Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary

Brrr ... 14 Degrees.

2008-10-09T15:42:49-06:00

The National Weather Service had forecast a low for us last night of 21 degrees, but I could tell when I was putting the dogs up at 9:30 p.m. that we would get colder than that. Sure enough, when we got up this morning it was 13.6 degrees (-10.2 C). The photo above is what Widget's House looked like at dawn, and here is Beauty's Barn:

By the time I photographed our wireless weather station, it had warmed up .2 degrees to 13.8. Not much, but going in the right direction!

Once morning chores were done, we had our photo shoot for the winter newsletter -- this for the photo of Alayne and me that accompanies the "ranch letter" on page 2 of each issue. If it seems a bit early to be working on it -- our fall issue just went in the mail a couple of weeks ago, miraculously timed to arrive just as the stock market plunged -- our winter issue actually goes to print the first week of November, so I've already started on it. Besides, with a morning this cold, it seemed appropriate to be taking photos for the winter edition! (Note: The fall issue is also posted as a PDF on our main Web site home page.)

First I needed to "frame" the shot I wanted for our employee Cindy, who was going to be taking the photo of us. This was one of the early test shots:

Yes, that's Margaret in the background, wanting to be in the photo along with Bailey. We finally had to move Margaret and her sisters down to the welcome center so we could have a goat-free photo. Once the shot was framed and goats removed from the vicinity, Cindy fired away with the camera, and here was the final photo we selected:

By noon the three goat girls had submitted a petition, signed with little hoof prints, demanding to be in the spring issue of the newsletter. We'll see.

A Dog and Two Cats

2008-10-08T16:15:27-06:00

I took three animals to our vet clinic in Helena today. Goldie was due for her next round of chemotherapy, and our internal medicine specialist in Missoula, Dave Bostwick, had been treating her cancer. But we had two cats who were also due for their annual vaccinations and health exams, and both were pending adoption, so we needed to get that done this week, too. And that was something our clinic in Helena needed to do instead of Dave.

We try to minimize the number of trips we make -- Missoula is 60 miles to the west of us and Helena is 70 miles to the east -- and to save money (gas) and time (never enough), our goal is to make no more than one trip per week to either town. Dave had earlier suggested that if we ever got in a jam and needed to go to Helena rather than Missoula, he would be happy to ask our internal medicine specialist in Helena, Dr. Britt Culver, to step in and administer Goldie's chemo. (We're incredibly lucky to have two internal medicine specialists, one in either direction!)

So yesterday Dave faxed over Goldie's treatment protocol to Britt, who graciously agreed to administer the chemo today. Britt is married to our primary care vet, Dr. Brenda Culver, who was just out at the ranch doing the annual exams and vaccinations on the dogs a couple of weeks ago.

In the photo above, vet tech Heather A. is holding Goldie while Britt injects the chemo drug. As usual, Goldie did just fine and continued to pester me as I drove around Helena running errands. It's amazing, but so far she has shown no ill effects from the chemotherapy.

Britt was also kind enough to go ahead and take care of the cats, too. In this next photo Britt is doing the physical exam on three-legged Honey Girl:

We have a potential adopter coming out to the ranch this weekend to meet Honey Girl, so if it happens, we'll have it on the blog next week.

And here is Britt with wobbly Claire:

Our employee Amy is adopting Claire, so she will soon be leaving the cat house for a home of her own with Amy!

Baron and Stoney -- The Good Life

2008-10-07T15:02:43-06:00

Wendy M. from Missoula, who adopted blind Stoney and blind-and-deaf Baron back in June, just emailed us a wonderful update on them along with some new photos.

For that photo above, Wendy wrote: "Baron's favorite thing to do is sleep in on these cold mornings, so I included a picture of him refusing to wake up even though I've pulled the blankets off of him."

She said, "This weekend we went camping up the Bitterroot for probably the last time this summer. Stoney spent most of the time in the creek while the little one did the "Baron Prance" around the campsite. (Anyone who has seen Baron run knows what I am talking about!)"

Here's a photo Wendy sent of "I'm-a-water-dog" Stoney enjoying the creek:

Wendy wrote, "Stoney has really taken to me (I call her my sidekick) and rarely lets me out of smell range.... Along with knowing how to "sit," she now knows "lay down" and "shake." She's also become a master of squeezing herself onto the couch even when there is no room for her. She still loves going to the dog park here in Missoula and hiking up at Blue Mountain. Her sense of smell and her attachment with me is so great we don't even have to use a leash -- she stays right next to me or a little behind."

And speaking of leashes, Wendy said "Baron has improved greatly on the leash and now understands that when I pull on him, I'm trying to help him! He's very responsive now and can go for walks just like any dog."

Here's the family photo from Wendy's weekend camping trip with these two very lucky dogs:

Thank you, Wendy!

Whew. Fire Season Is Over.

2008-10-06T16:33:52-06:00

There's no "official" end to the fire season ... it just depends on the weather, but with all the moisture we've had in recent weeks, the wildfire danger is definitely over for us. That meant it was time to drain out the water tanks on our fire trailer, which is what we did today. With a cold front forecast to arrive this weekend -- 16 degrees Friday night, 15 degrees Saturday night and 14 degrees on Sunday night -- we also had to get this done before the water froze and ruptured the tanks and valves.

I have the tractor hooked up to the fire trailer because we have a trailer ball now mounted on the pallet forks -- it quickly unscrews so you can use the forks to move other things -- and this makes it quick and easy to maneuver trailers around the ranch. No longer do we have to hitch them up to a truck just to move them out of the vehicle shed for something like this, for instance.

In the end, we were very relieved that this year fire season came and went without incident here.

Rainbow Flat

2008-10-05T16:31:17-06:00

Although our little valley is called Kleinschmidt Flat ... named after the first settlers out here in the 1800s, the Kleinschmidts, and Flat because ... well, it is pretty flat ... Alayne and I have often wanted to call it Rainbow Flat instead. That's because we frequently get stunning rainbows that sometimes take your breath away. There's something about the geography of our valley that makes these so common.

I was over in Widget's House this morning doing the usual Sunday chores -- cleaning, scooping poop, washing dog food bowls -- when Alayne called over on the intercom. "I think I got your blog photo for today," she said. "Did you see it?"

I was at the sink at this point, seeing nothing except dog dishes in front of me. "See what?," I asked.

"The rainbow," she said. "Right behind us."

I turned and looked through the windows on the north wall of Widget's House but didn't see a rainbow.

"Um, no, I don't see anything."

Alayne said, "Well, I've got it on the camera and I think you'll like it."

When I got back to the house, I uploaded the photos to the computer and there it was -- one of the prettiest rainbows I've seen here. Usually the rainbows are to the east of us, but this one was due north, and framed by the curving shape of Ovando Mountain right behind it.

Nice shot, Alayne!

Kasha In Her New Home

2008-10-02T15:46:14-06:00

I received a wonderful update on three-legged Kasha yesterday from her new Mom, Cristene J. in Idaho, along with these terrific photos. (Read the blog post about Kasha's recent adoption here.) Here's some of what Cristene wrote in her email:

"As for Kasha, she makes my heart happy everyday. She has adjusted so well and is so full of life. She is a true testament to the great work that you two do with these animals. After all of the trauma she suffered through before you took her in, you would never know it spending time with her. She is trusting, loving, has respect for us and she always has a smile on her face. She learned the invisible fence very quickly and is ready to please at all times."

Cristene added, "Kasha is here with me right now (see picture above). She has her own 'big girl bed' but for some reason prefers to curl up on Arnold's small coolaroo bed! See how happy she is! Thank you for her, we just love her."

[Comment from Steve: Arnold is the miniature Dachshund in the family, and in a mysterious phenomenon we have frequently seen here at the ranch, big dogs often do prefer small dog beds!]

Cristene then sent a separate email with additional photos, and wrote: "I thought you might enjoy these pictures of our dog walk this afternoon with Kasha, Jasper, Asa and Lola. I am telling you, that girl can run like the wind...."

Here's Kasha running through their fields:

And taking a break:

Here she is, deciding what to do next:

Finally, Kasha with her new friends:

I think Kasha is now in true doggie paradise. Thank you, Cristene and Duane, for giving her this fabulous new life!

One Up, One Down.

2008-10-01T17:10:27-06:00

I was heading out the door this morning for Missoula when I saw this pairing in the living room. That's Daisy on the left and blind-and-deaf Spinner on the right. Daisy has spinal issues that leave her incontinent, while Spinner could easily win the World Bladder Endurance contest. However, that particular difference between them is not what caught my eye this morning. I just thought it was an interesting visual contrast, the two-tier arrangement with the little dog down below, the big dog up above ... while one is brightly lit up in the early morning sun and the other is still in the shadows. As is often the case around here, part of the dog bed had slipped off the cot overnight and onto the floor, where someone -- in this case Daisy -- quickly commandeered it for herself.