April 4, 2009

Steve Smith and Alayne Marker hold one of the nearly 40 dogs they keep on their Montana ranch. (ZT Pet News Photo Courtesy of Steve Smith and Alayne Marker)

NEW YORK -- Nine years ago, Steve Smith and Alayne Marker seemed to have it made -- in Seattle, they enjoyed happy, active lifestyles, supported by both of their handsomely paid jobs.

Yet something wasn't right, says Marker, who recalled feeling overtaken by a nagging.

"Don't get me wrong," said Marker, a former attorney. "Seattle is an amazing place to live. We had fabulous jobs, fabulous salaries and benefits, but I kept getting up in the morning and going to work and remember thinking that my heart wasn't there."

Marker and Smith recognized the need to act on their shared inner desire -- to move to Montana and set up a safe haven, now called the Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary, for disabled pets.

"The weird thing was, we didn't even have to talk about it," Marker said of their eventual decision. "It was like this given. We just naturally moved in this direction, and have always known that we wanted to go forward on this passion."

So the couple quit their corporate jobs, much to their friends' and co-workers' dismay, and moved to a 170-acre ranch they purchased in Ovando, Mont., nearly one hour from any grocery store or commercial area.

Now surrounded by 40 disabled dogs, 10 cats and 20 horses, the pair say they are as happy as can be. The animals, they maintain, are also enjoying life to the fullest.

"The animals don't think of themselves as disabled," Smith explained. "Humans, in that sort of situation, it is human nature to feel sorry for themselves, but these animals just don't even start to feel like that. They just get up and go at it. They don't think, 'Woe is me.' They just want to enjoy life."

The animals at the Rolling Dog Ranch are either blind, deaf or suffer from some kind of orthopedic or neurological disorder. Some are born that way, others fall blind as a result of illness or abuse.

All exceed most people's expectations, Smith says.

"What strikes people is that when they come out to visit these animals don't appear to be any different, and when you are watching them in the yard, rough-housing or whatever, there is nothing about their behavior that tells you they can't hear or see," he explained.

Making a Dream Become Reality

Smith and Marker pooled their savings in 1998 to purchase the Montana property; the couple, now in their 50s, planned to wait at least 10 to 15 years before actually completing the move. But within two years, they realized they could no longer wait to pursue their goals.

"We looked around and we just didn't see anyone focusing exclusively on disabled animals," Smith said. "We thought we would create a sanctuary that would cater specifically to the disabled, and show people that despite these animals' disabilities, they can have a wonderful quality of life and make for wonderful pets."

Smith and Marker, operating the ranch alone, work seven days a week, logging around 10 hours a day scooping poop, exercising the animals and preparing home cooked meals.

"It's a 24-7 job," Marker said. "But we knew that getting into this. We knew how much work it would be."

The couple can never leave the ranch together, for fear that something might happen to one of their brood; they don't go to the movies, let alone out to dinner. Marker says months sometimes pass before she even leaves the ranch, likely for a food, or supply, run in Missoula or Helena, the two closest cities.

"This is my trip away," she explained.

"We have no desire to go vacation in Tahiti, or go to Disney World," Smith elaborated. "We are living in the most beautiful part of the world, we think, doing what we want. It's a joy, doing what we get to do."

A Stop Over, or Forever Home

The animals come from far and wide, often crossing state lines or even international borders before arriving in Montana. One blind German Shepherd, Shep, was rescued from Kabul, Afghanistan, by the Afghan Stray Animal League.

The organization's most recent addition, Bear, a nearly 100-pound blind Lab, was found wandering along a northern Montana highway.

Last year, Rolling Dog Ranch adopted out 12 animals, which seems like a small number, Smith admits, but isn't actually, when considering the difficulty in arranging a suitable match.

"The people who want to adopt these animals are not your average pet owner," he said. "They are out there, but they are not your everyday people and it can take a while to find the right one."

Regardless of whether new families materialize, the Rolling Dog Ranch animals will always have a home on the sprawling property, the couple says. While several pets will stay in the main house each night, the rest of them enjoy a sleep-away style life, replete with bunk-beds and heated cabins.

"The cats have their own cabin, which is kind of like a big open room that has cat trees and beds, litter boxes and shelves on the walls, so all the cats, even the blind ones, can climb up and perch," Smith explained.

There are several houses and stables also devoted to the dogs and horses, which, in the summer months, will graze on several acres.

Both Marker and Smith drew attention to the blind horses, which they say are frequently, and unfairly, discounted on the basis of their disability.

Seeing Past Horses' Blindness

Rolling Dog Ranch is the only known organization that has stepped up to cater to blind horses, in particular, and it tries to guide others in caring for them, as well.

Marker recalled a recent call they received from a woman in Denmark, wondering how to tend to her blind mare. The couple located a veterinarian equipped to handle such an animal, and put the lady in touch with him.

Some of the ranch horses can be ridden, and all of them apparently get along quite fine on their own.

"We put the horses out on pasture in the summertime and there is a water tank in one corner," Smith said. "You see the horses at the far end, then one lifts its head and thinks, 'I need a drink.' It turns, and walks in a dead line, almost, to that water tank. You watch that and think, 'How are they doing that?' "

Marker says that traditionally, blind horses were considered to automatically be granted a "death sentence."

She also, at one point, played into the misconceptions that afflict the creatures, she says.

"I had never been around a blind horse and the first resident that we brought in, I was like, 'Oh, gosh, what are we going to do?' But they do just fine. It constantly amazes me how wonderfully they do."

The Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary is funded through private donations, and while contributions have been steady, the couple are now bracing for the economic turn-down. Their one employee recently left and they say they do not plan to replace her, deciding to foot the work themselves.

It's a decision they believe will guide their lives for many years to come.

To learn more about the Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary, visit their Web site, RollingDogRanch.org

Amy Lieberman is a staff reporter for Zootoo Pet News. She can be reached at alieberman@zootoo.com.