Blanca: A very special Great Dane puppy

A special place where
disabled animals enjoy life
on a Montana ranch.
Winter 2007/2008 Newsletter
3
pg
Blanca: A very special Great Dane puppy
2
pg
Happy
endings
3
pg
Recent
arrivals
4
pg
It's all
in the tail
Steve and Alayne
with blind Shasta.
He was the first
of thirteen blind
Appaloosas to come
to the ranch.
A remarkable year for the
animals – thanks to you!
When our wonderful supporters send in donations, they
often include a gracious note thanking us for what we’re
doing here with these disabled animals. But as we say over
and over again, this place simply would not be possible
without those gifts for the animals. It’s you who deserve
all the thanks – and the credit – for helping to make the
sanctuary a reality. Because of your support, animals from
far and wide can come to the ranch.
For instance, in 2007 we had 15 disabled animals arrive here
to start a new life. They came from 10 states – Alabama,
California, Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon,
Pennsylvania and Washington – and Mexico. These
animals have the full range of disabilities we care for at the
ranch, including blind, blind-and-deaf, three-legged, and
neurologically impaired.
For each of them, 2007 was indeed a remarkable year,
because they all got another chance at a life filled with love
and happiness. They came here because there was no other
place for them to go. Today, along with the rest of the 80
disabled animals at the ranch, they are now thriving in this
special place. It’s all because of you.
Thank you for your kindness and compassion!
Alayne Marker and Steve Smith, Co-founders
Make a gift for the animals
There are many ways you can help the animals:
• Make a cash donation. You can mail a check, make a secure
online donation at our Web site, or call us to process a credit
card donation over the phone.
• Donate stock (we can work with your broker on the details).
• Make a bequest to the sanctuary in your will. See our
planned giving page for more information at
www.rollingdogranch.org/support/planned_giving.html.
• Ask us to send you extra newsletters for your family and
friends, and for your vet clinic, too.
The sanctuary is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization
and runs 100% on donations. Contributions are taxdeductible. We appreciate your help!
2 page • Winter 2007/2008 • Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary
Another happy ending!
Three-legged Cody, a Lab who started out his journey to
the ranch from Florida last year, just found a new home
with Elena C. from Missoula, Montana. Elena already had
a three-legged dog, and decided to add a second one to the
family when she fell in love with Cody. He was one of six
disabled animals we adopted out this year. Thanks to these
special people for being such angels!
Ranch gift store now online
We just opened our own “gift store” online. It’s small, but it’s
a start! You can purchase sanctuary hats, travel mugs, coffee
mugs, totebags, and greeting cards. Find the link to the store
at www.rollingdogranch.org.
Blindness in
Appaloosas
We just launched a new Web
site at BlindAppaloosas.org
devoted to blindness in the
Appaloosa horse breed.
Compared to other breeds,
Appaloosas are much more
likely to get uveitis, the leading
cause of blindness in horses, and are more likely to go blind
as a result.
This is why, of 25 blind horses at the sanctuary, 13 are
Appaloosas. So we decided to do what we could to focus
attention on this very real problem in the breed. If you know
someone with an Appaloosa, or anyone with horses who
would be interested in this topic, please tell them about
the site.
Volume 6, Issue 4. Written by Steve Smith. Graphic design donated by
Terrel Armstrong. Photos by Steve Smith, Alayne Marker and Elena
Contreras. All rights reserved to the Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary.
Blanca: A very special
Great Dane puppy
Blind and deaf Blanca was born on a ranch in Mexico ...
and now happily lives on a ranch in Montana!
An American citizen living in
Mexico, Rosanna M., had a litter
of 18 puppies born to her Great
Dane this past April. Seven were
stillborn or died soon thereafter.
Of the remaining puppies, there
was a very special one – a little
girl who was born deaf and with
microphthalmia, leaving her with
tiny eyeballs.
Her left eye is so small it isn’t
even noticeable. Her right eye
is a beautiful bright blue, but so
shrunken in size it’s not really functional. We think she can
see shapes and the difference between light and dark, but
that’s about all.
Rosanna found she couldn’t care for a puppy with these
disabilities, and asked a Great Dane rescue group for
assistance. They told her to contact us.
Rosanna flew Blanca from Guadalajara to Seattle, and
then our volunteers drove the 4-month old puppy to us in
Montana. Two days before Blanca arrived, our blind Great
Dane puppy named Claude died from his neurological
condition. It seemed a fitting tribute to Claude that another
disabled Dane puppy would take his place.
Blanca was already a big and bouncy girl when she arrived,
with ears to match. Full of life, she loves to wrestle with the
other young dogs. She quickly learned to use her size to her
advantage, and with a quick thrust of her big paws, she can
knock just about anyone over. When we took these photos of
Blanca, she was seven months old – and already the biggest
dog on the ranch.
One afternoon, not long after she arrived, we heard Blanca
scratching at the front door to go out. We opened the door,
she trotted outside, and off she went to pee. This blind and
deaf puppy had housetrained herself.
Blanca has become a true housedog, and sees her rightful
place as occupying the recliner in our living room. If that
chair – her favorite spot – isn’t available, then she’ll drape
herself across one of the many dog cots or beds. For some
reason Blanca prefers
the ones that are too
small for her lanky
frame, resulting in
awkward-looking
sleeping positions
... usually with her
head hanging off
the end!
Recent arrivals
Kasha the three-legged
puppy
The email subject line read,
“Shepherd pup missing rear
limb.” A volunteer for the animal
control shelter in Spokane,
Washington, was asking if we
could take a puppy named Kasha.
The dog was missing her rear
left foot, leaving her leg dangling. The volunteer said, “Her
chance of adoption here is slim.” We had the shelter take the
puppy to our veterinary surgeons in Spokane, who found
someone had chopped the dog’s foot off. The wound had
healed, but the surgeons said the rest of the leg needed to be
amputated. Despite her traumatic past, Kasha loves people
and is a happy girl with a big smile and a playful attitude.
And attitude she’s got – she wants to be leader of the pack!
Tibby and Fibby the kittens
with deformed legs
The Panhandle Animal Shelter in
Sandpoint, Idaho, called us about
two kittens with deformed legs.
They were part of a litter turned
into the shelter, but they were
the only kittens affected. They
seemed to be missing bones in
their rear legs. Our vets X-rayed the two babies and found
something truly odd – the kittens have no fibulas at all, and
their tibias (the shin bone) are twisted like a small pretzel.
What’s more, the tibias don’t connect to the femurs, or thigh
bones, so their lower legs kind of flop. As kittens, however,
they’re not flops at all ... but the real thing! They love to
explore, play with toys, and purr if we walk into the room.
These two adorable characters have no idea they’re
not “normal”!
Darby the blind mare
Darby was in a Washington state
feedlot destined for slaughter
when a horse rescue group
spotted her. They asked if we
could take her. Darby’s eyes
bulged from glaucoma, she was
thin, and her skin was covered
in scars from getting beaten up
by other horses. It took months to get weight on her, and
eventually our vets had to remove her eyes because of chronic
pain, but she’s now very much on the mend. She’s one of the
biggest horses at the ranch, but she’s found her soulmate in
one of our smallest horses, our blind filly named Brynn. She
towers over Brynn and we call them the “odd couple,” but
they have become inseparable friends.
Winter 2007/2008 • Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary • page 3
NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
PERMIT NO. 15
OVANDO, MT 59854
400 Rolling Dog Ranch Lane, Ovando, Montana 59854
406-793-6000 • www.rollingdogranch.org
Return Service Requested
Visit our Web sites at RollingDogRanch.org and BlindHorses.org
I’m dead. Except for my tail.
You might think our miniature Dachshund Bailey is trying to learn
how to fly by using his ears as wings.
About the sanctuary
The Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary is home to many
types of disabled animals. Our residents include blind dogs,
blind horses, deaf dogs, blind cats, and animals with other
physical and medical disabilities like muscular dystrophy.
Although these animals may have disabilities, they do not
consider themselves handicapped. They just want to get on
with life and enjoy themselves. Thanks to the support of the
sanctuary's friends, that's what they get to do here.
Yet these are the animals who are the least likely to be
adopted and the most likely to be euthanized in traditional
shelters. That’s why we focus on the disabled.
Steve Smith and Alayne Marker founded the sanctuary
in 2000 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization
known as a private operating foundation. Donations are taxdeductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.
The ranch covers 160 acres of grassland in the Blackfoot River
valley of western Montana. The sanctuary cares for about 80
animals, and is supported 100% by donations. Thank you for
your kindness!
4 page • Winter 2007/2008 • Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary
When it's time to put
everyone out for the night's
last potty stop, our blind
Dachshund Callie is the only
dog who pretends not to
know what the routine is.
Not only that, she pretends
she can't hear us. (We call this
phenomenon "transitional
blind-and-deaf syndrome.")
She rolls over and plays dead.
When we approach her, calling her name, at first she lies
absolutely motionless. Then, almost imperceptibly, her little
tail starts moving. It's like an involuntary action triggered by
the unbearable tension of the situation ... human demanding
action, Dachshund refusing to budge. A tense stand-off. ("If I
play dead long enough, eventually this annoying person will
just go away and leave me alone.")
But the tail gives her away, and soon it moves in rhythm
with the urgency of our voice. The more we call her name,
the faster her tail moves ... but nothing else does. We finally
captured this on video and posted the clip on YouTube,
where it’s been viewed more than 60,000 times.
Go to www.youtube.com/rollingdogranch to see this video
and more!
Visits to the ranch
The sanctuary is open for visits from June through September on the
1st and 3rd weekends of the month. All visits are by appointment
only. Please call in advance to schedule a visit and get directions. The
sanctuary is closed for visits from October through May and also on
major holidays.