Photos Show Cute Relationship Between Blind Dog And His Guide Dog Best Friend

Meet Tao, a 12-year-old golden retriever who unfortunately has had to get eyes surgically removed due to glaucoma, which is an eye disease that results in unrecoverable damage to the optic nerve.

Melanie Jackson who is the loving owner of Tao, recounted how it all went. Last year, Tao got unfortunately diagnosed with glaucoma. It’s an eye disease where the eye can’t effectively drain its fluids. The disease progressed unexpectedly until one day, Tao seemed to be doing ok in the morning, but took a turn for the worse in the evening. He started shaking his head which is what dogs tend to do that when they feel some pain. Then in just a few hours, he went completely blind in one of his eyes and had to get it removed. Then in January, his other fully eye gave out and sadly had to be removed as well.

Tao lost both of his eyes due to glaucoma. But despite his blindness, he did recover quickly and was joyful once again

Image credits: tao_mr_winky

Tao, being a ressilient dog recovered quickly. It only took him three days before he was walking up the staircase all by himself and was able to walk without a leash. He did seem happy and joyful, but there was something missing. Tao needed someone else to play with him, a partner, a buddy to keep him company and guide him especially since he’d lost his sight.

Something was missing with Tao

Image credits: tao_mr_winky

“Tao’s health is really good now. He’s in no pain, and to say he’s nearly 12, he acts like a much younger dog! He does everything he used to do apart from jumping up hay bales and jumping over hedges—we walk around 8 miles a day and he still trains most days,” said owner Melanie

Melanie the owner has decided to look for another dog that could be Tao’s buddy

Image credits: tao_mr_winky

Enter Oko, he clicked with Tao and became his guide at only 8 weeks old.

Image credits: tao_mr_winky

“Oko is amazing for such a young pup,”

Oko who is another golden retriever was only about 8 weeks old when Melanie got him, regardless of the age gap the pup pair seemed to click right away and have become an inseparable pair ever since. Oko has also by default become a guide dog for Tao. Tao follows Oko around when they’re walking around, they like to cuddle and even sleep together. The owner is also training Tao to follow Oko in the hope that he would avoid any trouble. “Oko is being trained by me—if not, he would lead Tao into mischief as he is a typical inquisitive puppy. Tao is being trained to follow Oko’s scent and Oko to listen and respond to my commands to ‘stop, wait, go right, go left.’”

Watch the adorable pair playing together below:

They’re always together. They walk, cuddle and sleep together

Tao the Blind Golden Retriever and Oko the Puppy

Image credits: tao_mr_winky

Image credits: tao_mr_winky

Melanie the owner is also training Tao to follow Oko’s lead

Image credits: tao_mr_winky

9 weeks in, Oko looked like he was already used to his new role. Mel, the owner, has also raised a cause for glaucoma awareness in dogs in the hopes of helping others. She worked with ‘The Kennel Club’, who analyzed Tao’s DNA in the hope that it would help identify other dogs’ proneness to glaucoma. This horrible disease can be prevented if it is diagnosed early enough. Ever since the post, the internet just fell in love with this adorable pair. See their Instagram here

She is also helping raise awareness for the issue of glaucoma in dogs

Image credits: tao_mr_winky

Oko, who was around 17 weeks old at the time, had gotten used to his new role

Image credits: tao_mr_winky

Image credits: tao_mr_winky

“Tao is a 100% mommy’s boy – he is always close by and he is like my little shadow. He loves to please and his favorite thing is scent work—he still scents out balls in the hedges and fields and loves finding his toys when l hide them either in the garden or in the house.

“Oko was bred by a fantastic breeder from Cornwall—we had always planned to have another pup after Tao lost his brother Otis to cancer 3 years ago, but due to his sight loss and the training l needed to do with Tao, we had to focus on him until the time was right.

“Tao is an amazing dog and is loved by everyone we meet—he is known locally and people often ask if they can have a selfie with him.”

Image credits: tao_mr_winky

Before and after (9 weeks difference)

Image credits: tao_mr_winky

“Oko is being trained by me,” reveals Jackson. “If not, he would lead Tao into mischief as he is a typical inquisitive puppy. Tao is being trained to follow Oko’s scent and Oko to listen and respond to my commands to ‘stop, wait, go right, go left.’”