Here's an update on another of our adoptees — blind Luke, who came to us in 2006 from a Montana shelter and who was adopted in 2007 by Kate W., one of our fabulous long-time volunteers. Kate's mom Laura, who also had volunteered at the ranch in Ovando for years — what a great team! — took these photos of Kate and a now gray-muzzled Luke a couple of months ago in Missoula's Greenough Park. The park is where Kate took Luke for their first walk together, and it's been their favorite place for walking ever since.
When she emailed me these photos, Kate wrote:
"Luke is doing great! He is getting old quick, not as spunky as he used to be and our walks take about twice as long as they used to, but he still does his jumping up and down dance for breakfast and dinner and he still loves his daily walks and games of tug-o-war!
Thank you so much for all of the great memories at the ranch and for my sweet boy Luke. I can't imagine what the past 5 years would have been like without him in my life. Very boring I'm sure! It's hard adjusting and realizing your boy is entering the old dog stage but at the same time I am so happy to have had him for so long and looking forward to a few more good years together!"
Now, the funny thing about this is that Luke drove us crazy at times at the ranch. He was hyper, barked a lot, and sometimes had so much energy he didn't know what to do with himself. One day I found him literally climbing up and almost over a chain-link gate in a frenzy, barking like mad, because he was so worked up over something. It turned out we just didn't have the right environment for Luke. He was one of those dogs who fed off the energy of other dogs, and it became a self-reinforcing loop.
The more dogs around him, the more stimulus, the more wound-up he became. And then his own over-the-top energy would get the other dogs going, which would just feed back into him, and he would ratchet up another level.
We have always managed the place to ensure a quiet, calm environment for the dogs, so one or two dogs like Luke could quickly undermine that objective.
When Kate asked to adopt him, Alayne and I were so relieved … but worried, because we just didn't know how he would do. Well, he blossomed under Kate's loving care. What Luke needed most was a Mom of his own and an environment without all the stimulus that set him off. Once he had that, he became a different boy altogether. And when Kate brought Luke back with her on volunteer days, we could see the difference in him.
And, all these many years later, you see how these two seemed to be made for each other!
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Final Contest of The Year — Please Vote for the Farm!
The latest Shelter Challenge started Monday, October 8 and ends at midnight on December 16. 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.
*** You will find us listed as Rolling Dog Farm. The state is NH for New Hampshire. ***
Please remember, you can vote every day … consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.
We just won $1,000 as a weekly winner in the current contest, and thousands more in the previous contests. The Shelter Challenge really does bring in a lot of money for the animals here!
You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.
Thank you for your votes!
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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