Rolling Dog Farm Blog

When I snuck quietly into the dog room this morning about 6:15 to take these photos, I was hoping to find blind Madison and blind and deaf Spinner sleeping "stacked," one on the dog bed below and one on the big bed above. That's the way they were yesterday morning when I walked in … without the camera, of course. With the camera this morning, they were sleeping on opposite sides of the room:

I'd wanted to photograph them together because they are the only two dogs who enjoy "house privileges" in the dog wing, i.e., get to sleep anywhere they want at night and not in crates. We've found over the years that the more dogs left loose in a room unsupervised, the greater the likelihood someone is going to pee overnight. It's like the more dogs there are, the more discipline and self-control break down … I'm not sure why that is, but I suspect the same is true with humans, too. And some dogs just can't or won't hold it overnight. In any case, through a process of elimination (no pun intended! honest!), we ended up with these two older girls with "house privileges" for the dog wing. (Holly and blind Goldie are the only two who get to stay out all night in the people wing.)

Getting — and keeping — house privileges is not soley a function of good potty habits, though. The late-night party animals, like blind Widget, quickly lose their privileges because of their frat-house behavior at 3 a.m. The looking-for-food-in-all-the-wrong-places types — like blind Cedar, who will upend any trash can searching for anything edible — also lose privileges.

Thus the last two standing … er, sleeping … are Madison and Spinner.

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Up To No. 3 Nationwide!

The current Shelter Challenge started on July 4th and ends at midnight on September 18th. 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.  [Yes, we are still listed as Rolling Dog Ranch for the purposes of the contest, not Rolling Dog Farm.]

Because of your votes, we just won $1,000 as a weekly winner in the last 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!