Little Skipper, our Schipperke with a rare auto-immune skin disorder, was adopted today by a wonderful couple who are long-time supporters of the ranch.  John and Pat O. from Plains, Montana, have had Schipperkes for years and love the breed.  So when they received our fall newsletter with Skipper in it, they contacted us and…

Today was our autumn ‘herd health and dental day," where all the horses and one mule get their fall vaccinations and a dental exam.  Our equine vet, Dr. Erin Taylor of Blue Mountain Veterinary Hospital in Missoula, brought the clinic’s new equine vet, Dr. Angela Langer, out to the ranch to help.  Angela just graduated…

Yesterday morning I heard this commotion outside my office door and looked out to see blind-and-deaf Baron roughhousing with blind-and-deaf Spinner in the living room.  This is the first time I’d seen Baron playing with Spinner, and one of the rare times I’d ever seen Spinner playing like this with anyone.  At first I stood…

In general Dachshunds love to burrow … under blankets, clothing, towels, you name it.  Anything soft and comfortable will do.  A happy Dachshund is a burrowed Dachshund.  But our little Dachshund Bailey, he of the curved back and bent rear legs, takes burrowing to new heights.  (Or is it depths?)  Even if it’s too warm…

When it’s time to put everyone out for the night’s last potty stop, our blind Dachshund Callie is the only dog who pretends not to know what the routine is.  Not only that, she pretends she can’t hear us.  (We call this phenomenon "transitional blind-and-deaf syndrome.")  She rolls over and plays dead. When we approach…

When we lost blind Tonto after his colic surgery back in August, his best friend and pasture buddy of many years, blind Scout, became forlorn.  He kept looking for Tonto, pacing in circles and whinnying for him.  Scout was waiting for Tonto to come back, and every time he’d hear hoofsteps approach, he’d get excited…

A couple of weekends ago we had a delightful visit from John Woestendiek, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter from the Baltimore Sun.  John is currently on leave from the newspaper for a few months as a Visiting Professor of Journalism at the University of Montana for the fall semester.  And although he’s not officially "reporting" for…

Yes, it’s another post with Baron in it!  I took this photo today in my office of Baron with Dolly, one of our ‘personal’ dogs.  In Baron’s story on his Web page, we wrote this about him: "Baron likes to snuggle, too. Because he’s blind and deaf, he can’t always read doggy social cues, so…

Sometimes it’s the little everyday things you don’t notice until one day you finally really see it.  For instance, sitting here at my desk today, I looked down and saw blind-and-deaf Baron curled up in the round bed right next to me.  It dawned on me that Baron is always in that bed, and that…

I took this photo at lunch today while I was being pestered by you-know-who, blind Widget.  She is usually not the first to the dining table — she generally saunters over about midway through our meal.  The first-responders, as we call them, are the Dachshunds, who are already waiting for Alayne and me even before…