Meet Slater and his owner Anney Doucette! Slater is a 10-year-old Golden Retriever that has lived a life full of adventure and competition with resilience and love for life. Slater is a competitor at heart and competes in AKC obedience trials, achieving many High In Trial awards and hunting tests along side his owner Anney Doucette. At just three years old, he earned his Master Hunter Title.
During the course of his training and right before they were ready to trial, Slater was diagnosed with Golden Retriever Pigmentary Uveitis, a genetic condition in the breed in addition to having congenital cataracts. “Six weeks after diagnosis, Slater woke me up early one morning freaking out with a bloodshot left eye… overnight he had a glaucoma event, a giant spike in pressure which rendered him blind in that eye. For six months we fought a losing battle against controlling glaucoma in that eye,” says Doucette. “In November of 2018, Slater underwent surgery on his left eye at the Institute of Veterinary Specialists in Gainesville. All the inner working parts of the eye were removed and a silicone prosthetic ball was inserted in his eye.” Today, Slater is full of life, happy and finds his way into the hearts of everyone he knows.
PHOTOS BY TANYA CONSAUL PHOTOGRAPHY
