Radar happens to be tactile and depends a lot on his paws for finding his way. Although he knows the layout of my house and yard quite well, I use different textures to help reinforce his mind map.
Indoor Textures
I have all hardwood and tile floors in my house. This enables me to use throw rugs and area rugs to mark or indicate different things to Radar. My house was built in the 1930’s so it has smaller rooms and is two stories plus a basement.
Stairs are of course a huge concern with a blind dog. I use fuzzy bath mats to indicate the top and bottom of the stairs. The rugs are dark brown so they are not very obvious visually, but they are very obvious to Radar. Radar knows when he is at the top of bottom of the stairs by feeling these rugs. I use a baby gate at the top of the basement stairs to keep him from going down those stairs unsupervised.’
Doorways and furniture can be obstacles for Radar so I use rubber backed throw rugs to denote doorways and large area rugs indicate different things based on the room. In the living room, the large area rug indicates the open space in the middle of the room and is Radar’s main thoroughfare through the room. The area rug in the dining room is what the dining table and chairs sit upon so in that room, when he feels the rug he knows to turn or he will run into the table or a chair.
