Just in case anyone thought there couldn’t be any more wobbliness here than there already is, may we introduce … Smokey and Charlie! These two young pups just arrived from a humane society in Lima, Ohio. They are little things — each is about 20 pounds, with small frames and long necks. The shelter cautioned us that they are quite skinny, despite their efforts to put weight on the two brothers … and skinny they are. We think they may be a Whippet mix, perhaps.
They have cerebellar hypoplasia, the neurological condition that occurs when the momma gets distemper when she’s pregnant. The babies are born with underdeveloped cerebellums, which is the part of the brain that controls balance and fine motor skills. Not every baby is affected equally … and some, oddly, not at all. In the litter of six puppies that was turned into the shelter, three were unaffected and one had the condition but was adopted and then, unfortunately, promptly euthanized. The shelter contacted us to see if we could take the two remaining boys.
Like all cerebellar hypoplasias, they are at their most uncoordinated when excited … especially with people around. Add into the mix the natural exuberance of puppies, and it’s true wobble mania with these two. Charlie is the tan one, Smokey is the dark one.
Yesterday afternoon I sneaked around to the isolation yard and quietly videotaped them over the fence, while they were lying on their cot together. Once they saw me, they tumbled off the cot and Smokey did two backflips. (I did not include that part!) Then Alayne and I carried them out to the area around our welcome center, and after they settled down a bit, I shot some more video. Here’s about a minute of the video I put together:
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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