Hello blogging community! My name is Melissa. I am an average college student working toward becoming a special education teacher. I have an amazing family that give me nothing but love, support and a little structure when I need it. Over the summer I have two amazing jobs, both of which have to do with my field of interest. My year round job is a care provider for a 14 year old girl with autism and I dont think I could love her any more then I do right now. She is an amazing girl and an absolute gem to work for. To give her credit, she does have some difficult behaviors but she is so smart, caring and talented that you cant help but forget about the bad. For 8 weeks over the summer I work for a camp called Autistic Community Activity Program (ACAP). It is an AMAZING program where Monday threw Friday, paired with individual assistants, people with autism ages 5 and up go into the community in peer groups and have adventures. Honestly I could never say enough good things about this program. I have an amazing life and I am so thankful for all I have.
Almost a year ago I adopted an amazingly huge 6 month old chocolate lab named Buster Posey. Buster is the sweetest, most gentle, loving pup you could ask for but he has a catch. Buster suffers from keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) which is more commonly known as dry eyes. Dry eyes in dogs is caused by many things. It can be bacterial or congenital. In Busters case we are not sure how it happened because he was the only one in the litter to have it. Bobbi (his breeder) is very supportive and a really amazing person. When she found out about his condition from his previous family she offered her full support but in the end, they didn't have the time for a medically in need dog so they gave him back. Luckily Bobbi found me and I offered to take Buster instantly. Soon after Bobbi started a non profit organization called Busters Vision which is aimed at educating owners and holding breeders accountable for their dogs. I encourage you to go to their website http://bustersvision.com/ and like them on whatever social network you like because it is an amazing program. I would love to talk about Busters Vision because it is a wonderful organization that is going to do amazing things but that's not what this blog is about. This blog is about Buster. My amazing, quirky and adorable dog who is slowly losing his vision and the accommodations we are making for him.
The end product of KCS is usually just mild vision loss but total loss can usually be prevented, in most cases. Buster is not in the "most cases" category. He got diagnosed early and requires a lot more medicine than average cases and his tear production is still quite a bit below what it is supposed to be. The sad truth is that Buster will more then likely go blind and we are already seeing vision loss in the last 9 months I have owned him. When I found out (and truly accepted) that he was going blind, I started doing research for accommodations I can make for him and I was surprisingly disappointed. So, in the middle of dead week (terrible timing) I thought about starting a blog about Buster, his struggles, accomplishments and accommodations we can make for visually impaired dogs. Even though sight is not nearly as important in dogs as it is in humans, I still want Buster to love the happiest life any dog can have. I believe I have supplied this seeing how he is an extremely pampered pooch ;) But this blog will also do EVERYTHING on a broke college budget :)
As far as first posts go this is probably fairly dry but in order to get to know Buster, you are going to need to know the back story. So, between my two jobs and busy life, I am hoping to pop in once or twice a week and share a story of my life, raising my visually impaired pup on a budget :) The picture below is Buster when he first came to our house when he was still under 100 lbs about 9 months ago (before intstagram made all my photos look good) He is such a little cutie pie :)
*Tid-bit of the week* Buster LOVES carrots and they are a very healthy and CHEAP alternative to commercial dog treats. Not to mention they are good for his eyes and coat :)
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