Rolling Dog Farm Blog

I apologize for the quality of these photos, but I shot them through the storm door at Widget's House the other evening — and there are a lot of noses that get pressed up against the glass every day!  Our blind Poodle sisters, Priscilla on the left and Molly on the right, were wrestling like mad with each other.  Their erstwhile boyfriend Trooper was acting bored and ignoring the mayhem occurring right behind him as he stared at me through the door.  That's blind Cedar on the right, not too sure what the girls are up to, and on the far left is blind Samantha's rump. 

Trooper often launches into the fray when the girls are feeling this frisky, but not this time.  No, he just seemed vaguely … well, above it all.  A minute or two before I took that previous shot, he had looked over his shoulder at them like this:

After they cleared off the porch, I stepped outside with the camera to see if I could get some more shots of the girls in action, but Molly had just taken off, leaving Priscilla wondering what had just happened to her sister:

When blind dogs are roughhousing with each other and one suddenly disengages, that is a very common body posture we see — "Hey, where'd you go?!?"  You can tell Priscilla is poised to spring into action, except … she's just realized she's all alone!

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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! 

Still No. 3 — please keep voting!

Our usual routine in the afternoon is that Alayne and I feed the horses and do the other barn chores first, then we come in to feed the dogs.  A couple of weeks ago, as Alayne was standing at our dining table dishing out the food into the dog bowls, she felt this small object descend on her foot.  She looked down and saw Dexter lying on her shoe.  And he wasn't about to move.  Then the next evening, he did the same thing … and every evening since then, including yesterday, when I got this photo of him.  It's a brand-new habit of his.  Dexter patiently waits like this while Alayne finishes getting the bowls ready, then he bounces up when he realizes she's ready to start handing them out.  Apparently he thinks this technique makes him — shall we say — a shoe-in to get fed first.

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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! 

Still No. 3 — please keep voting!

We had one of those Sundays where an animal's health prompted a flurry of calls to our vet in Helena.  Wobbly, blind Briggs had started showing slight tremors in the morning, so we took his temperature and found he was running a fever of 103°.  Not very high, yet still a fever.  But the tremors were unnerving, so we called our our clinic's emergency number and talked with our primary care vet, Dr. Brenda Culver.  Because of the Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever he had for a long time before coming to us, Briggs' health can be a complicated affair.  He continues to be on doxycycline for the spotted fever, even a year after Brenda diagnosed it as the root cause of his disabilities.  The fact that he was on doxycycline and now running a fever again was also alarming.

Brenda explained that this can be one of the "legacy" issues of spotted fever, so she had us give him Baytril, a different type of antibiotic.  After having us describe his tremors — slight trembling, like shivering — she concluded that might be because of the fever.

About 90 minutes later after giving him the Baytril, Briggs threw up.  Another call to Brenda, who told us he would likely have absorbed most of the Baytril in that amount of time so it should still take effect.  We should continue to monitor him for any changes.

A couple of hours later, his tremors suddenly became more pronounced.  As he lay on the floor, he began rhythmically pulling his legs in towards his body and then flexing them out again.  We didn't like the looks of that, so we called Brenda again.  Since we're 70 miles from the clinic, we do quite a lot of "tele-medicine" with our vets and try to give them as much accurate information as possible so they can decide if we need to bring the animal in.  Other than his tremors and fever, Briggs was otherwise what vets call BAR — bright, alert and responsive.  We did some quick neuro assessments for Brenda — no dragging of paws, etc.  So it didn't feel like we needed to rush him over to Helena, but clearly something was amiss with his tremors.

Brenda wanted to give him a steroid to "quiet" the tremors and give the Baytril a chance to kick in.

What next ensued is a conversation we've had many times with Brenda and with our equine vet, Dr. Erin Taylor.  We have a well-stocked "pharmacy" here for scenarios exactly like this one, and while we don't always have the first medication they ask for, we usually have something in the same class of drugs. 

Brenda:  "Do you have any injectable prednisone?"

Me:  "No.  But I think we have Depo-Medrol.  Let me go look."

(Sounds of Steve rummaging through the medical cabinet, shuffling bottles of this and that around.)

Me again:  "Hey, wait, I just found some injectable Dexamethsone.  But it's the SP type."

Brenda:  "Perfect!  That's just what we want.  It's the 4 mg per ml version, right?"

Me:  "Yes, it is.  How much should I give him?"

(Sounds of Brenda doing the dosage/weight calculations in her head.  This is why she went to vet school and I didn't.)

Brenda:  "Let's give him 6 mls sub-Q (under the skin) and see how he does."

I thanked her for all her help and went off to find the syringe I needed.  Alayne took the photo above of Briggs getting his injection.

A short while later, his tremors were gone.  He got up off the cot, wobbled into the kitchen to drink from the water bowl, and suddenly seemed much spunkier.

Yesterday evening, he ate his dinner just fine and kept his second dose of Baytril down.  Today he is much better — his temperature is normal, no tremors, and a happier boy all around!

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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! 

Still No. 3 — please keep voting!

May is a particularly hectic month for us because we have multiple pasture and grounds maintenance chores to do in the brief interim between the snow melting (and the ground drying out enough to drive tractors over) and the beginning of grazing season on Memorial Day weekend.  We're cleaning out all the corrals, building the compost windrows, maintaining the drives, planting grass seed, dragging pastures that didn't get finished in the fall before the snow arrived, and fertilizing.

This weekend I was planting grass seed in areas where we had newly turned earth as well as in pastures that needed some renovation.  We use a seed spreader towed behind the tractor that can hold about 75 lbs (34 kg) of grass seed.  One of the areas where I planted seed was in the Widget's House yard, where we had just put in a gravel lane from the gate along our main drive all the way to the front of the building, along with a gravel "pad" off the porch.  This is about 200 feet (61 m) worth of lane, so it's quite a stretch.  Without a gravel lane for vehicles, the yard had become rutted and beaten up, and it was nearly impossible to maintain vehicle access in winter time.  (Our method of transport in winter?  We actually had to load supplies like dog food, laundry detergent and cases of paper towels on a sled and pull it by hand across the snow to the building!  The dogs declined to pull for us.)

So after the lane went in last week, we had an area of bare dirt that needed to be seeded with grass.  Once I put the seed down with the spreader, I hitched up the ground roller that presses the seed into the ground to ensure firm contact with the dirt.  This thing is huge — about 7 feet wide and weighing about 3,000 pounds (1,360 kg) empty.  But wait, that's not heavy enough for the job!  We actually fill it with water using a hose — there are pipe fittings on either end — to add additional weight, because you really want to squish the seed down. 

Completely full of water, the ground roller would weigh about 7,000 lbs (3,175 kg) which is a lot of weight to pull around with a compact utility tractor like our Kubotas.  And if the equipment you're pulling is too heavy, it can end up controlling the tractor — tipping you over on a grade, for instance.  Although this ground roller is "rated" for our Kubota tractors, it would make me too nervous to have it that heavy, so we generally only fill it about half-full — which is still plenty heavy.

How do we get the water out of it?  We open the pipe fittings on either end, let as much water drain out as possible, and then roll it up and down the drive to get the last water out.

Alayne got these photos of me rolling the seed into the ground at Widget's House on Saturday.  We put some of the dogs up in the pen on the porch, others in the side yard and a couple of them inside the building.  We might be the Rolling Dog, but the last thing we'd want to do is end up, well, rolling a dog!

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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! 

Still No. 3 — please keep voting!

For the fourth year in a row, Barbara Edwards, a quiltmaker from Seeley Lake, Montana, has generously offered to make another beautiful quilt for us and raffle it off, with 100% of the proceeds going to the animals at the ranch.

Barbara and her husband Scott came by yesterday afternoon to show us her latest quilt.  I took the photo of Barbara and Scott in our welcome center.  (Alayne belongs to the mysterious fingers holding up the quilt in the middle.)

The dimensions are 60" x 70".  This year's quilt is called 'Deputy Dogs' … and you can see why!

Here's a close-up of the quilt detail:

The raffle details are:

— Tickets available for $5 each … and this year there's no limit to the number of tickets!

— Make your check payable to Barbara Edwards

— Please send your check directly to Barbara Edwards, P.O. Box 104, Seeley Lake, Montana, 59868

— Barbara will fill out the raffle ticket stub with the information you send with your check … please make sure she has your full name, address and phone number

— If you want your portion of the ticket(s) mailed back to you, please send Barbara a stamped, self-addressed envelope

— All tickets must be purchased by July 15, 2009

— In addition to posting the raffle on the blog, Barbara will be displaying the quilt and selling tickets at three venues in nearby communities

— The drawing will be held at the ranch shortly after July 15 and the winner will be announced on the blog as well as notified personally

Note that Alayne and I are not handling the raffle, so please don't send any money for tickets to the ranch.

There you go … Deputy Dogs!  (Or to be more hip, maybe we should say "Deputy Dogz"?)

Thank you, Barbara!

—

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! 

We had a light snowfall overnight (yes, I know it's May 13th but what the heck) and because we've had bare ground for a few weeks now, the snow was just enough to get the dogs feeling frisky this morning.  Alayne got this shot of blind Austin and deaf Stuart playing with each other soon after she let them out of their cottage.  There's something about seeing animals with two totally different disabilities roughhousing with each other that is so heartwarming.  That's Austin on the left and Stuart on the right.

These two Beagles were providing some entertainment for the other dogs, and here is Daisy watching the boys go at 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! 

One correction to what I posted this morning:  If we hold on to the No. 3 spot for the duration of the contest and win the third-prize of $3,000, we would not get the $1,000 prize for winning the most votes in Montana.  The state prize would go to the runner-up for Montana.  Thanks to Heidi for pointing this out in her blog comment.  I'm married to an attorney, you think she would have read the actual contest rules for me, right?  Sheesh!

Last night we learned the ranch had won $1,000 as the "weekly winner" in the Animal Rescue Site's Shelter Challenge contest, and this morning we had moved up to No. 3 nationwide!  Fabulous!  Thank you for all your daily voting for the animals here — it is clearly adding up and making a difference!  If we can hold the No. 3 spot till the end of the contest in July, we would win the third-place prize of $3,000 plus the $1,000 for the top vote-getter in the state of Montana.  (Not to mention the $1,000 weekly prize we just won!)

Please keep voting — and invite your friends and family to vote, too. Here's the link again for the The Animal Rescue Site/PetFinder's Shelter Challenge page. 
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.

Thank you!

Here's a little guy you haven't seen in a while — blind Austin, a Beagle who arrived from Georgia last year.  Alayne got this photo of Austin on Sunday, while he was out exploring in the yard.  (Look how that grass is starting to grow!) 

Austin is like everybody’s kid brother, always tagging along behind the other dogs hoping they'll play with him.  We’ll often see him in the yard, eagerly following other dogs as they walk around.  He has this very expectant look on his face, as if he thinks they’re going to lead him to something fun and exciting — or better yet, they’re finally going to turn around and start roughhousing with him. 

He has a loud, deep baying voice that is way too big for his little body.  We watch him bay and wonder, “Where is all that noise coming from?”  He’ll use his big hound dog voice to good effect, too.  For example, if he wants to play and his chosen playmate isn’t game, Austin will sit and stare at the other dog, baying and baying until his pal gives in and begins playing with him.  And they will, just to shut him up!

—

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.  We won
$1,000 in this online contest last year because of your help and would
like to win it again this year.

We're on a roll — still at No. 4 nationwide, so please keep voting!  Thank you!

It took Callie a little while on Friday evening to re-orient herself after coming home … when you're blind, have been away for three weeks in the hospital, and have some new vestibular problems that keep you off-balance, well, it can take a bit to figure out where everything is again.  So she kind of milled around her first night back and seemed occasionally lost.

Late Saturday morning, however, we saw her on the cot in the living room, earnestly licking the pillow that's supposed to be inside the bumper bed that blind Charlie likes so much.  This, we knew, was a very good sign.  She was getting ready to re-open her grooming salon, and she was just practicing on the pillow as a warm-up session.

Sure enough, a few hours later on Saturday afternoon, I heard the distinctive sounds of Callie grooming one of her many clients just outside my office door.  I turned around to look, and there she was, methodically grooming blind Briggs.  Back and forth she went with her tongue, carefully cleaning his neck and face.  (If you click on the photo for a larger image, you can see her little pink tongue sticking out.)

I thought, bless her heart, she circles when she walks and her head tilts sideways, but she can pull herself together enough to start grooming again.  Briggs, her favorite client, was only wondering, "Where have you been for the last three weeks, honey?"

—

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.  We won
$1,000 in this online contest last year because of your help and would
like to win it again this year.

We're on a roll — still at No. 4 nationwide, so please keep voting!  Thank you!

I picked up blind Callie at the WSU teaching hospital on Friday morning and brought her back to the ranch.  I took these photos just before we left the hospital.  In the photo above, Callie is being held by Sarah P., the 4th year vet student who was Callie's case manager for the past couple of weeks.  Sarah is graduating this week and is now officially a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, so Callie was her last case at the university.  Everyone fell in love with Callie during her long stay at the hospital, Sarah among them! 

Callie had her last radiation dose Friday morning while Sarah and Dr. Fidel, the oncologist, were walking me through her discharge paperwork and instructions for follow-up care.  Callie hadn't eaten yet because of the anesthesia, so after the radiation technician brought Callie out to me, Sarah served Callie her breakfast on the lawn:

The bandanna around her neck was given to her by the WSU staff, and it says "I'm a cancer survivor":

Because of the serious ear infection she developed while she was in the hospital, her left ear drum is ruptured and her vestibular system is consequently "off," so she has a pronounced head tilt and does some circling:

But the good news is that she is finally responding to the medication and her symptoms have improved significantly from just a week ago.  The head tilt and circling will continue to diminish.  The WSU team thinks the ear infection may have developed because the prednisone she's been on for several weeks has suppressed her immune system.  Callie is still on a low dose of the pred but will finally be weaned off over the next couple of weeks as the tumor shrinks from the radiation.  Dr. Fidel explained that these menigiomas are very slow-growing tumors and consequently take a long time to die off — about three weeks after the radiation treatments are over.

Nevertheless, Callie is still a happy little girl who continues to have a terrific appetite and who still loves to roll around on her back in the grass:

Thanks again to everyone who made such generous gifts to Callie's medical fund.  Her total bill came to $4,653.77, all of it paid for by your donations!  Thank you so much!

Callie and I got back to the ranch Friday afternoon, and it didn't take her long to settle back into her routine here … as you'll see in tomorrow's blog post!

—-

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.  We won
$1,000 in this online contest last year because of your help and would
like to win it again this year.

We're on a roll — up to No. 4 nationwide this weekend, so please keep voting!  Thank you!