This handsome fellow arrived on Friday afternoon, brought to us by Gale Lang's TLC Pet Transport. We had originally been asked to take him back in early March when he was in Louisville, Kentucky. He had been dumped in a lady's yard, and though she liked him, her own dogs were aggressive towards him, and so she was going to take him to a local shelter. As the rescue group told us at the time, "shelters in KY offer little hope for a Beagle, let alone a blind senior." Unfortunately, we had to decline at the time because of space constraints — we hadn't had any adoptions since last fall and were holding the line on numbers, one of the most painful but necessary things we have to do. As luck would have it, Morgan at Atlanta Beagle Rescue — who has sent us numerous blind Beagles over the years — was able to take him in the interim. She named him Louie, for … yes, Louisville. It fits him!
So when space opened up here, thanks to our recent adoptions, we said, "Go ahead and send that boy up north!"
Morgan took him to an ophthalmologist in Atlanta, who determined Louie was blind from a combination of PRA (progressive retinal atrophy) and cataracts. Though completely blind, his eyes are comfortable and need no further medical attention.
Louie is adorably sweet, personable, loves attention, and gets along great with everyone. (Did I mention handsome?) It's funny, when I get the camera out, it's almost as if he knows because he starts posing like in that shot above … and in this next one:
But wait … it seems there was another dog in Gale's van who also arrived on Friday. Hmm. Well, I guess that one will have to wait until the next blog post!
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$1,000 Weekly Winner in the Shelter Challenge!
Somehow we entirely missed this, but we were the weekly winner for week 3 in the current round of the Shelter Challenge — and got the $1,000 prize! I picked up the mail at the post office yesterday and there was the check from the PetFinder Foundation (which is who actually makes the grants for the Shelter Challenge). Now that was a nice surprise! Then when I got home I looked at the local paper that was in our Post Office box, the Great Northwoods Journal, and there on the front page was a story headlined, "Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary wins $1,000 prize." Well, at least they knew! (The Animal Rescue Site sends out press releases to the local papers for shelters that win prizes.)
Anyway, a big "Thank You!" to everyone who's been so dedicated in voting for us every day in the contest! It really pays off for the animals here!
Our friends at the New Hampshire SPCA are no doubt happy we won the weekly prize again, because that means they'll be able to win the $1,000 state prize since we're no longer eligible for it. We are still in the running for the Grand Prize, though it looks like we are currently well behind the No. 1 and No. 2 groups.
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The current Shelter Challenge started on Monday, April 4th, and ends at midnight on Sunday, June 19th. Grand prize in this round is $5,000, plus $1,000 for weekly winners and $1,000 for state winners. There are also other categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.
And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.
You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.
Please note: Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.
Because of your votes, we just won $1,000 as a weekly winner in this current Shelter Challenge. Please help us win more money for the animals here by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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