Rolling Dog Farm

Old Pappy: On The Road To Recovery

Pappy, our old German Shepherd who survived both pneumonia and meningitis earlier this month, continues on the road to recovery.  He's had no relapses since coming home July 15.  His temperature had remained normal and his appetite is great.  He is clearly glad to be home.  (See the post about his  homecoming here.)

Although still very weak, he can now walk unassisted for short distances before his back legs give out.  He is still struggling a bit with bowel control, but gradually is regaining it.  This dignified old fellow looks downright embarrassed ... even mortified ... when he has an accident.  It really seems to affect his pride. 

He can't get up on his own, so he now wears a harness on his chest and we slide a wide strap under his tummy to help lift him up equally at both ends.  Once up, he can get going under his own power.  Sometimes he is so eager to go exploring again that he overdoes it and his hind legs drop.  Then we scoop him up, turn him around, and help walk him back to the house.

The only thing I miss -- and he does too, I know -- is that he can't join us on our morning and evening barn chores.  This was always his special time of the day.  He eagerly followed us everywhere as we made our rounds.  A wonderful friend of the sanctuary suggested today that we get him a little wagon to ride in so we can pull him along.  What a great idea!  Of course, Pappy would rather be in the back seat of our Chevy pick-up ... it's folded flat, padded with cushions ... this is his favorite spot in the universe.  He loves to go for drives in that truck!

His next favorite spot is on his thick foam bed in the living room, where he can be in the center of things.  That's where you see him in this photo I took today.

A few short weeks ago we thought we were losing him.  Every day we have him now is a gift. 

You can see his original story on our Web site here.

Scooter and Sugar Arrive at the Ranch

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.