'Zander the Flying Dog': Hungarian vizsla thriving after eye removal

It was about eight years ago, on Elliot beach in Arbroath, when I captured my Hungarian vizsla Zander’s first ‘flying’ photograph.

He was running along the beach and just looked like he was flying. I shared the photo on Facebook and it was picked up by a few bigger pages like Scotland By The Roadside.

I decided to start up my own page – Zander the Flying Dog – to share his adventures. But I didn’t expect so many (2,100) followers.

I speak to folk as Zander, and people all over the world seem to love it. Just the other day, a lady from Florida put a message up saying she was safe from the hurricane and ‘Zander’ had a chat with her.

Zander the ‘flying’ dog in action before his eye issues started. Image: Supplied.

My husband says: ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe people are chatting with you as the dog.’

But when Zander started having health issues and operations, people were following his journey. And it was actually really good to have the support of all these people I’ve never met.

Mystery eye problems turned dangerous

Last year, Zander started having issues with his eyes. We thought it was conjunctivitis. We had stuff for him from the vets and thought it would clear up.

Then quite suddenly, one night last October, he was in horrible pain. We were referred to St Clair vets in Kirkcaldy and they said that he’d lost his sight in one of his eyes overnight.

He still had sight in the other eye and we wanted to try and keep them. But his issue was to do with drainage in his eye, which was leading to high pressure and glaucoma.

Zander had both his eyes removed after persistent high pressure issues were causing him chronic pain. Image: Supplied.

The eye specialist Julia Henken, who is now independent, was just amazing. She did everything she could to try to save his eyes.

On a last resort, we went down to Penrith to get him laser treatment – jumped in the car at lunch time and had to be there by four!

After the treatment he was on loads of meds, so we had to wake up during the night to give them to him every four hours. This went on for weeks, but sadly the high pressure came back.

Zander still loves playing on the beach with owner Susan, even though he can’t see. Image: Paul Reid/DC Thomson.

He was suffering and on a lot of drugs, so in December he had his first eye out.

By March, the high pressure still wasn’t under control, and he was blind. So he had his second eye removed as well.

‘New lease of life’ after Zander’s eye op

The difference in him was incredible. It was like he had a new lease of life.

Since then he’s been happy, running off lead (where safe to do so) on his beach again, down at West Links now as it’s more accessible for him.

Zander loves meeting his friends down the beach, like Joe, who gives him treats, and Alan who is always out with his collie. He loves the sunshine, so when we come home he’s usually out lying in the garden.

Zander doesn’t need his eyes to pull a perfect puppy-dog face. Image: Paul Reid/DC Thomson.

He’s adapted very well to not having his sight. We try not to move things in the house, so he can get used to the layout, but he manages the stairs well enough to get into my daughter’s bed when he’s not supposed to!

Zander is still trying to ‘fly’ again

For all of his treatments, the cost was upwards of £7,000. Luckily we had insurance.

But because he’s 10, some people didn’t understand why we were treating him. One person even asked my husband why we didn’t just have him put down.

I don’t think these people understand that dogs are part of the family. My husband works offshore and my children are grown. At home, it’s me and Zander.