 bed is bordered with fragrant daylilies so once they're up it will help her steer clear of the cement blocks. So far she has not run into them, but I fear she might. I plan to plant lots of smelly marigolds this year as well. I'll pot up some lavendar to mark other areas.

Buffy has adjusted quite well so far. I cannot move anything in the house and she is navigating well. I have never really seen this subject discussed before and thought I'd share what I've learned so far about gardening for a blind dog. I hope it helps someone else facing the same problem.