Marley's First Weekend

Marley completed his trip from NY on Saturday (the 11th) and has been doing extremely well!
He made himself at home almost immediately which sort of surprised us, being that he is not only blind, but in a new environment. He actually did much better than our Lucy did when she came to live with us as a Foster. Marley's first test was when he was greeted by three very excited kids (ages: 10, 7 , 4) and passed with flying colors! My youngest was practically climbing on him and it didn't phase him one bit! My middle son was more apprehensive than his brother & sister. He was scared by Marley's eyes, from the Cataracts, but finally realized that Marley was a nice dog and took to him immediately! I have to admit, I was a bit concerned about his blindness and maneuvering through our home, well, he shocked us by how well he has adapted and found his way around! He has even started going up and down the stairs without us helping him, so he is really figuring out our house well.

I have to say, I am really blown away at how great Marley is doing. He is doing well with our 1 yr old Weim, Lucy and all the kids. He is very loving with all of us, he constantly wants us to pet him and rub his back and belly. He brings the tennis ball to us as if he wants to play 'fetch' but obviously he can't chase after it, due to his blindness. Marley enjoys being outdoors, I have been leaving the back screen open so he can just walk out to the deck...he plops down and basks in the sun! From everything we have been noticing so far, Marley has a good demeanor and has not shown any sort of aggression towards the children or us at all.

I have an appointment scheduled for Wednesday with a Specialist to possibly remove the Cataracts and restore his vision. So far, from we've noticed, despite his blindness, Marley is a great dog and if the surgery can be performed with success, he will be a much more outgoing and confident dog. We can tell he 'wants' to be more playful when the kids are running around, and when he wants to play ball...but he can't. Hopefully we'll get good news on Wednesday and we can get him out for more walks, running and playing and in turn losing a little of that excess weight!

PS. We have also started him on his new diet plan (hahaha) ...we cut him back to being fed twice a day with healthy snacks in between. He REALLY likes carrots! He had pieces of an apple with a dab of peanut butter this afternoon and enjoyed it as well.

~Kara
Marley's Foster Mama