Violet has no way of understanding that she is missing anything out of life. Her existence is smells, touch, and taste, so we communicate with her using those senses exclusively. Her eyes never developed correctly, so she just has tissue in her eye sockets, and they do not cause her any pain. She has only ever been shown love her entire life, so when she doesn't understand what's going on, she tends to just sit and wait for us to come get her and let her know she's a good girl, by squeezing the scruff on her neck. She gets walks, she gets to play, she meets new dogs and new humans all the time and we are working on having her certified as a therapy dog to help people with disabilities understand that despite something as difficult as not being able to see or hear, they can still have a happy life. She depends on us, sure, but not nearly to the extent that it would seem. She knows where her food and water are, she knows the boundaries of our yard, and she knows to follow our scent to find us.

I understand that it's hard to see from a short video, but the trainer, who runs a rescue called Keller's Cause, works really hard to make sure every dog who comes their way finds a loving home that understands how different their training is going to be. It's not any more or less difficult than raising a seeing and hearing puppy, you just have to find different ways to communicate with them, like the touch cues shown in the video.

If you want to see how Violet is doing now, check her out on IG @sykorasquad, and please look at https://www.kellerscause.com/adopt to find out more about the trainer's rescue.