Just found out my 6 year old beagle went blind. I guess it is called SARDS. Feel bad for the girl, keeps running into everything, but still knows where the couch and bed are as she finds away to jump on them. Those pictures of the mountains are beautiful. She used to love to go hiking in mountains in Utah, not sure how it will work now. Sad day.
That sucks. Sorry to hear this. If it makes you feel any better....
we had a Keeshound that went blind from diabetes, which we had no idea she had... we just thought she was getting old- she was probably 11 or 12 at the time. And knowing that, we felt doubly bad because insulin shots would've prevented her from going blind... again, we had no idea.
But, she was a good doggie, so we gave her insulin shots 2x a day, and didn't move any furniture around, build a ramp to cover the stairs out to the yard, blocked off the stairs to the basement, and did anything else we could to help her learn and cope. And she did. She did very well in fact. Of course there was no more chasing balls, but she would play tug, or I'd sit on the floor and I'd hand wrestle with her.... things like that. She had no problem finding her food, or water, or bed... she went in and out very well, knew where the yard perimeter was and where she "went", etc.
In fact, one of the really cool things was this. We have a good size back yard. The wife was working back in the corner of the yard in the garden. It was nice out so I went out to the deck, took the dog with me. She was laying next to my lounge chair and she picked up a scent. She's got her nose in the air, and she is sniffing away. She slowly, and in a sorta crooked line, sorta straight line, followed the faint scent on my wife all the way across the yard. It probably took her a full minute, minute +.... but the light wind must've been blowing towards the house, and she followed the scent thru the yard, into the garden, until she bumped into the back of my wife's leg. She was happy, but more so because she had a herding sense where she always wanted to know where everyone was... and she found "the mommy", and that was all she needed to do.
Your dog will do fine. They cope amazingly. Barring complications, your buddy will be around a long time. Both of you have to adjust, but don't stop hiking. Her nose and hearing work fine. She will learn to follow your cues, so don't stop trying to work with her and do stuff. Doggies are great.