Officially a one-eyed Jack

It’s true, after the vet ‘murdered’ my right eye, I’m now officially a one-eyed Jack. About 3 years ago, cataracts began to develop in my right eye and the condition has since deteriorated to clinical signs of glaucoma, which made it very irritating for me. On rare occasions, I will bump into furniture on my immediate right if I swung my head too fast. Almost a year ago, I could no longer see through the lense as the cataracts were fully developed.

Things got worse when I received a bad cut in the same eyeball whilst playing in some thick shrubs. Since I no longer have use of my right eye, Ms Vet suggested to kill the nerves to get rid of the irritation and pain once and for all. And she stabbed me with a needle in the eye, then proceeded to sew my eyelid onto my brows (to cover the eye) so that the ulcer may heal, ouch.

So here I am with a sewed bloodied eyelid where my right eyeball used to be, taking up to 1½ months break from agility, running and all manner of active sports, which left me bored to death. JRT semi-retired from active duty at the age of 6 … what will my fellow rival terriers think! In addition, I had to wear that idiotic E-collar for up to 3 weeks. The only activity left for me during the recuperation period was Obedience sport which had Mr Owner sniggering with glee, what opportune timing … for him. Well, OB sport is better than no sport. Mr Owner put me through the advanced OB - Intermediate & Open exercises and when he ran out of things to do, he even had a go at the unheard of Utility exercises … yet to be introduced in this part of the world. I must have spent a great deal of time trying to make sense of the exercises and to date, am still figuring them out:Send Away
This exercise don’t make sense cause why would any dog willingly go to the corner of the room or field and sit there by himself. I’ve seen kids on TV being sent to the classroom corner as punishment … sure as punishment maybe, but not as an exercise.
Retrieve the Dumbbell
Retrieving a dumbbell also doesn’t quite gel with me. A dumbbell cannot bounce, cannot roll, cannot be ripped open and more frustratingly, I’m not even allowed to nibble on it … in other words, you cannot play with a dumbbell after you’ve fetched it, so why bother in the first place. The humans got one thing right though … by calling it a dumbbell, ha ha.

Directed Send & Jump
This is a toughie, being asked to go to a square (marked by 4 cones) on the field and then take a specific jump on the return. I must have spent hours trying to figure out which cone to go to and where to sit - inside or outside, behind or in front of the square? They should have just place a water hydrant at the spot … that would really simplify things.
Scenting

For this, a dog has to use his most sensitive part, his nose, to sniff out his owner’s towel. Just to confuse everyone, the humans will sneakily place 10 towels on the floor for the dog to ponder on. Sure, we do enjoy sniffing … but sniffing butts and sniffing towels are worlds apart. It is way too hygienic to be sniffing at towels.
Stand for Examination
This one tops it all, imagine being asked to stand still whilst being stripped search in public, just like in the airport security checks. With all that heavy petting and groping, it can get rather personal … even for a dog. Suffice to say, the ones doing the frisking (Mr Judge) appear to enjoy it more than the one being frisked.

Other than the irritation and rare bump, my eye condition hasn’t affected me as much cause I was already operating on single vision mode since the cataract days. During the same period, I received 2 agility titles, MAD from PetnYou and MACH from PAAPP, plus another GD title … pretty decent return for a one-eyed dog, I reckon. Got a couple of 3rd placing in OB Novice trials as well, which was a bonus.Ms Owner thinks that JRTs have the most expressive eyes and you can just about read a JRT’s soul if you look closely into their eyes, all their moods and emotions laid bare. Guess, now she’ll will have to look harder into my left eye cause the right one isn’t what is used to be. But she needn’t try too hard, cause I’m always in the mood for play … any place, any time.

Stitches were removed just last week and I’m all ready to take on the world again, watch the space …