A 5 month old male, intact Lhasa Apso arrived at our facility, his owner in tow, barking furiously at me. He even barked at the trunk of our English walnut tree! When I sat down and had Clyde take him off the leash, "Alfie" sat under Clyde's chair, peering at me from behind his owner's legs. The complaint was barking at people and trying to bite them when they approached within a couple of feet.

I wasn't about to test the dog, so we talked about his home life to get some operational descriptions of Alfie's behavior. It seems Clyde's girlfriend told him she didn't want to come over anymore because Alfie was getting worse lately, while he was a very friendly pup from 7 weeks of age until about 3 months, when he started getting what Clyde called "testy." with people. But there was a real anomaly about Alfie's behavior, and Clyde wanted to show it to me. I agreed, and Clyde reached under his chair, picked up Alfie and handed the little terror to me! Alfie was trembling a little, but he sniffed my face and licked my cheek!

I stroked the dog's head a couple of times---no aggression at all, just a small tail-wag. I put Alfie down and he immediately ran back under Clyde's chair and started barking at me.

I had Clyde pull the dog's hair up from his eyes and put a hair clip on it. Many Lhasa Apsos have problems with their vision because they have to see things through a virtual picket fence, causing a stroboscopic, blinking effect when things move or when they turn their head. There was no improvement in the behavior when I approached again---Alfie still barked furiously.

I got a ball and asked Clyde to take Alfie out to the center of the training area. I bounced the ball slowly toward them when I saw Alfie looking at me. The ball bounced, then rolled toward them and finally bumped into Alfie. The dog jumped aside and sniffed it. Bingo---Alfie was as good as blind!

Alfie's veterinary examination the next day revealed fast-growing juvenile cataracts, which is often reversible. While he wasn't totally blind, his vision probably lacked the ability clearly to distinguish details and movements. Clyde and his girlfriend were then taught to call Alfie back and forth between them in the house, then the back yard. They then brought in a friend and held the "back-and-forthies" exercise with him. In a matter of two months Alfie's cataracts did reverse and his newfound visual sharpness was, as Clyde put it, "a thrill to watch."