Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Samantha is an old blind girl who just arrived today from the Flathead County Animal Shelter in Kalispell, Montana.  Kirsten and Trista from the shelter were kind enough to drive her out to the ranch.  They had asked us last week if we could provide a home for Samantha here.

They told us that when Samantha was turned in, she was dragging a long rope that had been tied around her neck in a giant knot.  Her owner had decided to drive off one day in search of a new life, and abandoned Samantha with family members.  They took her to the shelter the very next day. 

She is, as you can see, one very elderly girl.  I took the photo of her in our isolation cottage this afternoon.  Look at all that gray!  Samantha is totally blind, even though her eyes are perfectly clear.  She's kind of chunky, too, and my hunch is she's got a thyroid issue that needs treatment.  She's a very sweet old lady, full of kisses and just happy to get some loving. 

Despite her age, weight and blindness, Samantha moves around with a surprising nimbleness.  In the space of 5 minutes, she mapped the isolation cottage layout and learned where the door was, and she was coming and going from the isolation yard at will.  On warm days we just leave the door to the cottage open, so new arrivals can enjoy the yard and come in to nap whenever they want.  Samantha will stay in our isolation area for medical observation and quarantine for about 10 days before we introduce her to the rest of the gang.

On a sunny fall afternoon, she was already enjoying herself here at the ranch!

When I returned from a trip to Missoula today around 1 p.m., I drove up to the house to find our letter carrier, Jackie, talking with Alayne.  Margaret and her go-at sisters were milling around, having come up to greet Jackie and then inspect the packages she had just delivered.  The goat girls were alternately chewing on the packing tape or standing on the boxes.

After Jackie left and Alayne and I went into the house for a quick lunch, Margaret stood at the back gate, bleating incessantly at the house.  She knew I was inside and she knew I could hear her through the open kitchen window.  At this point we were sitting down, eating, while the dining table was circled by dogs (blind Helen the Rottie, blind Callie the Dachshund, blind Goldie, blind Widget and assorted other hangers-on).  I got up, went out to open the gate, and let Margaret follow me into the house.

I sat back down at the table to resume eating, confident that Margaret would remain in the kitchen, behind the circle of dogs ringing the table. 

The next thing I knew, she had "parted the waters," so to speak, elbowing her way through the mass of dogs and coming right up to my chair.  Widget had already occupied one side, woofing and singing for a morsel of my sandwich, so Margaret made herself at home on my other side. 

Alayne sighed and then muttered something like, "I can't believe this is happening," and went to get the camera. 

Margaret, watching Widget standing up on her hind legs, front paws on my lap, decided this was apparently the appropriate lunchtime behavior to model.  Suddenly I had a small goat standing up on her hind legs, resting her front hooves at first on my arm and then on my lap.

I turned to her and said, "Margaret, what are you doing?" 

At this point, Widget — sensing there was some new and unexpected competition at hand — began an even more determined howling:

Margaret, sensing she was breaking some new ground here, wanted to have her portrait taken for posterity's sake:

Me, I wasn't sure how I managed to get myself in this situation:

As for Alayne … well, she grumbled as she finished taking these photos, "I just hope people realize we don't let livestock in the house on a regular basis."  Margaret wondered what she meant by "livestock," and I wondered what she meant by "regular."  (Having been married to an attorney for 14 years, I've learned one can parse the meaning of almost any word indefinitely.)

As for Margaret … right after Alayne put the camera away and I started in on the last part of my sandwich, Margaret leaped right on top of the table.  In a single jump, she went from floor to table.  Egads. 

Bad, bad girl!!!  Margaret was promptly scolded and then gently but firmly escorted from the premises.

Let's hope none of the dogs model that behavior!

—-

Two hours later, when UPS showed up, there were two guys in the van — our regular driver and a new one in training.  Margaret went over to greet them and I introduced her to the new guy.  After handing me the package, they got back in the van … and Margaret climbed up the steps and into the cab right behind them.  I called her out of the vehicle, but then she turned around and climbed right back in again.  She stood there between both UPS guys.  All three were looking at me.  I finally had to get in and shoo her out, then block the van door so they could pull away without a goat on board.  I bet they weren't 20 yards down the drive before the new UPS guy asked our regular driver, "Say, is it always like that at this place?"

Cristene and Duane J. sent us these great photos of their newly adopted Rolling Dog Ranch dogs, Kasha and Shep.  Cristene reports that Shep is doing incredibly well, and has already adapted like he's been there for a while!

Kasha and Shep were in the same play yard during the day here at the ranch, so they are used to roughhousing with each other.  As you can see from these photos, they were at it again in their new home.  Kasha decided to commandeer the toy after first making nice for the camera in that shot above. Here she is beginning to move in on it:

Kasha makes a bold grab for Mr. Penguin:

Shep, despite being blind and about 30% smaller than Kasha, won't let that stand:

Kasha wriggles loose:

But look who ends up with Mr. Penguin after all:

After I washed the dog food bowls the other evening, I looked over and briefly admired the nice symmetrical pyramid shape on the counter.  (Some have accused me of being just a little OCD about having all objects around the ranch lined up in perfect symmetry.  Memo to our volunteers:  The blog is not the place to post your comments about this issue!)  The total count of bowls in the photo was 19 — several smaller Doxie-sized dishes are stacked underneath the big bowls — and I still had two dishes left in Kelly's Cottage.  They wouldn't fit symmetrically in this stack so I didn't wash them.

(That's a joke.  I'm kidding.  Really.)

Anyway, after washing them and then admiring my handiwork, I thought to myself, that's a lot of bowls for us to wash by hand every day — a dishwasher would make this chore go so much faster!  And then I remembered that when we put this small modular home in, back in 1998, we had an option for a dishwasher in the kitchen but chose to use the space for cabinet storage instead.  When you've only got 1,400 square feet (130 square meters) to live in, you need all the storage you can get, eh? 

And besides, back in 1998 this house was only going to be the "vacation cottage" we would use for the next dozen plus years until we took early retirement at 55 (say, in 2013 or so) and then built a real house before we moved to the ranch permanently.  That was the original plan, and who needs a dishwasher in a vacation cottage, right?

Of course, we ended up deciding to accelerate the move to Montana by 13 years or so, the vacation cottage became the "real house," and there is still no room for a dishwasher.  Except the two-legged kind.  Who keep themselves busy washing the food bowls for the four-legged kind.

Alayne and I had just come in from chores on Sunday morning to warm up.  It was 27 degrees F (-3 C) and there was a stiff, cold wind blowing from the east.  As I sat down in the living room with a second cup of coffee, I looked down and saw Bailey working a stuffed toy into position as a head rest.  For some reason he likes to sleep with his head propped up on a soft toy, but he always has his entire mouth wrapped around the toy.  He has to find the right toy that's small enough to fit in his little mouth, but it also has to be big enough that it serves as a real cushion, too.  In other words, not any toy will do!

Once he finds the right size toy, he starts biting on it, up one side and down the other, to determine the best place to put his mouth.  Kind of a like a musician going up and down the scale trying to find the right note.  (A loose analogy admittedly, but I'm stickin' with it.)  Once he finds the "ah ha!" spot, he takes a big mouthful, lets out a deep breath, and settles in for a nap.

So as not to disturb the maestro at work, Alayne quietly slipped me the camera over the back of the couch, and I started shooting from the chair I was sitting in.  In the photo above, Bailey has picked his spot on the toy and has settled in for his morning nap.  After watching his eyes drift closed, I got down on my knees in front of him for this shot:

The clicking of the shutter woke him up, as you can tell, and now I'm getting that "what are you doing?" look.  Of course, the real question is, what is he doing using a mouthful of toy as a head rest?

This is one of those adoptions that really makes us tingle.

When Cristene and Duane J. from Hauser Lake, Idaho, came out to the ranch last month to adopt three-legged Kasha, they also met — and fell in love with — blind Shep while they were here.  They couldn't stop thinking about our little German Shepherd from Afghanistan.  So when Cristene emailed to say they wanted to come back and adopt Shep as well, we were thrilled beyond belief.

Shep had miraculously ended up at the one animal shelter in all of Afghanistan, and then … even more miraculously … he made it all the way to our sanctuary in Montana in May.  And his luck only continues to improve!  As we mentioned when Cristene and Duane adopted Kasha, they offer a true “doggie paradise” at their home in northern Idaho  — including 50 acres of fields, wetlands, forest, three acres of fenced lawn, and a lake for swimming, too!  (You can read our recent blog post about Kasha in her new home here.)

Shep is a tiny thing for a German Shepherd, a result no doubt of chronic malnutrition when he was in the womb and then a puppy.  Although the shelter in Kabul had been feeding him for the couple of months they had him before he came to us, he was still terribly thin when he arrived — so we can imagine how emaciated he was originally.  His coat was rough and coarse.  Shep has gained plenty of weight now and his coat is thick and soft.  But he's still small, and we call him our "pocket Shepherd."

Cristene and Duane drove out to the ranch today to pick up this little guy, a sweet and affectionate boy who was all about giving kisses:

We had never had him around cats before, but Smoke the barn cat came out to greet everyone and Shep — true to his gentle nature — was wonderful with him:

Finally, it was time to say goodbye, and here's the farewell photo:

Thank you, Cristene and Duane — we are so grateful!

While I was in Missoula today taking blind Goldie in for her chemotherapy and running errands, Alayne got these shots of our farrier, Rich Boyle, hard at work here at the ranch.  Cindy was holding the horses for Rich.  We schedule Rich to come out and trim the horses' hooves every six to eight weeks.

In these photos he's working on Patches, one of our sighted horses.  She had come to us from an animal abuse court case in Montana several years ago.  Because of lameness issues, she can't be ridden.  She is predisposed to foundering, which can make her ouchy on her feet, so from time to time Rich puts shoes on her.  In the shot above he is pulling the shoe off her front foot, and in this next one he is now trimming her hoof:

Patches can be something of a brat, as she is demonstrating in the following photo.  Notice how she is leaning her right flank on Rich?

That's a lot of weight pressing on him!  She is not doing this because she has a hard time standing on three legs … she is doing this because, well, she can and she knows it makes it difficult for him.  (Did I mention she's a brat?)  Rich finally had to set her foot down and start over, but not before Cindy worked on improving Patches' manners! 

The Animal Rescue Site and PetFinder have launched an online contest called the "$100,000 Shelter+ Challenge," with prizes as follows:

Grand Prize:  One $25,000 grant
Runner Up:  One $10,000 grant
State Winners:  Fifty-four $1,000 state grants
Weekly Winners:  Eleven $1,000 weekly grants

Voting began on September 29th and ends at midnight (PST) on December 14th, 2008.

In more Chicago-style voting, you can vote more than once … but "only" one vote per person per day.  (Hmm.)  And this time, our Canadian and other international friends can vote, too!

We currently are the top ranked shelter in Montana, putting us on track to win the $1,000 state grant at the end of the contest. 

For more on the contest and to cast your vote for the sanctuary, click here.

Please bookmark that page so you can vote early and vote often!

—

The other animal shelter contest, Care2's "America's Favorite Animal Shelter," doesn't wind up until November 1.  If you haven't voted for the ranch in that contest yet, you can do so here.

—

Thank you!

Having just posted an update on Granny a.k.a. Duchess last week, it seemed appropriate when I looked out my office window yesterday evening and saw her rolling … and rolling … and rolling!  This was one happy little old lady.  She loves being outside in the grass, even when the weather is brisk … and especially when there's any sunshine at all.  Weak late evening sunlight like this is enough for her.  I think because she spent most of her 14 years living in a garage and never getting outside, she's trying to make up for lost time now that she's at the ranch.  And remember, Granny is completely blind and deaf … but that doesn't keep her from enjoying the outdoors!

Here are some more photos from her frolicking yesterday:

Yes, no matter how old and disabled you may be, you can still be a rolling dog!

I was selecting and editing photos for the winter newsletter this weekend when I "discovered" a photo I took back in late August but never ended up using on the blog.  And it illustrates a wonderful love story about two of our blind horses, Bo and Guadalupe.  That's big, handsome Bo on the left, standing guard over his little filly, Guadalupe, while she snoozes. 

This is a common sight with these two.  Whenever she is sleeping or just resting like this, Bo is always standing right behind her, protecting her while she's down.

He absolutely adores Guadalupe and can't stand being apart from her … even if it's only, say, 10 feet away!  Whenever we bring them in from pasture, Bo gets a bit agitated if he thinks Guadalupe is too far from him, and he starts nickering and whinnying to her.  To reassure him, we've learned it's best to bring them in side by side … always.

Although Guadalupe is a tiny little thing compared to Bo, she's really the leader of the two.  I wouldn't say she's dominant in that horsey kind of way — she doesn't boss him around — but she is the confident, assertive, inquisitive one, and is always on the move.  We'll often look out and see Guadalupe gliding across the pasture while Bo does his best to follow and keep up with her.  She's the first to go check things out, whether it's because we're filling the water tank in their pasture — "Hey, look, people are here!" — or because another horse is whinnying in the adjoining pasture — "Hey, what's up with Domino?"  As she skitters off in that direction, Bo traipses along behind, whinnying to her:  "Wait for me, dear!"

But when it comes time for Guadalupe to rest, Bo is all about being her loyal protector.  Although, truth be told, he's probably relieved she's staying put for a change so he can relax, too.  He's thinking, "Enough of keeping up with this filly!"