Love is blind! Peterborough neglected Staffy Hooch loses sight but finds love at new home

Poor Hooch suffered from a congenital eye condition which had gone untreated by his neglectful owner for five years when he was first discovered by the RSPCA.

Inspector Justin Stubbs was called in January last year after concerns for his welfare.

Hooch, then known as Pooch, was suffering badly with the eye condition. His eyeball had become so swollen it looked ready to pop out.

Vets had to remove his right eye immediately and tried treatment for his other eye but sadly it could not be saved due to the severity of his condition.

As the Peterborough Telegraph previously reported, former owner Trudy Oakley, 46, of Redmile Walk, Peterborough, received a £250 fine and avoided jail, despite already having a suspended sentence for an unrelated matter, after leaving Pooch with the congenital condition for five years.

Retired couple Tina and David Osler never imagined they would end up adopting a dog with no eyes but after meeting Hooch they soon realised he was the one.

Tina, who lives with her husband David in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, said: “He’s brilliant and has settled in really well.

“He’s coping very well without his sight too. He still bumps into things occasionally but on the whole he is brilliant, he’s adapted brilliantly.

“We try and make life easier for him. We live in a bungalow so he doesn’t have to tackle stairs. We were also told not to move the furniture around so his surroundings are familiar.

She added: “It hasn’t been as much of a challenge as I thought.”

Tina and David adopted Hooch from the RSPCA’s Block Fen Animal Centre on June 16 last year.

They now celebrate his birthday on this day so lovely Hooch has just turned 11-years-old.

Tina added: “He’s just like one of the family now. He loves people which surprises me after everything he has been through and how he was treated.

“Knowing what he’s been though doesn’t make me sad, it makes me angry and it makes our family very angry.”

When Tina visited Block Fen in Wimblington, near March, she originally wanted to adopt a cat. She had lost her patterdale cross.

Moby six months earlier from having him as a puppy and was just about ready for another pet.

“I didn’t find any cats I liked and then I saw this poster on the wall of Hooch.” She said. “I asked David to come and have a look at him. I said, just one thing he’s got no eyes and David said ‘forget it’ but he came to see him anyway and Hooch started licking him to death and David just fell in love with him.”

David admitted he wasn’t sure when Tina first mentioned the idea of a dog without eyes but when he met him he knew straight away he was the one.

He added: “We knew we wanted an older rescue dog when we lost our last pet, as we are retired and don’t have the lifestyle for a puppy.

“Hooch came over to me to sniff my hand and started licking it. That broke the ice.”

Inspector Justin Stubbs was incredibly shocked by the state Hooch was in when found but is so pleased he has now found a loving home.

He said: “Pooch was in a terrible state when I found him and his eye looked horrendous. It was like something out of a horror movie - his eyeball looked ready to pop out of his skull.

“His previous owner was told by a vet to have Pooch’s eye removed but this was ignored and she failed to seek any further professional advice.

“That means poor Pooch was left suffering from what must have been an extremely painful and uncomfortable eye condition for more than five years. It’s just shocking.”