Here's one of the two little tykes who arrived on Friday evening from New Orleans … blind-and-deaf Stevie. He and his sister Helen came from to us from Phyllis F., who runs a small, private rescue group that saved them from euthanasia in a local shelter about a year ago. Since then, Phyllis has tried to find someone to adopt them, but despite posting on PetFinder and elsewhere, she had no luck placing them. So she finally contacted us, hoping we could provide a home for them at the ranch.
We will post Helen on tomorrow's blog — hey, when you have a 5-day-a-week blog to write, you need to stretch out your material as much as you can! — but suffice to say, she's even cuter than he is. And together, they are an absolutely adorable little pair. Their disabilities are most likely the result of double-dapple breeding, i.e., two dapple Dachshunds being bred together.
But, like all of our animals who were born with disabilities, these two don't know anything different … they don't know that the world isn't dark or that they are at any kind of a disadvantage. So they are as outgoing and inquisitive and fearless as any dog. They have spent the weekend exploring every inch of the house, and quite a bit of time wandering the yard, too. Stevie really zooms — he is incredibly fast, and loves getting around:
Both of them have figured out — already! — how to find the door to the house.
Since we already have a Helen and a Stevie here (as in, exasperated wife saying to oblivious husband, "What are ya, blind and deaf?!?"), we will be renaming them. Because they are deaf, this won't matter to them but will reduce potential confusion for the humans at the ranch. ("Did you put Helen out already?" "Um, which Helen?")
So … if you'd like to suggest a pair of names for these two, please post your suggestions on the blog comments section.
Here's Stevie with blind-and-deaf Spinner on the chair behind him (why the green throw is off that chair is a subject for another post this week):
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Our other new arrival, Timmy, is doing just great. Ella, who had her leg amputated in Shreveport last week, is scheduled to arrive this Friday evening. That will be our foursome from Louisiana!
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Ah, the tractor seat post. I had no idea that this would generate as many comments as it did. One person invoked the memory of her dead uncle, who was run over by a tractor that didn't stop when he got out of the seat, and warned us not to take chances. Others suggested ways — some clever, some funny — to inactivate the seat sensor so I wouldn't have to hop up and down like a gopher. Okay … there are some very simple ways to disable the sensor. The reason we don't do this is because it is a safety feature and is now standard on tractors because of too many farm accidents like the one that claimed the life of that person's uncle. And with other people using our tractors besides us — like volunteers and employees — there are liability reasons why it wouldn't make sense to disable that feature … even if we wanted to take the risk, which we don't. So for the one day a week when I'm restocking all the corrals with hay, I'm perfectly happy to be a hopping gopher!
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Please vote
for the ranch in the Shelter Challenge — and you can
vote every day! We're currently in third place, putting us on track to
win $3,000 for the animals. Enter "Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state
postal code,
MT, for Montana, and it will bring up our listing.
Vote in the Shelter Challenge here.
Last
year we won $3,000 in the first round and then won the $20,000 Grand
Prize in the second round, so your votes really do add up and make for
a wonderful gift for the animals here.
Thank you!
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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