Caring for Sebastian & his Condition

Sebastian is in remarkably good condition. He is a good looking sheepdog with a smooth gait and good bone structure. At 55 lbs, he is a bit underweight, but we are working on that. We had to treat him for hookworms, but he was negative for all other parasites, including heartworms. All vaccinations are up-to-date.

The day after I picked Sebastian up, we took him to our vet for a very thorough examination. We put him under to allow the most complete exam possible (and altered him at the same time). His injuries were limited to the massive soft tissue trauma that is apparent in the photographs and the damage to the internal structures of the eyes. There is no evidence of brain or neurological damage. The vets at the Army did a fantastic job with him and the wounds have been healing great!
The damage to the eyes was caused by the shock of the blows, the eyes were not directly struck with the hatchet. The left eye will never be useful again. The iris, lens and retina are all dislodged and ruptured. The eyeball itself was still of normal size, but we will be keeping a close watch on it. It may be advisable to remove the eye entirely. The right eye is slightly reactive to light and it may be the Sebastian will be able to distinguish the difference between light and dark. The chance of regaining any useful sight from this eye is extremely slight. We will be sending Sebastian to a top-rated board-certified Ophthalmologist just in case there is a chance, but we are not getting our hopes up.
There is one odd side effect from the way the wounds are healing. The skin on the top of Sebastian's head is a little tighter than normal. That makes his ears ride a bit higher than normal. I am told that the weight of the fur as it grows back will eventually cause the ears to lay flat again. Until that happens, though, he has a rare talent for a sheepdog. He can hold one ear straight up.

Currently, Sebastian is taking oral antibiotics (since he was altered) and we are applying an antibiotic ointment to his eyes every morning. We have also been cleaning his wounds daily and applying neosporin, but they are healing so fast, we won't need to continue that much longer. Sebastian's hearing is excellent as is his sense of smell.

I had anticipated that taking care of a blind dog would be a major challenge. Nothing could be further from the truth. We need to let him learn his way around new spaces and we have to be careful about moving things around. When we walk him, we have to tug on his lead to guide him when he approaches an object and say STEP or WAIT when we approach a step or door. That's about it. Sebastian uses his nose and ears and simply makes do. He does run into things when he is unfamiliar with the location, but he doesn't seem to mind. It bothered us to see him hit his head, so we put a thick, fluffy hat on him the first day. He doesn't wear it any more except when he wants to look especially good.