The Rolling Dog Ranch Chauffeur Service was on the road again this morning, headed to Missoula to pick up blind Penny at Missoula Veterinary Specialty Clinic. I took the photo of our internal medicine specialist, Dr. Dave Bostwick, doing a ‘check-out check-up’ on Miss Penny before we left the hospital. She seems a little suspicious in this photo, and I thought about titling this blog post, "What exactly are you doing back there?"
Penny had come down with full-blown pneumonia, but has recovered quickly. She will need to stay on a course of antibiotics for a while, but she is a much different girl than she was just two days ago.
When I got back to the ranch and opened the back door of the truck, Penny almost fell out. She had fallen asleep right against the door, so when I opened it, her full weight — about 90 pounds — was pressing on it. I got my hands on her just in time. She was still sound asleep, and happy to stay that way, too!
We had adopted Penny out last year to a wonderful family in Missoula, but after only one day with them, Penny began acting sick. She didn’t want to eat, she drank constantly, she paced and was restless, and seemed totally out of sorts. Her new family called and told us they were worried something was very wrong with her. So we had them take Penny to Dave, and I asked Dave to give her a thorough medical exam, ultrasound her organs, run blood panels, and do any other diagnostics he thought were in order.
Two days and a few hundred dollars later, Dave called with the results. Penny was fine. A very healthy dog. There was nothing wrong with her at all.
Except … as it turned out … she was sick … homesick!
When Penny still didn’t improve, Penny’s adopters finally brought her out to the ranch to return her. They told us that when they turned off the highway and onto the county gravel road that leads to the ranch, Penny suddenly sat up in the back seat of their car. Then she started smiling and wagging her tail. They said that as soon as Penny realized where she was — headed back to the ranch — she sprang to life. She stood up in the seat the rest of the way, her tail just flipping back and forth with excitement. When Alayne went out to greet them, Penny bounded over, pressed her body against Alayne’s leg and didn’t let up. She was so happy to be home.
Penny went right back to being her old self again.
And of course, we felt guilty about having put her through this!
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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