Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Yesterday morning when I walked into the dog room to start letting all the bladders I mean dogs out, I could see blind and deaf Spinner had something stuck to her chin. I walked over to the twin bed she sleeps on (yes, she has the whole thing to herself all night long … blind Madison, the only other "at-large" resident in the room all night, uses the dog beds on the floor) for a closer look. It turned out to be a tuft of her own white hair, though how it got there and why it stayed there I don't know. In fact, it managed to cling to her chin long enough for me to walk back down to the people wing to get the camera and come back to take a photo. She's been blowing her coat out in recent days and somehow a piece got on to her chin and decided to hang around.

Anyway, she had been sound asleep when I first walked in and was now awake and stirring, so it wasn't long before she realized something was stuck to her chin. I barely got the photo taken before she shook her head a few times and off it went.

I'm beginning to work on our fall print newsletter, and Spinner will be on the cover for another "originals" issue, where we feature some of the animals who have been here the longest. We've had this wonderful girl for six years now, and she's a great example of how disabled animals in general — and especially those with twin disabilities like hers — can have an amazing quality of life. Of all our disabled animals, it's clear the ones who have the biggest obstacles to overcome in terms of human perception are the ones who are both blind and deaf. So many people can't conceive of how an animal who can't see or hear can still enjoy life.

As you may recall, we put Spencer and Katie, our adorable blind and deaf pair of Dachshunds, up for adoption months ago on PetFinder. Each week I get a report from PetFinder on how many "views" our adoption listings received that week … and Spencer and Katie are always at the top of the list, getting more than 200 views a week. Yet six months later, they are still here. And we know it's because the blind and deaf thing is a show-stopper for most people. Now, don't get me wrong … we don't worry about it and we don't despair over it, because we know that the right person will come along in due course and we can afford to wait for that special home. But is is a sign of how this twin disability can put people off from adopting an otherwise irresistibly cute pair of little dogs.

Thus it's time to put Spinner back on the cover of our newsletter so we can tell her story.  I think she was last on the cover way back in 2005!

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Still No. 3 Nationwide!

The current Shelter Challenge started on July 4th and ends at midnight on September 18th. 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.

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note:  Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.  [Yes, we are still listed as Rolling Dog Ranch for the purposes of the contest, not Rolling Dog Farm.]

Because of your votes, we just won $1,000 as a weekly winner in the last Shelter Challenge. Please help us win more money for the animals here by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!

Alayne took this shot right after lunch, just moments after I had started mowing the dog yard in the front of the house (I was "off camera" to the right). Blind Widget was in the living room and wanted to go out to potty, so Alayne opened the door and off she went to the top of the ramp … and no further.  She was joined by Dexter, who you see on the left.

Alayne watched her for a bit, and told me later it was as if Widget was waiting for me to mow the grass down before she sauntered out to do her business. You see, Widget does not like tall grass because her legs are so short, and thus a freshly mowed lawn is much more to her liking.

Alas, she waited for probably five to ten minutes, listening to me go around and around with the mower, before finally giving up and heading out to pee.  I hadn't noticed her lying at the top of the ramp the whole time, nor did I apparently get her ESP message directing me to mow a strip straight out from the ramp to the middle of the yard, where she usually does her thing. So, yes, the poor thing had to wade through the four-inch high grass to get to her favorite spot. Oh, well. That was no doubt the most difficult and challenging part of her day.

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Still No. 3 Nationwide!

The current Shelter Challenge started on July 4th and ends at midnight on September 18th. 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.

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note:  Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.  [Yes, we are still listed as Rolling Dog Ranch for the purposes of the contest, not Rolling Dog Farm.]

Because of your votes, we just won $1,000 as a weekly winner in the last Shelter Challenge. Please help us win more money for the animals here by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!

Well, this morning — cooler, cloudy, and damp from rain overnight — Travis was back under his dog house in his hole, but in an entirely new way: face first, looking out. This hole is obviously bigger than I first thought (maybe I should get in there myself?) because he can fit his entire body in it. Today he clearly isn't shade-seeking … this is simply denning. But at least he's got a better view of the world this way.

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Up To No. 3 Nationwide!

The current Shelter Challenge started on July 4th and ends at midnight on September 18th. 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.

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note:  Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.  [Yes, we are still listed as Rolling Dog Ranch for the purposes of the contest, not Rolling Dog Farm.]

Because of your votes, we just won $1,000 as a weekly winner in the last Shelter Challenge. Please help us win more money for the animals here by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!

I was scooping poop on Saturday morning when I saw Travis lying underneath the dog house in his yard. Now, to be honest, my first reaction was, "Well, at least you're finally using that @#%&! hole you dug!" Last year, soon after we moved here, Travis went to work excavating under the corner of his dog house; I was forever filling the hole back in so the house wouldn't become unstable and wobbly in that corner.  Eventually, reason prevailed; no, he didn't stop digging, I just quit trying to fill it in. The odd thing was, I never saw him ever get in the hole. He seemed to be digging for digging's sake. (It's a dog's life, after all.)

Until yesterday, that is, when it was a hot, sunny morning and he was looking for a cooler spot. Nevertheless, I would like to point out that the entire interior of the dog house is shaded, and with the front and back both open, breezy as well. It's hard to think his tight, airless hole in the ground would be cooler or more comfortable, but since I haven't actually tried it myself, I can't say for sure. 

Blind Patti, on the other hand, had a different idea on how to stay cool:

Because Travis has a fused jaw and can't pant to cool off, we always have to keep an eye on him on hot summer days to make sure he doesn't overheat. But yesterday morning, he was obviously taking matters into his own paws, and at least his confounded hole was getting some use. But me, I would have been with Patti, lying in the shade on the cool grass.

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Up To No. 3 Nationwide!

The current Shelter Challenge started on July 4th and ends at midnight on September 18th. 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.

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note:  Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.  [Yes, we are still listed as Rolling Dog Ranch for the purposes of the contest, not Rolling Dog Farm.]

Because of your votes, we just won $1,000 as a weekly winner in the last Shelter Challenge. Please help us win more money for the animals here by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!

When I snuck quietly into the dog room this morning about 6:15 to take these photos, I was hoping to find blind Madison and blind and deaf Spinner sleeping "stacked," one on the dog bed below and one on the big bed above. That's the way they were yesterday morning when I walked in … without the camera, of course. With the camera this morning, they were sleeping on opposite sides of the room:

I'd wanted to photograph them together because they are the only two dogs who enjoy "house privileges" in the dog wing, i.e., get to sleep anywhere they want at night and not in crates. We've found over the years that the more dogs left loose in a room unsupervised, the greater the likelihood someone is going to pee overnight. It's like the more dogs there are, the more discipline and self-control break down … I'm not sure why that is, but I suspect the same is true with humans, too. And some dogs just can't or won't hold it overnight. In any case, through a process of elimination (no pun intended! honest!), we ended up with these two older girls with "house privileges" for the dog wing. (Holly and blind Goldie are the only two who get to stay out all night in the people wing.)

Getting — and keeping — house privileges is not soley a function of good potty habits, though. The late-night party animals, like blind Widget, quickly lose their privileges because of their frat-house behavior at 3 a.m. The looking-for-food-in-all-the-wrong-places types — like blind Cedar, who will upend any trash can searching for anything edible — also lose privileges.

Thus the last two standing … er, sleeping … are Madison and Spinner.

—

Up To No. 3 Nationwide!

The current Shelter Challenge started on July 4th and ends at midnight on September 18th. 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.

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note:  Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.  [Yes, we are still listed as Rolling Dog Ranch for the purposes of the contest, not Rolling Dog Farm.]

Because of your votes, we just won $1,000 as a weekly winner in the last Shelter Challenge. Please help us win more money for the animals here by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!

I took these photos this morning, when Dexter and blind Goldie realized Alayne was loading the dishwasher and that meant, "time to help!" In other words, "time to see if there's anything edible/lickable still left on the dishes!" They head over to the kitchen whenever one of us is loading the dishwasher, whether it's our own dishes or the dog dishes. There's always a possibility food may be available, and if not food, at least some interesting flavors to be savored. 

To their dismay, they can't reach the upper rack in the dishwasher, nor can they get inside the blender on the lower rack, which has the drippings left over from making up Travis' liquid diet. But anything else on the lower rack is fair game for them.

Dexter and Goldie are quite a team, working both the front and back of the dishes. The first time I saw them cleaning the back of the plates I wondered why, but then I realized … since we stacked the plates on top of each other when clearing off the table, that would leave some tasty "lickables" on the back of the plates. 

Here's Dexter, deciding the front of the plates demanded his attention now:

Of course, this isn't the only dishwashing assistance we get — I've reported before on how Holly likes to do the "pre-wash" of the dog dishes. Nice to have the help, eh?

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Up To No. 3 Nationwide!

The current Shelter Challenge started on July 4th and ends at midnight on September 18th. 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.

And remember, you can vote every day, so consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.

You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.

Please note:  Use Rolling Dog Ranch for our name and NH for the state and our listing will come up.  [Yes, we are still listed as Rolling Dog Ranch for the purposes of the contest, not Rolling Dog Farm.]

Because of your votes, we just won $1,000 as a weekly winner in the last Shelter Challenge. Please help us win more money for the animals here by voting every day, and by encouraging your family, friends and colleagues to vote every day, too. Thank you!