Allie can get anywhere she wants to go! It may take her a little longer to get there, and occasionally she falls down along the way, but she picks herself up and keeps on going. What’s amazing is that Allie is a black Retriever puppy with a condition known as Cerebellar Hypoplasia which means her brain doesn’t work like other dogs' brains do. This causes her to lose her balance and prevents her from moving in the direction she wants to go. Still this canine spends hours each day playing with her best friend Birdie, a young black Labrador with Muscular Dystrophy (a disease that won’t let her muscles work they way she wants them to). The two dogs radiate pure joy as they romp and roll together. The exercise helps strengthen Birdie’s muscles while it helps Allie improve her coordination. Some humans think these happy-go-lucky dogs were dealt a deck with a few cards missing, but Birdie and Allie sure don’t feel that way. Neither do any of the animals at The Rolling Dog Ranch.
The Ranch
This special place is located on 160 acres in the Blackfoot River Valley of Western Montana just a few miles east of the town of Ovando (population 70). The 80 residents include dogs, horses and cats all with their own unique set of challenges, but with determination and enough love to help them overcome their difficulties. During the day the animals play in large fenced fields called “paddocks.” At night, the animals snuggle up in one of 13 buildings on the property with four cottages just for the dogs. Each is heated and insulated and very, very cozy, and the largest cottage is as big as a small house!
“We named The Ranch ‘The Rolling Dog’ because our dogs love to roll around on their backs in the sagebrush and grass covered meadows on the property,” Alayne explains. “Sometimes we’ll have as many as four dogs at a time rolling around upside down, feet straight up in the air, scratching their backs in the field.”
Visitors can’t believe the animals they see running and jumping are coping with some kind of handicap. According to 13-year-old Kaylene J. who visits often, “Even though these dogs have disabilities, if you treat them as if they don’t, you can’t tell the difference.” There isn’t a single animal who feels sorry for itself. Each and every one loves being alive and living life to the fullest, and that is the ultimate inspiration for Alayne and Steve.
The Residents
Among the residents are unique dogs like Travis, who has a rare muscle disease called Masticatory Myositis which makes it impossible for him to open his mouth. Travis can’t even stick out his tongue, so at first he had to be fed through a stomach tube. Over time Steve & Alayne learned that this Husky-Lab mix could slurp liquids, so they started blending up a special doggie milkshake just for him. Since Travis can’t lick his bowl, there is always something left for another dog, doubling the fun. Travis used to wear special clothes to keep his food tube in place, but now that he slurps, he no longer needs the outfits and can just wear his dog suit! “It’s so neat to see when animals first get to [The Ranch] and how much they improve over time,” says Brittney J., 16.
Compared to smelling and hearing, vision actually ranks third in importance for dogs. Widget, a bundle of energy disguised as a Beagle-Dachshund mix was born blind, so she doesn’t even know what it means to see. Yet she is very confident and thinks everyone was put on Earth to play with her. She even insisted on having one of the cottages at The Ranch named “Widget’s House” in her honor. Widget’s favorite game is to stand in the center of a room barking until another dog comes to see what the fuss is about. She then jumps up and down, darts back and forth and “woofs” to her heart’s content. Sometimes she doesn’t realize the other dog has wandered off which makes it look like Widget is playing with an imaginary friend.
When visiting this magical place you begin to feel that the greatest lesson to be learned is to not hold an animal back by judging what you think a disability is. “Don’t decide what you think the dogs are capable of doing or not doing. Get in tune with the individual animal and let him be all he can be,” says Alayne, “These dogs have taught me to live in the moment, take what’s thrown your way and make the most of it.”
