Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Okay, so this post isn't exactly about an animal, but it is about something that helps us do our job of caring for the animals here.  About a year ago we traded in our Honda ATV for this Kubota RTV 900 utility vehicle (our two ranch tractors are Kubotas, too).  And what a difference it has made.  With a bed that can carry a full-size pallet and a load that weighs up to half a ton — 1,000 lbs (453 kg), the same as a Ford F-150! — we no longer have to use the trucks for ranch chores like hauling water out to stock tanks on pasture.  That's what I was doing on Saturday when I took these photos.  The bed also tips like a dump truck.

It can tow, too, so instead of using the much bigger trucks or tractors to pull something like a sprayer, I can hook up to the super-efficient little RTV for towing.

It runs on diesel, which means we can fill it from the fuel tank we have here on the ranch.  But filling it is not a frequent thing at all — we run it for weeks between refueling.  It has a small tractor engine and thus usage is measured in hours of operation rather than miles, but I last filled it at 155 hours and am now at 170 hours with a full half tank of diesel to go.  So depending on the type of work we're doing, we can get about 30 hours of use on one 8-gallon (30 liters) tank.  It also has 4-wheel drive and an engine-block heater, which means it's fully functional in our bitterly cold and snowy winters.

It can seat three people in the cab, has plenty of room for tools and other equipment, and allows us to take dogs with us when we head out to do projects like fix fence.  Just last week I took blind Madison along for a ride.  (A certain goat named Margaret has also been seen in the cab being chauffered around the ranch.)

—

Don't forget, you can vote every day for us in The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge. 
Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote.  Invite your family and friends to vote, too! 

Wow .. still No. 3, and that means a $3,000 grant if we can hold that spot!  Please keep voting — thank you!

I saw blind-and-deaf Spinner in our front yard around noon today lying flat on her side in the grass, soaking in the sun.  I went in to get the camera because she looked so angelic and peaceful.  When I came back out, she had sat up and was in her "processing mode," as I call it.  When she detects a smell in the air and isn't sure what it is at first, she often puts her ears back — like you see in the photo above.

Now, since she is totally deaf, I don't know why her ears would do this, but it's always a sign of her mentally processing an unfamiliar smell in the air.  Sometimes, if she's not sure what it is, she'll spring up and go bounding off, often barking as she goes to let us know there's something new in the air.

At other times, like today, she decided she knew what that smell was after all — no need to sound the alarm, thank you — and then her ears go forward:

That's the sign she's finished processing and all is well!

—

We're going to take a blogging break for Friday, so this will be the last post until I blog again for Monday.  We hope you have a wonderful July 4th holiday weekend.

—

Don't forget, you can vote every day for us in The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge. 
Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote.  Invite your family and friends to vote, too! 

Wow .. still No. 3, and that means a $3,000 grant if we can hold that spot!  Please keep voting — thank you!

I took this photo this afternoon of our veteran escape-artist, Travis, looking through the new six-foot high (1.8 m) "no-climb" mesh fence we just finished having installed.  (Click on photo for larger image.)  We have tried everything to contain this boy, but he is so athletic and agile that he continued to outwit us at every turn.  He's an incredible climber and jumper, and we finally realized that what we needed was a really tall fence — with matching 6-foot high gates — to keep him in.

So we fenced the full perimeter of the east yard of Widget's House with the new fence and also put a fence-line down the middle to give us two separate sections, just in case we needed the flexibility down the road (i.e., in case we get another climber/jumper in the future who doesn't get along with Travis, for example).

The new gates are also easy to adjust for height, so as the snow piles up, we'll be able to loosen a couple of bolts and simply raise the gates up.  That should save a lot of time and effort digging out the gates all winter long. 

The first time I put Travis in the newly fenced yard, he ran along the full perimeter of the fence, as if he were inspecting it to see if there was a gap or … well, some way to get out.  There wasn't.  We've also learned to keep dog houses, cots, and any other structures a good distance from the fence because he will use them as a springboard for a jump. 

We think the Steve McQueen of the Rolling Dog Ranch won't be making any more great escapes for a while.  But if Travis shows up in the yard with a motorcycle one morning, at least we'll know what he's planning.

—

Don't forget, you can vote every day for us in The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge. 
Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote.  Invite your family and friends to vote, too! 

Wow .. still No. 3, and that means a $3,000 grant if we can hold that spot!  Please keep voting — thank you!

I was out taking photos Saturday evening and got this shot of the entire ranch on a gorgeous June day.  I can't remember the last time I posted a panoramic view of "the spread," so here it is.  That's the new arena on the far left and Lena's Barn on the far right, tucked behind a large horse shed.  You can see how we've concentrated the facilities in one stretch along our interior drive to maximize pasture ground.  This shot is looking north-east, and the high peaks in the back are in the Scapegoat Wilderness.  Although we haven't had nearly as much rain as we would like, the grass has held up pretty well — though you can tell it's beginning to transition from spring green to summer brown.  That lush green we love so much just doesn't last long here in the northern Rockies.

—

Don't forget, you can vote every day for us in The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge. 
Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote.  Invite your family and friends to vote, too! 

Wow .. still No. 3, and that means a $3,000 grant if we can hold that spot!  Please keep voting — thank you!

I got this shot on Thursday when our equine vet, Dr. Erin Taylor, came out to do the rest of the dental work on our horses and a follow-up exam on blind Hawk.  (I had posted a couple of weeks ago about Hawk's current health issues.)  Hawk has also now begun exhibiting some neurological signs — taking awkward stances, not always seeming to know where his feet are, that kind of thing.  Erin did a neuro exam and more blood work to see if the week's worth of Lasix I had given him had reduced his elevated potassium levels.  Unfortunately, on Friday Erin reported that the lab results showed that while his potassium had come down one point, it was still way above the normal range.  So this medical mystery continues.

That's blind Cash, our two-year old, sniffing Erin's hand (or … hmm … maybe checking out the new wedding ring?).  We had lost Hawk's longtime buddy, Rocky, last fall to age-related medical problems.  Over the winter, Cash had started to annoy his Aunt Lena and Cousin Nikki by constantly pestering them.  They were too nice or too gentle or too something to let him have it and put him in his place, and as time went on, he continued increasingly to get on their nerves.  He became ever more the brat.  It was a case of unsettled herd dynamics, and he was trying to figure out where he fit in.

We realized that if the ladies weren't going to dish it out to him, we needed to put him with someone else who could take his manners-training to the next level.  That someone was a big, old gelding like Hawk. 

In just 48 hours with Uncle Hawk, Cash had become a different horse.  He was calm, quiet, and well-behaved.  Hawk must have said something like, "Look, kid, you're way below me in the pecking order, so stop the nonsense or I'll heave you over the fence."  Message received.

Now that Cash knows where he fits, he doesn't feel he has to prove anything to anyone.  So he's a very different boy these days.

We just have to get his manners-and-etiquette coach healthy!

—

Don't forget, you can vote every day for us in The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge. 
Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote.  Invite your family and friends to vote, too! 

Wow .. still No. 3, and that means a $3,000 grant if we can hold that spot!  Please keep voting — thank you!

A long-time friend of the sanctuary, Cassie B., sent us this photo yesterday of blind Bindi, who she adopted from us a couple of years ago.  (Bindi was named Nevada here at the ranch.)  Bindi is standing under her new boyfriend, Dirk, who Cassie recently adopted.

Cassie had written us earlier about Dirk, saying "He is just the best boy, and Bindi is in LOVE with him!  She has found a new wrestling partner, and he is so gentle with her.  It’s really very sweet."

In her latest email with the photo, Cassie wrote, "They are such good buds, and Dirk just lets Bindi boss him around all day long!"

—

Don't forget, you can vote every day for us in The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge. 
Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote.  Invite your family and friends to vote, too! 

Wow .. still No. 3, and that means a $3,000 grant if we can hold that spot!  Please keep voting — thank you!

When blind Madison arrived a couple of weeks ago, we noticed how thin she was under her thick coat that she was beginning to shed out for summer.  As the days ticked by, she seemed to be losing weight, not gaining any, despite the huge portions we were feeding her.  In fact, we were feeding her as much as she would eat, yet we didn't seem to be turning the corner on her weight.  Her water consumption seemed a bit high, too. 

Given her age, we worried that she could be starting down the path of renal failure, or developing cancer of some sort.  I arranged to drop her off at our internal medicine specialist's clinic in Missoula yesterday while I ran to other appointments.

At first Madison was happy to be in the truck with me, but then as I headed down the drive, she became very quiet and subdued.  I looked over my shoulder at her in the back seat and could tell she was fretting.  I think she suddenly thought she was going to be taken someplace else and left to start all over again.  We've seen this before — the first time we take a new arrival to the vet clinic, he or she will get stressed about being uprooted again, thinking they're going back to the shelter.  I'm sure that's what was going through her mind.

Yesterday afternoon Dr. Dave Bostwick did a physical exam and abdominal ultrasound of her organs, and everything appeared normal.  He sent her blood work to the lab, and that meant we'd have to wait until today to find out the all-important results.

I picked Madison up yesterday evening to bring her back to the ranch.  As the vet tech led her down the hall towards me, she heard my voice calling her.  There was this flash of recognition on her face — "Oh!  It's him!  He came back for me!" –  and my goodness, how her tail started wagging!  Bless her heart, that's when she realized she hadn't been left to start over somewhere new, she was going home!

When the phone rang at 8:30 this morning and the caller ID showed it was Dave, I held my breath for a second … and then answered.  All he said was, "It's been a long time since I've seen blood work this good."  Whew.  What a relief!

Dave's advice:  Keep feeding as much as we are and be patient.  Unless it's a weird GI tract malabsorption issue of some kind — which are very rare and hard to definitively diagnose in any case — he thinks it's just a question of calories and time.  (That's what turned a similar problem with blind Evelyn arround.)

So I went over to Widget's House to hug our little lady and give her the good news.  That's when I got the photo above of Madison, who was happy to be outside on a beautiful and sunny summer day. 

—

Don't forget, you can vote every day for us in The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge. 
Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote.  Invite your family and friends to vote, too! 

Wow .. still No. 3, and that means a $3,000 grant if we can hold that spot!  Please keep voting — thank you!

Just about a month ago when we posted deaf Stuart's adoption on the blog.  At the time, we included a brief update from his new Dad and Mom, Dan and Cheryl W., who said that their other newly adopted Beagle, Daisy, couldn't stand to be separated from Stuart — and that bond had developed in, oh, about 12 hours. 

Well, Dan and Cheryl kindly sent us another update this past weekend, along with the photo above.  That's Stuart in the back and Daisy up front. 

Dan and Cheryl wrote:

"Just thought we'd send you an update on Stuart.  As you can see from the attached photo, he has made himself quite at home.  He's adopted us and Daisy and is such a hoot to be around.  You were right when you called him a 'happy little guy'….. he is always ready for the next excitement.  I can't head for the door that Stuart isn't right beside me ready to go for a ride.  We love him and are so happy we were able to make him a part of our family. Thanks again for all you guys do…."

Apparently Stuart has developed a bit more modesty with his new family, because back here at the ranch, this is how he used to sleep in our living room:

—-

Don't forget, you can vote every day for us in The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge. 
Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote.  Invite your family and friends to vote, too! 

Wow .. still No. 3, and that means a $3,000 grant if we can hold that spot!  Please keep voting — thank you!

This is a variation on a theme we've written about before — small dogs curling up around a big dog and using him or her as a kind of canine heat lamp.  Alayne took this photo the other afternoon of Charlie on the left and Austin — two of our blind Beagles from Georgia — snoozing with blind Moose.  Someone had pulled the dog bed off the cot and onto the ground, which is where they decided to nap.  It wasn't a cold day at all, but the sun wasn't out and apparently an auxiliary heat source was required!

—

Don't forget, you can vote every day for us in The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge. 
Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote.  Invite your family and friends to vote, too! 

Wow .. still No. 3, and that means a $3,000 grant if we can hold that spot!  Please keep voting — thank you!

This is the scene at Widget's House when I let the dogs out in the morning.  From left to right, that's Samantha, Madison, Priscilla and Penny, crowding around the water bucket on the front porch.  All of them are blind, but they know exactly where they're going when they head out the door.  The cast of characters at the water bucket changes from day to day — it's not always the same four dogs — but there's usually a group this size circling around it. 

—

Don't forget, you can vote every day for us in The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge. 
Enter
"Rolling Dog Ranch" and our state postal code, MT for Montana,
and it will bring up our listing so you can cast your vote.  Invite your family and friends to vote, too! 

Wow .. still No. 3, and that means a $3,000 grant if we can hold that spot!  Please keep voting — thank you!