Blind but Brave: Never-a-loser hunter at dusk (part I)

First Signs of changes in my never-a-loser hunter

Last fall, I noticed unsettling changes in Strela, my never-a-loser hunter. My snow-white shadow, began showing quirks I couldn’t quite explain. She’d always been fearless in her explorations, but these evenings, something changed in her confident stride. During the day, she remained the unstoppable force I knew. A flash of white against green grass, she was precise in her pursuits. She’d track, stalk, and pounce with her characteristic grace, making other dogs look amateur in comparison. But as twilight settled, a different Strela emerged.
Was it age creeping up? A passing phase, perhaps? Or something about the changing seasons affecting her confidence? I watched her map our familiar routes with newfound intensity. Her nose worked overtime. She gathered information as if preparing for something I couldn’t yet see.

The mysteries deepened when I noticed her new habits. She’d pause at the garden’s edge on moonless nights. Her head tilted as if she was listening to signals only she could detect. Her legendary focus seemed to shift—not diminish, but adapt. While other dogs chased obvious movements, Strela showed an almost prescient ability. She anticipated her targets using subtle cues I couldn’t perceive. She started may be reluctant to go into dark rooms. After sometime, my Strela, who always caught every treat, suddenly, started missing target from time to time. Watching her struggle to catch food from my hand was heartbreaking. Moreover, she began pausing and leaping at invisible obstacles, displaying signs of confusion and hesitation. As her lifelong companion, I watched with growing concern. She navigated the world with newfound uncertainty. It made me suspect something is really wrong.

What puzzled me most was how she could switch between these two personas. She was a fearless and precise daytime warrior as always. In the evening, she became a more cautious explorer. Yet through it all, her spirit remained unbroken, her determination unwavering. She faced each new challenge with intensity. This intensity made her a master hunter. Nonetheless, her techniques began to evolve. I struggled to understand these changes.

I had no idea at the time. These changes were just the beginning of a journey. This journey would challenge everything I thought I knew about my remarkable companion. Strela’s story is about to teach us what it truly means to adapt. We could not have predicted the path that lay ahead.

The changes were so subtle, I might have missed them if I hadn’t been watching her so closely. Strela navigated our home with the confidence of someone who had memorized every corner, every piece of furniture. But something wasn’t quite right. When I held treats, her nose would twitch. Her eyes would trail after that. Even then, her gaze would land slightly off-target. It was as if she was tracking an invisible duplicate of my hand.

I became obsessed with finding answers. Every veterinarian’s dismissive response only fueled my determination. “She’s eleven and a half,” they’d say, patting my hand with that patronizing smile reserved for overanxious pet parents. “Elderly dogs slow down. It’s probably just cataracts—common for her breed. At this age, surgery would be more stress than it’s worth.”
But their explanations couldn’t account for the night I found Strela standing frozen in our hallway. Her usual grace was replaced by an uncharacteristic uncertainty. These weren’t the actions of a dog simply growing old—this was something else.

The situation became urgent after Strela unexpectedly collided with walls a few times at the evening. Determined to understand what was happening, after weeks of research and countless sleepless nights, I secured an appointment with Dr. Tadej Zemljič at Slovenia’s renownedat Očesna ambulanta za živali. The month-long wait felt like years, each day bringing new signs that only heightened my anxiety.

In Dr. Zemljič examination room, watching him study Strela’s eyes with practiced precision, I held my breath. The silence seemed to stretch forever before he turned to deliver his verdict—a diagnosis that would change everything. He was convincing – retina is too thin because her cells deteriorated over time. The diagnose is Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA).

Thank you Dr. Zemljič , he explained me some basis for PRA

What is the role of the retina?

The retina is a light-sensitive layer of cells at the back of a dog’s eye that holds photoreceptors. When light enters the eyes, the lens focuses it onto the retina, where it converts the light into electrical signals. These signals then travel to the brain for processing and interpretation.

The two main types of photoreceptor cells in the retina are rod cells and cone cells. Dogs have many more rods than cones in their eyes. Rod cells allow vision in low light conditions and help detect and follow movement. Cone cells, on the other hand, are responsible for detecting color, but they do not work well in low light

What is PRA?

Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) is a group of genetic diseases seen in certain breeds of dogs. Histological and genetic analyzes have allowed further classification of PRAs into different categories. These categories are based on whether the rods or cones are primarily affected. The age of onset is also a factor in this classification.

Early-onset forms of PRAs are usually caused by a developmental abnormality of the photoreceptors (i.e., dysplasias) and are characterized by the onset of clinical signs before 1 year of age and rapid progression. Retinal dysplasia causes the photoreceptor cells in the retina to develop incorrectly, leading to early blindness. Both rods and cones are usually affected.

Late-onset forms PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy) occur after normal maturation of the photoreceptors (i.e., degenerations) and affect middle-aged or older dogs, like progressive rod-cone degeneration (PRCD)

The rod cells typically degenerate first. This impacts night vision before affecting daytime vision. Eventually, the cone cells also degenerate. This leads to total blindness.

Also, there is a form of acquired PRA called sudden acquired retinal degeneration (SARD). It has an unknown cause. It is characterized by sudden blindness that occurs within days to weeks. This disease typically affects middle-aged to older dogs. It is differentiated from inherited PRA because it develops at a later age.

Thank goodness, PRA is not a painful condition. But, this is also the reason why it is rarely noticed in its earliest stages of development.

Other causes of slowly developing blindness in dogs include slowly progressive cataracts, glaucoma, uveitis, lens luxation, and optic nerve disease. Some of diseases are often painful.

How is PRA diagnosed?

Examination of the back of the eye with an ophthalmoscope will show changes. The examination room became our theater of truth. First came the ophthalmoscope—a small device that transformed Strela’s eyes into windows to her inner world. I watched Dr. Zemljič’s face intently as he studied the kaleidoscope of blood vessels and nerve endings, his expression giving nothing away.

But he wasn’t done. “We need to be certain,” he said. He waved his hand near her face. He wanted to test for that instinctive flinch we all have when something approaches our eyes. But Strela’s reflexes, once lightning-quick, had transformed into something else entirely. Her world had become a place where threats could no longer be seen, only sensed.

The final test was deceptively simple. He was reaching for a white cotton ball. Such a simple object, yet it would reveal so much. He dropped it, its descent almost dreamlike in its slowness. I held my breath. I was waiting for Strela’s instinctive tracking movement. This was the same sharp focus that had made her such a formidable hunter. But her eyes remained fixed, unseeing, as the cotton drifted past like a ghost.

Dr. Zemljič explained that at early stages they do more tests. These include an obstacle course, a maze of chairs and boxes arranged across the sterile clinic floor. The owners stay at one end. They call to the dog with forced cheerfulness. A technician gently guide the dog from the other side. Or a test—an electroretinogram (ERG) which can tell us exactly what’s happening in her retina, he explained.

As we reached the later stages, the truth had already settled within me. The sophisticated equipment could only confirm what the humble cotton ball had so plainly revealed. My fearless hunter was now navigating a world of shadows. It was then that we decided against further testing. Every hesitant step she took felt like a blade cutting into my heart. Every uncertain pause deepened the ache.

The cotton ball test had been the turning point. Dropped within Strela’s visual range, there was no reaction, no flicker of acknowledgment. In that moment, my worst fears crystallized: Strela was blind. Her world had become a haze of shadows and fleeting light, forever changed.

The denial phase

Returning home, tears streamed down my face. I began surfing the internet. In disbelief, I was desperate to understand what had happened and what would be next. I turned to various databases to check for mentions of Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA) in Japanese Spitz. I explored several official health test repositories:

• The Kennel Club’s Health Test Results Finder, which lets you look up registered dogs in the UK.
• ORCHID, the Officially Registered Canine Health Information Database for Dogs Australia.
• The Finnish Kennel Club’s breeding database, which holds health, test, and show results for dogs registered in Finland, available here.

Among these, I found in Finnish Kennel Club’s breeding database .

• BOOGEY LADY’S AMANDA female born 1992-04-18 (PRA Found 2001-12-28)
• SAARNION NATSUKO female born 2009-05-31 (PRA Found 2020-10-28)
• LUMOTASSUN MUHKU male born 2013-03-18 (PRA Found 2024-08-16)
• GAYAHAN CHIEKO male born 2016-03-07 (PRA Suspect 2022-06-20)
• GAYAHAN CHIKO males born 2016-03-07 (PRA Suspect 2020-03-04, 2021-05-18)

and in Sweden Kennel Club’s breeding database

• SLÅBODA’S ZILVER BOW male born 2002-06-13 (PRA Found 2014-05-05) – He was wrongly diagnosed with PRA. The first examiner was not ECVO certified. He had a second examination by an ECVO certified veterinarian within a year. He received a different retinal diagnosis. It was not PRA.
• MOALITZ OLIWIA OPAL female born 2007-06-11 (PRA Found 2017-01-03)
• GIERDETS TENSHI-ANGEL female born 2007-10-01 (PRA Found 2017-04-11)
• BALTIK LAIN EMELIE female born 2010-08-22 (PRA Found 2021-08-20)

Even there, I found only 7 registered cases of PRA. This rarity initially seemed almost like winning a lottery jackpot. That was until I delved deeper into the details…

I am focused now on providing my little never-a-loser hunter with a safe and comfortable life. Diagnosis became our beginning, not our end. My never-a-lose hunter may navigate through shadows now, but her spirit remains undiminished. Every room in our home has become a new territory to master, every familiar path a challenge to overcome. She’s teaching me that adaptation isn’t surrender—it’s evolution.

The genetic nature of this condition has ignited a fire in me. I’m going launch into research, connecting with breeders and specialists across continents. Japanese Spitz puppies of tomorrow deserve to chase butterflies without the threat of darkness looming in their genes. In Strela’s determined steps, I find my mission: to help illuminate the path toward prevention.

For now, we’re rewriting what it means to be a hunter. In this new chapter, success isn’t measured in catches but in courage—and Strela, true to her nature, remains undefeated.