My Dog Tara

I have a very cute toy poodle named Tara who is turning 11 years old next month. As I have written before Tara suffers from seizures which I treat with daily medication(She has been seizure free for about a year) She also is losing her vision and somedays she can see pretty well and other days she cannot see at all. I know this because she can run around the house and not run into anything in her travels on the good days. On the days she cannot see too well she is hesitant when she moves and does not move around too much. I know this confuses her and she is not sure what to do when she cannot see. Sometimes I notice she will walk to the edge of the steps and step forward and realize there is a drop and pull back. She will also do this in the yard at the edge of the lawn where there is a drop-off.

Today there were 2 very scary incidents, we had gone out for a drive to enjoy the beautiful weather. When we got home I let Tara out of the truck and she went into the front yard. As I got to the front door with my hands full of bags of groceries I called her and she ran up to the step and instead of going to the front of the step she went to the side and tried to jump up but she could not possibly make the jump and landed beside the step stuck between the step and the hose reel. I dropped the groceries and picked her up to see if she was hurt and she did not have any injuries. After putting away the groceries I gave Tara a treat and she seemed to be ok.

I was busy in my kitchen which in my house is upstairs with the entrance to the kitchen at the top of the stairs leading down to my front door and also to the basement and my TV room. Along the staircase is a wooden banister which is mostly blocked off by my couch upstairs. There is a 3 foot section which is not blocked beside the stairs. As I was preparing dinner I was watching Tara as she wandered around upstairs, she went into the hall so I followed her and she headed towards the stairs but instead of going downstairs she headed for the banister put her head through which made it look like she was going through so I dove and pulled her back. I am not sure if she was going to walk through the banister but I was not taking chances. She has never done that before.

This has me very concerned and I am scared that she is getting worse and will hurt herself. I know she is scared and confused. She has been a part of the family since she was 6 weeks old and has been my constant companion since my parents passed away 4 years ago. I am afraid that I am going to lose my friend. I hope this is only a blip and she will be ok. I do not want to make the decision. Life is not fair.