Dog of the Month, August 2018: Alice
Helen Keller once said, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched; they must be felt with the heart.” At 19 months old, Keller was stricken with a disease that left her both deaf and blind. Eventually, Keller went on to be the first deaf and blind person to earn a bachelor’s degree. Keller didn’t let her disabilities stop her, and our August Dog of the Month is the same way. Alice, a 9-year-old Basset Hound mix, lost both of her eyes over a one-month period due to glaucoma. Although she won’t be heading to college, Alice is persevering and learning to adapt to her new condition.
“She definitely naps a lot more now that she’s a blind dog,” owner Christopher Lindahl says. “But we can tell that she’s feeling a lot better, and she’s excited about going outside again! She figured out her way around our home pretty quickly, and now we’re retraining her to the leash. We even managed to get in a couple hours of doggy day care, and she really loved walking around and checking out the new smells.”
Christopher and his wife, Courtney, rescued Alice in August 2010—although Christopher admits that it was a poorly planned rescue. “We were living in Mississippi at the time, and my workplace was raising money for the local shelter, Southern Pines Animal Shelter, which is a great place without enough resources,” he explains. “I was the person who actually brought the donations to the shelter, and Courtney came with me. Once we actually got there and saw all of the shelter dogs, we somehow ended up rescuing the saddest looking dog they had. At the time, she was about 15 pounds underweight and suffering heavily from shelter shock. But we slowly managed to bring out her better nature, and she’s pretty domesticated now.”
Also at the time, Alice was named Tootie, which Christopher and Courtney quickly agreed needed to be changed. The name Alice seemed perfect: Courtney is a big fan of Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll; plus, as Christopher says, “Alice has always had the sort of personality that was curious without really thinking about the consequences.”
Nicknames abound for this sweet pooch. “We actually have a pretty absurd number of nicknames for Alice, and her ability to get into trouble led to at least a few,” Christopher says. “But the most common are Puddles—when she pouts, she spreads out on the floor—and Powdered Doughnut, which is what she looks like when she curls up to take a nap.”
When Alice isn’t napping, she loves to be next to people, play the occasional game of rope tug-of-war, have a growling wrestling match on the rug, and let her inner hound come out when she comes across a squirrel. But her most favorite thing is people food. “We had to learn to be very careful when working on dinner, because she would eat anything that hit the floor without thinking twice,” Christopher says. “She’s not quite as ravenous as her younger days, but she definitely still has a love for apples. She may be blind, but if she hears you chop an apple, she can find her way across the house faster than you would believe possible.”
Christopher and Courtney have been bringing Alice to Rainier Veterinary Hospital only since the glaucoma first occurred, which has been just a few months. “Already, we’ve been in for two surgeries, and we’re so grateful that we found this place in our search,” he says. “Everyone has been so wonderful to all of us throughout this whole ordeal. To go through as big of a change as we have, it’s been a big help to know that the experts care so much about a member of our family.”
We absolutely do, Christopher! We’re so grateful that Alice is a member of our family now too. She truly has touched all of our hearts.
About Our Dog of the Month Program
How our Dog of the Month program works: Each staff member provides a nomination for the distinguished honor, and then we vote. The highest vote wins! Any pup who visits us during the prior month is eligible.
