Barney Blind and Deaf is Still World's Greatest Dog!

It seems dogs all over the place are winning contests these days. A big golden retriever who is both blind and deaf won the Mercury World News World’s Greatest Pet Contest.

Yep, this golden lab named, Barney, is just about as happy as can be even though he’s missing two of his senses. I suppose since he is a dog after all he still has his one greatest cents which is his sense of smell and it must be how he makes it through the world and still remains so sociable.

Barney’s owners, Amy Shever and Dan Vold, state that he loves to meet new people. He'll turn his head when someone walks up and will follow you as if he were seeing you with his eyes but instead smells you with his nose.

Whose owners adopted Barney 3 1/2 years ago after receiving an e-mail about a dog that has ‘little chance of adoption’. When they went to foster Barney they realized by the end of the first day he would be joining their family permanently. Barney is now eight and a half years old, but he spent most of his early years confined to a garage. He received almost no veterinary care and had no exercise. As a result when he was rescued he could barely walk because of his toe nails which were so long.

Barney wasn’t always blind, but he did have cataracts which limited his eyesight dramatically. He did have cataract surgery but there were complications and as a result they had to remove both eyes.

Because of his untrained early upbringing and the fact that he lacks eyesight or hearing, his owners had to use touch training to teach Barney basic commands. Basically if states have on his rear he’ll sit if they struck his front paw he’ll lie down.

This dog seems to know his way around the house his basic commands and how to create new people. He is the World’s Greatest Dog.

Source: http://origin.mercurynews.com/homeandgardenheadlines/ci_9793538