Come closer, I cannot see you

Grady in his favorite spot

Although there are so many things I can, and do, say about Grady's bad behaviors, he has some good qualities too. He is not really a "barker." Of course you'll hear the occasional barking when he sees people walking by the window, but we've been working really hard to correct this behavior because quite frankly, neither of us can stand it! But for the most part, you can leave him outside and he'll never make a sound or he'll sit in his favorite spot on the couch looking out the window, watching the "comings and goings" without making a peep.

Lately, though, that hasn't been the case. It all started last week, one morning before work, when Grady started barking like crazy outside. Pat went to see what he was barking at and was shocked to find Grady standing in our driveway, barking like a maniac at our neighbor, Denny. If you knew Denny and knew his relationship with Grady, you would find this just as shocking as we did. Denny loves Grady and Grady loves him! Every time Denny is outside he goes out of his way to give Grady lots and lots of attention. They have been buddies since the day we brought Grady home. If Denny is outside talking and Grady can hear him, he stands at the backdoor whining until we let him out. Denny was really surprised by Grady's barking, too, since I don't think Grady has ever barked at him before. He tried to analyze the situation, as did we, to figure out what was different. Denny thought maybe it was the items he had in his hands, Pat thought maybe it was because it was so early in the morning and Grady wasn't quite awake. It was all speculation, though, and only Grady could really know what made him treat his dear friend Denny like a complete stranger.

Yesterday morning, while I was trying to keep myself occupied until I could go to work, I decided to check the mail, even though I knew it hadn't come yet. While I was out there, I decided to walk around to the backyard and surprise Grady, who thought I was still inside the house. Yes, I expected to surprise him, but I was thinking it would be more of an exciting and happy surprise. It turns out I ended up being the one that was surprised when Grady started to bark at me like he had never seen me before in his life. He acted like I was a complete stranger in his driveway and he was trying to protect his owner in the house, which I appreciate. It wasn't until I started to talk to him and he recognized my voice that he finally figured out who I was. I had pretty much forgotten about the Denny incident up until this point. As I started walking closer to him, still puzzled by his behavior, it hit me what the problem is. He can't see out of his eyes!

While I find this look to be quite cute, maybe it isn't working out so well for Grady

Pat and I are constantly going back and forth about whether or not Grady can see out of his eyes when his hair gets long. I am always arguing that of course he can see out of his eyes with long hair, it's called adaptation. Pat is always arguing that he can't see and is going to run into things, etc. Well after the incident with Denny last week and the incident with me yesterday, I am convinced that Pat is right. The hair over Grady's eyes is definitely distorting his vision! This morning, when Grady was once again barking like a maniac in the driveway, was just another example of Grady's lack of accurate vision. I went outside expecting to see some person near our driveway or at the neighbor's house, but instead, I realized that Grady was barking hysterically at a trash can out on the curb.

Luckily, Grady has an appointment to be groomed on Saturday which will hopefully solve the problem. Pat and I have tried to trim the hair around his eyes ourselves but it's too hard. Grady isn't good at holding still and it makes us really nervous. The last thing we want is a pair of sharp scissors in his eyes, permanently blinding him and causing him to bark at the neighbor Denny, trash cans and even me, for the rest of his life!