Colby's eye exam. Good news, out a bunch of $$$, but good news, I guess.

Nothing "bad" going on. Just the Iris Atrophy. Luckily, in dogs that doesn't mean she will get glaucoma like it does in humans. OK, so Iris Atrophy isn't "bad"??? The poor thing has to nearly squint her eyes shut on bright days. The UV rays have a greater chance of damaging her lenses now. It just means she will squint......Um, I knew that and you took a pile of my money to tell me that?? .......... and that will continue to get worse. That's not "bad"?????
Luckily, we have more and more indoor agility trials available!! Even though she much prefers outdoors and never runs as well indoors, but at least she doesn't have to squint. She said many dogs are comfortable wearing googles or visors, but that seems a stretch for Colby. I'll give it a try with tons of cookies, but if you look on my blog you will see my first attempt. :P Something tells me Colby won't be wearing no goggles, even if I did change her name to Daisy or Mitzy. I am sure a dog named Daisy or Mitzy would wear goggles.
She said everything else looks really good, so that is a relief. It took all of about 10 minutes for the exam. I suppose the cost is for all that fancy equipment she used to test and examine her eyes? I peeked myself and could see some fraying of the edge of her irises. She then says......."I'll show you some photos"..........and idiot I am got all excited and stopped peeking, thinking she had some fancy imaging machine she was taking photos of her eyes and I would get to see COLBY'S eyes on little print outs. Nope, she sits down and pulls out a book showing some old mutt's frayed irises.

I tried to find a photo that shows how much more she squints than the other dogs. This one is maybe the best. Especially, you can see how much more she is squinting than Roscoe. I told her I would be calling her Squinty until she submits to wearing goggles. Squinty, Squinty, Squinty. I tried it on her and she just looked up at me with that expression she is so good at.........."Where's my cookie???".

I cropped it so you can maybe see a little better. Helen Peppe http://www.hpeppe.com/ is always complaining about Colby squinting. Perhaps her modeling days are over? BTW - Helen Peppe is responsible for many of the photos here. She is an awesome photographer and uses my dogs as models often. My "payment" is free photos. Check out her site!! I know Helen Peppe calls Colby, Squinty.

Dr. Marrion seemed to think she would handle a visor pretty well and that many dogs handle goggles, but if Colby doesn't a visor might do. Oh.................yeah.........right......... I was trying to keep a straight face, but my eyes were probably rolling around, my mouth corners were likely smirked into crinkles and my stomach was starting to move in that way that only happens when a giggle is about to burst out of me. I tried........., I really tried, but COME ON.........Miss Colby Carlson wearing a VISOR???? Maybe a Harley Davidson Visor, but even then she is just not one to be OK about something on her head. I know, I'm supposed to be some great dog trainer, after all I taught Roscoe how to "Be A Bat", but really Roscoe is special and we all know that. I mean he is "special" and being a bat wasn't a stretch for him, right? I dunno, I do worry about the extra UV rays coming into her lens and after a while I think bright sunlight is going to be uncomfortable, but hanging out in the yard, hunting moles with her Harley Davidson visor on doesn't seem likely. Can I call a dog wearing a Harley Davidson visor, Squinty, or Daisy, or Mitzy? Probably not, I would have to change it to Bruiser or Masher or Killer. Hmmm........Killer might be good. Turkey Killer would be appropriate, don't you think. Baby Turkey Killer. BTK. That's it, Colby's new name is BTK Squinty!!!