The Lewis & Clark Humane Society in Helena, Montana, called us last week about Stoney, a blind dog a fellow had dropped off at the shelter.  The next day the man’s wife went to the shelter, picked up the dog and took her back home.  Turns out they were going through a divorce.  Well, a…

Beth took this photo today of Travis, our dog with a fused jaw, playing with blind Pepper the German Shepherd.  Because Travis can’t open his mouth, he’s at a bite I mean a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to roughhousing.  He makes up for it, though, with creative use of his lips.  He’ll…

Yes, it’s only mid-May, but it sure feels like summer already!  As I write this, at 4:30 in the afternoon, it’s 86 degrees in the shade.  Our average max temperature for Ovando in May is 63 degrees.  Missoula yesterday hit 90 degrees, breaking a record set in 1905.  The animals, of course, love the warm,…

Here’s a photo I took last week but didn’t have time to post.  I had hauled this crew in to our equine vet, Bill Brown, for various "issues."  That’s blind Luna on the left of the trailer, wearing a flymask.  We had to remove her eyes a few weeks ago, and then she developed a…

It was 9 p.m. tonight and Alayne and I were sitting on the front steps of the house, enjoying the cool evening air after an unusually hot spring day (in the 80s!).  We had just finished dinner, the sun had dipped below the horizon, and we were relishing a few minutes of quiet time in…

Regular readers of the blog may remember a post from several weeks ago about Sammy, a diabetic Jack Russell/Fox Terrier mix who came to us from the Humane Society of the U.S. in Billings.  This little scamp is doing just great and continues to entertain us with his antics.  He clearly has the potential to…

This was Nikki’s REALLY big day … she was ridden for the first time!  After doing some more ground work with Nikki in the round pen this evening, our trainer Nichole Zupan decided Nikki was ready for her first ride.  We put a halter on Nikki underneath the bridle so Alayne could help lead her…

Here’s blind Emmy, who just arrived last week from North Carolina, checking out the fridge in the welcome center.  She is a delightful girl, and whirls and dances when she knows breakfast or dinner is coming her way.  We concluded she really isn’t deaf … she hears all kinds of sounds (as in, "they’re fixing…

Susan S. from Missoula, who adopted blind Buddy a few weeks ago, emailed with another update on how he’s doing in his new home.  Here are some excerpts from her email: "Every day I am so happy we adopted Buddy.  He is doing great.  He acts like he’s lived here all his life — trots…

Our little blind two-year old filly, Nikki, had a big day on Friday with her wonderful trainer, Nichole Zupan.  Not only did Nichole introduce Nikki to having a bit in her mouth, but then came a saddle pad and finally, the saddle!  Through it all Nikki was calm and acted, well, almost bored.  Bear in…