Blind pooch comes with own guide dog

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A pup looking for a new home comes with special instructions and his own seeing-eye dog that must also be adopted.

Six-year-old Scarlet is a playful, curious Chihuahua mix that is always hard at work. She is a seeing-eye dog. While she may seem small for the job her client is not that much bigger. Lucky Paws Animal Adoption Counselor William Pierson said Scarlet is a guide dog for her Rhette, 6, a miniature pinscher.

“As far as we know he cannot see anything,” Pierson said.

The pair was brought to Lucky Paws earlier this week. Their owner was moving and said she couldn’t take them.

While they’re not biological siblings their paperwork states they are brother and sister and must be adopted out together. Pierson said their bond is thicker than blood.

“He relies on her eyes basically to get around,” Pierson said. “She wears a collar with a bell on it he basically follows her by the sound of the bell.”

Pierson said the sound of the bell helps Rhette get through the day. Even a simple task of walking through an open door can be a challenge.

“Playing and going outside to the bathroom, finding the food dish and that kind of thing,” Pierson said. “If they were to be split up, he would have to start the process all over again basically, and maybe it wouldn't work.”

So Lucky Paws has posted special instructions right on their viewing room window. While they wait for a new home Scarlet will keep leading the way with Rhette following close behind.

“It’s safe for him” Pierson said. “She's never led him astray.”

Adoption counselors said Rhett has become quite a couch potato and will need to be put on a diet once he finds his new family.

Update:  The phones were ringing off the hook at the animal adoption center Friday morning, but when the doors opened, a nurse waiting outside stepped in and adopted Rhett and Scarlet.  The nurse told shelter officials she previously had a miniature pinscher who was blind, so she knew how to work with Rhett's condition.