This little guy just arrived Tuesday afternoon from Cody, Wyoming.  The shelter there had asked if we could take him … the family who had the litter of pups said he was blind and contacted the shelter for help in finding a home for him.  We named him, well, Cody.  A young lady from Wyoming,…

Two of the sanctuary’s incredibly generous supporters, Jean C. in Nevada and Mary Ann F. in Montana, had read our post about Smokey’s death and each of them independently e-mailed us last week with the same question:  What about a barn cam system in Beauty’s Barn?  They wondered if it might have alerted us to…

We had several suggestions for a new name for blind Vader, who just arrived at the ranch last week. (See post below.)  The winning name came from Karen F. in Missoula, who wrote: "Change the name Vader to Luke.  Same movie but good over evil." We thought that was perfect.   Thanks, Karen!

Blind Widget always expects to get her way … especially when it comes to moving other dogs off a bed or chair she covets.  She usually looms over them, staring intently, until they can’t take the pressure and finally get up and leave.  (Regular blog readers have seen her in action before.)  The one dog…

This is little blind Callie, who came to us from the Bitterroot Humane Association on December 1st.  (See original post here.)  I took this photo just a few minutes ago this evening.  Clearly this is one stressed-out Dachshund.  She also assumes this position when it’s time to go outside for the last time at night,…

Well, we aren’t wild about his name but it’s the one he came with!  This is blind Vader, who the Humane Society of Western Montana (formerly the Missoula Humane Society) called us about last weekend.  He’s a young fellow, about 2 we think, and very sweet.  He can’t see a thing.  The Humane Society had…

The winter issue of Montana Quarterly just came out with a wonderful article about the sanctuary and our animals.  The article is beautifully written and perfectly captures the ‘spirit’ of the animals here.  The piece is illustrated with great photography, too.  The headline reads, "Second Chances:  Couple’s one-of-a-kind ranch provides care and a home for…

Today I took Willis, the last of my original "Seattle cats" — the ones who moved with us to Montana in 2000 — to see our specialist in Missoula, Dr. Dave Bostwick, for a check-up.  Willis has been suffering from lymphoma for over a year.  But cancer isn’t all he’s got.  He also has heart…

As much as Alayne and I would like to take some ’emotional time off’ when we lose an animal like Smokey, the fact is that we can’t … every day we just have to get back into the routine.  Each morning there are 70+ animals clamoring for their breakfast!  And attending to them really does…

Today was one of those gorgeous blue sunny days when nothing bad is supposed to happen.  But it did.  Our old blind mare Smokey, who had just arrived on November 19, died from colic.  Her gut twisted on itself.  It was an awful death. We found her down in her stall in Beauty’s Barn this…