Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Scooter and Sugar, the two disabled dogs we agreed to take from the Hayward (CA) animal control shelter, arrived at the ranch last night.  Their trip to Montana was made possible only because of incredible volunteers.  Garrett and Delores, volunteers from the Hayward shelter, drove the dogs all the way from the Bay Area to Spokane, Washington.  Our own wonderful volunteer, Jerry B., drove over to Spokane from Missoula, picked up the dogs and brought them all the way back to the sanctuary.

The deaf white female was originally named Delight, but Alayne took one look at her scooting around the yard last night and named her Scooter on the spot.  She’s a sweet, affectionate, frisky thing.  (Scooter, although the same could be said about Alayne.)  The nice thing about deaf dogs is it doesn’t matter if you change their names, since they can’t hear you calling them anyway.  Scooter is still very much a puppy … zooming all over the place. 

And, as you can see from these photos we took today, she figured out right away why we call this place the Rolling Dog Ranch.  As I write this, Scooter is out in one of the big dog paddocks, playing with our deaf English Pointer, Tyler.

The blind Springer Spaniel is now named Sugar.  The volunteer at the Hayward shelter who contacted us about these two dogs, Terry D., decided to name her Sugar after learning we had just adopted out a blind Springer Spaniel named Cookie.  So … Sugar … Cookie.  Cute, huh?  We thought it was perfect.  Here she is with Alayne this evening.

Sugar is an older girl — probably 7 or 8 — and she can’t see a thing.  She’s blind from a combination of cataracts and glaucoma.  She’s very timid at first, but as soon as she realizes you’re going to pet her, she just starts wagging her tail.  She usually has a ‘concerned’ look on her face, but I think she’ll develop confidence pretty soon.  This sweet dog must have gone through so much upheaval in her life recently … it’s hard to imagine what’s going through her head now.  But she’ll quickly realize she’s safe and loved … and she’ll start to blossom. 

We agreed today to take two disabled dogs from the Hayward, California animal control shelter.  One is a deaf female hound mix named Delight.  She’s young, about 8 months.  The other is a blind Springer Spaniel … she was dumped in their holding pen overnight, so she doesn’t even have a name.  The shelter believes she’s probably about 7 years old.  Both of these dogs were facing euthanasia.

We’re working now on travel arrangements with a wonderful volunteer named Terry D. who first contacted us about them. Terry is responsible for rescuing blind Penny and sending her our way earlier this year. 

At this time of year flying dogs via the airlines is tricky because of the temperature restrictions and summer heat.  So we’re also looking at ground transportation options. 

Ironically, we just had a blind Springer Spaniel named Cookie who we adopted out to a young lady in Seattle several weeks ago.  We always are glad when we can adopt an animal out to the right family, because it frees up a spot for another disabled dog.  Here’s a photo of the Springer from California.

Our old German Shepherd, Pappy, is well on his way to recovering after 10 days in the vet hospital in Helena.  I had taken him in one morning after finding him listless, with no appetite, and a high fever (105.7).  Turns out he had pneumonia.  Last Sunday, July 10th, our vets had called and said he could come on Monday.  But on Monday morning they called to say Pappy had suddenly come down with meningitis and that I should come over to be with him "just in case."  Just in case he didn’t make it.  I hopped in the truck and drove like mad the 70 miles to Helena.

A spinal tap and analysis of his fluid confirmed the meningitis diagnosis.  Our vets gave him a 20% chance of survival.  He looked and felt awful.  He didn’t respond to me, didn’t even seem to realize I or anyone else was around him.  Just a blank look.  I waited until a vet tech arrived from St. Peter’s Hospital with the special meningitis drug and watched as they injected it into his IV and trickled into his veins.  I kissed and petted this special old boy and left in tears, afraid I would never see him alive again. 

All that night we waited for the phone to ring.  It didn’t.  The next morning the report was astonishing.  Pappy was alive, alert and eating … and his temperature had plummeted.  Every day last week we waited for the twice daily call from our vets with the update.  Each day came and there were no setbacks.  Only slow, steady progress.  Gradually we allowed ourselves to hope.  Our vets cautioned against too much hope.  Meningitis is a killer.  In an old dog, it can be especially lethal. 

Last Wednesday I drove over in the evening to be with Pappy at the clinic.  I wanted him to know we were still there.  Then, on Friday, our vets said we could bring him home for the weekend if we wanted to.  But it was our call.  Clinically they would prefer he stay in the hospital, but they also recognized the therapeutic value of being home.  And they thought the risk was reasonable.  There was no doubt in our mind.

I drove back to Helena Friday evening and picked him up.  When I got back to the ranch with him, Alayne and I both cried.  We didn’t think Pappy would ever be coming home again. 

So far Pappy’s doing great.  He’s eating, drinking, and alert.  He’s still very weak and needs help walking.  He is struggling with bowel and bladder control … less of the former, more of the latter.  We have to get up during the night to help him.  But he is steadily gaining strength.  His temperature has stayed in the normal range.  Our vets caution that he can still have a relapse … the chances are as high as 50%.  So every day is a blessing.

You can see Pappy’s original story on our Web site here.

 

Allie is a four-month old Lab/Retriever puppy with a neurological condition called cerebellar hypoplasia. The part of her brain that controls motor skills and balance — the cerebellum — didn’t fully develop because her momma probably had distemper when she was pregnant with Allie. So Allie can’t walk in a straight line and is quite wobbly on her feet … but she can get anywhere she wants to go (eventually!).

The Humane Society in Sault Saint Marie, Ontario found her as a stray and took her to a vet clinic. There, the vets diagnosed her condition. This made her ‘unadoptable’ at the Humane Society. The clinic staff fell in love with this happy puppy and didn’t want to see her euthanized. A vet tech heard about us and asked if we could take her in. We agreed if they could raise the money to fly her out to Montana.

A local newspaper then did a story on Allie and the donations came in. A week later, Allie flew out to Great Falls, where we picked her up at the airport.