Rolling Dog Farm

Go Ahead, Buddy, Try Jumping This

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.

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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! 

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

The Spread

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.

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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! 

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

Here, Sniff My Hand While I Listen To His Heart

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!

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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! 

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

Little Bindi And Her New Boyfriend

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!"

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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! 

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

Relief

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. 

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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! 

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

Deaf Stuart And His New Love

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:

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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! 

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

Let's Use The Big Guy For Some Heat

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!

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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! 

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

Bellying Up To The Bar

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. 

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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! 

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

Jumping For Joy

This is how our new arrival, blind Madison, often greets us at the gate to Widget's House -- literally jumping for joy.  You'd think for a little old lady this would be a bit too much activity, but she will jump over and over again until we come through the gate.  It may be hard to tell from the photo, but she is probably nearly a foot off the ground with her back feet.  Madison is one very happy, very sweet girl who gets along great with everyone. 

On the far left is our other old lady, Samantha, then Priscilla in the back, Cedar the husky mix, Penny up front by the gate, Molly behind her, and our hound dog, Trooper, behind Madison.  Except for Trooper, all of the dogs in this photo are blind.  (The rest of the dogs who live at Widget's House are either on the porch or in the other three yards around the building.)

This is the core group of "gate greeters" who then follow us as a moving scrum as we make our way to the front door of Widget's House.  As you can see, it's quite a distance to go with a large pack of dogs swirling around your feet!

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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! 

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

Glowing Dachshund

This is one of those "accidental" shots you take but don't realize you've got a beautiful photo on your hands until you upload it to the computer.  Alayne took this photo the other evening while photographing blind Austin hiding in his hole under the pine tree.  While she was shooting, little Bailey had been scooting around the yard and just happened to wander into this particular shot.  Between the colors and the framing, it almost has that "artiste" quality to it.  (Click on the photo to see a larger version.)

This time of year Bailey turns us into the proverbial doorman at the Hotel Rolling Dog because he is always wanting to go out, then come in, then go out again.  He'll be inside for 10 minutes, then decide he just has to right-now-this-very-minute-absolutely-have-to-go-out again.  And the later it is in the evening, the more frequently he wants to bolt outside.  But this time, at least we got a nice photo out of it!

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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! 

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