Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Our little blind dog Goldie -- she's one of our original 'six-pack' of dogs from when we lived in Seattle -- has a case of obsessive compulsive disorder ... and a nose that feeds her disorder! 

She is absolutely obsessed with soft toys and wants to rip the stuffing out to get to the squeaker.  Somehow she can always tell if there is anything soft and fabric-like in a box or bag, even when it's sitting on the kitchen counter, the washing machine, or in this case, a stool.  Goldie can't be fooled (we've tried).  Anything with fabric has the potential for being a new soft toy with a squeaker.  She's determined to find out for herself.

She ignores all packages with anything hard in them.  But her nose tells her whenever a box has something in it with fabric.  And she always wants something NEW, thank you very much.

On Friday the UPS driver brought this box which has a new horse blanket in it.  At first we put the box on the washing machine, and Goldie spent hours in the laundry room staring at it (remember, she can't see but she knew where it was), barking at it, imploring us to let her at it.  This weekend we moved the box into the hallway, placing it on the stool while we did some laundry.  Minutes later we heard the sound of cardboard shredding.

And there she was, busy like a beaver chewing a hole in the corner of the box. 

Promptly caught on camera, the second photo shows Goldie with her classic "What are you looking at me for?  I wasn't doing anything!" expression.

But the third photo shows the evidence ... the start of a nice hole and the tempting target inside.

This little dog is also one of the smartest animals we've ever known.  She's figured out how to open zippers to get inside backpacks and suitcases (good source of soft things!).  In Seattle we had bi-fold closet doors -- the kind you push on and they open inwards -- and to our dismay one day discovered that Goldie learned how to use her paws to push the doors open. 

We'll even try to mollify her by giving her an old soft toy to divert her attention away from a newly arrived package.  "Here, Goldie, try this!"  But she'll drop the toy and resume staring at the box ... which is usually placed out of reach, for good reason!

(Click on photos for larger image.)

Eye Exams!

I took five of our recent arrivals to Helena this morning to see our primary care vet, Dr. Brenda Culver, at Montana Veterinary Specialists & General Care.  Brenda and her husband, Dr. Britt Culver -- a board-certified internal medicine specialist -- own the clinic and have been our principal vets since we first moved to Montana in 2000.  (In case you're wondering, Helena is about 70 miles east of us, across MacDonald Pass on the other side of the Continental Divide.)

Brenda has a special interest in ophthalmology, and although she is not a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist, she is incredibly talented in diagnosing and treating eye cases.

So today I took four blind dogs -- Levi, Luke (a.k.a. "Vader"), Joey the Cocker, and Callie -- for eye exams, and also Cody the puppy.

In the first photo, Brenda is examining Joey, who has cataracts.  In the second photo with Callie, Brenda is doing a 'menace response' test -- moving her hand rapidly towards the eye to determine if the animal can see it and blink.  This is one of the first steps in a comprehensive eye exam.  Jamey M., one of the clinic's vet techs, is holding Callie.  It turns out Callie needed dental work, so she stayed behind at the clinic.

In the third photo, Brenda is examining Cody, who still has his 'rotary nystagmus,' or rapid eye movement.  He was really squirming and Brenda will get a better look at his eyes tomorrow when he is under anesthesia for neutering.  Brenda was making high-pitched sounds to try and focus Cody's attention, which is why her lips are pursed in this photo. 

In the final photo, Brenda is working with Levi.  As we suspected, Brenda determined that Levi went blind from trauma.  There is blood pooled in his right eye, and you can see scar tissue on his left eye, too.  Levi has a bad case of submissive urination, and we had wondered if he hadn't been bludgeoned at one stage in his past ... severely enough to cost him his vision and make him fearful to the point of submissive urination.

And then there was blind Luke.  Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of Brenda with Luke, but the news wasn't good.  In the exam room Brenda found his chronic right eye inflammation was actually caused by a sheared-off lens, flopping around inside the eye chamber.  This is more painful than he was letting us know.  Later this afternoon Brenda also did an ultrasound on his eyes and found his left eye had a detached retina and other potential chronic long-term problems.  She recommended, and we agreed, to remove both eyes so he would at least be comfortable again.

We have one other dog, Patti, who has no eyes now, and it was a big relief for her because of the pain she had been in.  We had to do the same thing on our blind horse, Chance, because of painful, chronically infected eyes, and we could tell he felt so much better the very next day.  Although it seems like such an extreme measure, for an already blind animal it means comfort instead of pain ... and that's what we're after.

We'll head back to Helena on Monday to pick up Luke, Cody and Callie.

(Click on photos for larger image.)

Big Or Small, They Like To Share

I was in the office late this afternoon when Alayne came in and told me to come out to the living room to see something.  There on a dog cot was this scene:  little Callie the blind Dachshund and big Kenai the blind Lab, sharing the bed.  It was as if they both knew they'd been on the blog recently and decided to offer us a joint appearance.

The funny thing about this is that most of the other dogs were out of the house at the time, and there were at least six empty dog beds in the living room.  (Not to mention Callie's favorite towel stack.)  We don't know who was on the cot first, or how they came to share it.  But share it they did!

(Click on photo for larger image.)

Perched High, Sleeping Soundly

Unlike most Dachshunds we know -- who like to burrow -- blind Callie likes to perch up high.  The higher the better.  Her favorite spot in the house is the stack of towels we keep on hand in the living room.  (I'm sure you can guess why ... the inevitable accidents, spilled water bowls, etc.)

This morning as I was working on the computer, I heard the odd sounds of a small, overweight Dachshund trying to jump up ... not make it ... and jump again.  Repeatedly.  I looked around and saw Callie, frustrated, trying to get up onto her towel perch.  Earlier today Alayne had added several more freshly laundered towels to the stack, so it was higher than normal.  That's why she couldn't do it.

I picked up Miss Plumpette and placed her on the towel stack.  She turned a few times to get everything 'just so,' then lay down for her mid-morning snooze.  I took the camera and started clicking away from behind the TV set.  Big, blind Kenai -- you can see her in the background -- was keenly aware of the camera noise, but not Callie.  She never so much as opened her eyes the entire time I was taking photos.

(Click on photo for larger image.)

Kong Destroyer

Kongs are supposed to be an almost indestructible dog chew toy that can stand up to "power chewers," as the Kong Company calls them.

Kong Company, meet Kenai the Kong Destroyer.

There is no Kong toy she cannot destroy in a 10-minute chewfest.  Even the company's "Extreme Kong" is no match for this blind, 9-year old Lab. 

I took this photo of Kenai in our living room, where she had just gotten underway on a new Kong.  She stopped momentarily when she heard the camera clicking, and the Kong rolled out from her under right front paw and onto the floor. 

Nothing makes her happier that shredding one of these Kong toys into a hundred tiny bits of rubber.

But the point is, better a Kong than the furniture, eh?

(Click on photo for larger image.)

Bandida Gets Adopted

One of our awesome volunteers, Laura B. from Helena, adopted Bandida the cat today.  Bandida had come to us from an animal hoarder case in the Flathead Valley of Montana last year.  The hoarder kept 28 cats in an attic in deplorable conditions.  When finally discovered, the local animal control agency had to euthanize 20 of the cats.

A rescue group took the remaining eight cats.  They managed to adopt out six of them, but couldn't find homes for the remaining two cats, Bandida and Domino, because they were considered elderly.  So the rescue group called us.

We generally don't take in animals just because they're elderly ... if we did, we wouldn't have any room for disabled animals.  But we had already said 'no' to this rescue group several times in the past -- again, because the cats weren't disabled -- and by this time we felt guilty enough that we said, "Well, okay!"

Both Bandida (we named her that because her little black mask reminds us of a bandit) and Domino turned out to be incredibly sweet, affectionate cats.  Ironically, another of our volunteers, LuAnn W. from Helena, adopted Domino last Sunday!  (For some strange reason, I completely forgot to capture 'blog moments' last weekend ... what was I thinking?)

Thus when Laura came this morning to pick up Bandida, I was ready with the camera.  Incidentally, Laura has also adopted old, deaf Chance the black Lab and Winchester, a cat who had been shot four times and survived on his own.  (Both have great stories, but you'd better grab the tissue box before you start reading!)  So Laura adds beautiful, loving Bandida to her Rolling Dog Ranch collection of animals. 

Thank you, Laura!

(Click on photo for larger image.)

Where The Hay Is

This is where we go to pick up our hay.  This barn belongs to our neighbors, Bob and Judy R., who grow the hay we buy.  Bob and Judy are kind enough to let us store our hay in their barn, which saves us the considerable expense of building a hay barn of our own.  Some day we'd like to, but right now we have plenty of other uses for the money! 

When it's time for a weekly 'fill-up,' we hitch up the flat-bed trailer and head over to Bob and Judy's to load up.  I took the photo this afternoon when we went over to get a couple of tons.  We bought all the hay you see in this barn ... it holds about 70 tons, out of the 100 tons we ordered.  We're almost halfway through the stacks on the left side. 

Here in Montana, we'll be feeding hay right up until we turn the horses out to pasture on June 1.  Even through the summer we have some horses that can't go out on pasture much and need hay for supplemental feeding.

The sanctuary is just off to the right in the far distance ... if you click on the photo to view a larger image, you may be able to see the cottonwood trees on our property, but I don't think you'll be able to make out any of the buildings.

Introducing ... Beth!

Since I've been on the subject of sheep recently, let me admit I'm a bit sheepish about taking this long to introduce our first employee, Beth S.  She joined us last fall, and just recently completely her first 90 days.  I think initially I hadn't blogged Beth's arrival because, well, we weren't sure she'd want to stay once a real Montana winter arrived.  Then came the two weeks of 20 below zero weather in December and she didn't pack up and leave.  (Although I did hear Beth mutter something about "Siberia" one sub-zero morning.)

Alayne and I realized last summer that we could no longer do it all ourselves anymore.  Between working full-time for a living AND running the sanctuary, our work weeks average 80 hours, with no time off and no weekends. The risk in running a non-profit like this is burn-out, and we couldn't afford that.  So we decided the time had come to hire our first employee and we posted a job notice.

Beth had just completed a Master's degree at Boston College when she learned about our opening, and after interviews and then flying out for a visit to the ranch, we offered her the job.  She's been a GREAT help, and all the animals adore her.  I took the photo this morning of Beth with blind Nikki, who's about to turn two in April. 

Although Beth is now here, Alayne and I still don't have any time off and we work every weekend.  Even with the three of us we're not getting everything done that we need to.  So we're in the process of interviewing candidates for a second position.

I realized a few weeks ago how crazy we were to try and manage an operation this size with so few people.  When I went to the Humane Society of Western Montana -- formerly the Missoula Humane Society -- to see Vader, the blind dog they called us about, the shelter had 19 dogs.  We have 35 dogs, with special needs!  Not to mention 28 horses, and of course our cats.  The Humane Society has an entire staff of 15 employees. 

Hopefully we'll have a second employee on board soon.  And I'll be sure to introduce our new hire sooner than it took me to introduce Beth!

(Click on photo for larger image.)

It Takes A Sheep, Day 2

Molly the sheep is now able to stand up in the hay feeder.  She had company today:  Myrtle, another of our four sheep, decided to join Molly inside the feeder this afternoon.  <sigh>  She obviousy thought Molly was onto a good thing.  I have this sinking feeling by morning we'll find the other two sheep, Mort and Minnie, in the feeder as well.

To get Molly out we'll need to open up the feeder, but the feeder legs are frozen deep in several inches of ice.  So we'll have to take a crowbar and bust open the ice first. 

Incidentally, this is the second type of round bale feeder we've used with these girls.  Molly got herself stuck in the other one, too.  It's time to make some modifications to sheep-proof the dang thing!

Myrtle had her ears chewed off in a dog attack a few years ago in Yakima, Washington.  The dog also left deep wounds on both sides of her neck.  Myrtle's owner gave her no medical care and was just waiting to see if she would die from her wounds.  That's when we were called.  Now Myrtle's biggest challenge is seeing how much hay she can eat in a day.

It Takes A Sheep

We never know what we might find when we get up in the morning, and we kind of hold our breath until we make the first rounds.  Today's surprise was finding Molly the sheep stuck in the round bale feeder.  (Yes, we have a handful of rescued sheep ... it's not our focus, but we agreed to take them a few years ago when they had no other options.  We aren't taking in any more farm animals.)

Molly had tried to climb into the feeder, got her big fat hips wedged between the upright bars, and then couldn't go forward or backward.  There she stayed all night, her hind legs off the ground, her front legs in the hay, her belly pressing down with all its weight on the rim of the feeder.  It was like someone had tied a cord around her waist and cut off the circulation to her hips and legs for hours.

By the time I found her this morning, she could not move her back legs.  I was able lift up her hind end and push her through the uprights and all the way onto the hay, but she couldn't stand up.  In fact, she lay there, shivering and immobile. I rolled her back and forth, pulled on her legs, but she never resisted.  Very unsheep-like.  In case you're wondering, these girls weigh about 200 lbs.

We covered her in blankets to stay warm and then I went inside to call our equine vet, Dr. Bill Brown.  (If you spend enough money with equine vets they'll work on the occasional farm animal!)  I explained what happened and what condition Molly was in.

Bill had me inject her with 20 cc's of dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory steroid, and also give her a dose of Banamine, a different type of anti-inflammatory.  Within a minute after giving Molly the injection she started to get up on her hind legs, but couldn't get her front feet out.  I think this was a response to the shot, as in: "Uh oh, if I don't move they're going to give me another one!"  So we wrestled with her some more, got her to sit up sternal, and left her eating contentedly from the hay that surrounded her. 

I wish I could say this was Molly's first time at being wedged in the feeder, but it isn't.  She isn't what we would call a "learning individual."  But this was the first time she's done this kind of damage to herself.

It's too soon to tell if Molly can walk again.  As of this evening, she was still sitting in the feeder,  covered in her blankets, munching away.  The other sheep were looking on rather enviously. 

(Click on photo for larger image.)