Epidemic Edition! Remember the lore about Typhoid Mary, the cook in the early 1900’s who spread a deadly disease around New York? Well, The Ranch had their own version of this recently when Bert and Ernie arrived. These two Malinois mixes (brothers?) were dropped off by a farmer from Mezcala in mid-March. He found the […]
Ramblings From The Ranch – September 2025 Read More »
A Day at The Ranch About nine o’clock in the morning, one of The Ranch’s four part-time employees arrives to unlock the gate. The sound of about a hundred dogs can be heard in the distance. After entering the property, the staff member drives up to the small office “casita” and unlocks that. There, they
Ramblings From The Ranch – July 2025 Read More »
A bus full of dogs? In February, 20 Ranch dogs headed up to new lives in Oregon on the rescue bus, aka Angel. After several years of critical and dangerous overcrowding, the Ranch was relieved to send this many dogs “up North” at one time. Ranch volunteer and “dog travel agent” Julie Wittman was the
Ramblings From The Ranch – May 2025 Read More »
A Day at The Ranch About nine o’clock in the morning, one of The Ranch’s four part-time employees arrives to unlock the gate. The sound of about a hundred dogs can be heard in the distance. After entering the property, the staff member drives up to the small office “casita” and unlocks that. There, they
Ramblings From The Ranch – March 2025 Read More »
You Know It’s Love When…. Little did Elizabeth Dalziel know that when she visited her mother in Chapala, she would end up flying a dog back to her home in England. Yet, that is exactly what happened when Elizabeth and her two sons, Ben and Joe Hodge, visited our area in August. Elizabeth’s mother lives
Ramblings From The Ranch – January 2025 Read More »
Dr. Luis: Ranch Veterinarian “Rather than rush from one patient to another, I prefer to sit with an old friend, while checking their pets,” Dr. Luis Maciel Saldierna quoted a mentor who told him this when he was a new veterinarian. Surely, the volunteers at The Ranch feel like Dr. Luis is an old friend.
Ramblings From The Ranch – November 2024 Read More »
How do you keep over 100 dogs healthy? As of this writing, The Ranch has 107 dogs in residence. Our shelter is built to house about 75 dogs, so you can imagine that quarters are very tight. Crowded conditions can lead to the spread of illness and to stress-induced fighting injuries. Maintaining the health of
Ramblings From The Ranch – September 2024 Read More »
Leaving a Legacy Over 20 years ago, two women made a decision that would create a legacy in the Lake Chapala dog rescue community. Around the year 2000, Diane Hazen and Gudrun Jones began the rescue that would later be known as The Ranch. At that time, a dog shelter existed in Riberas that helped
Ramblings From The Ranch – July 2024 Read More »
He was glad his wife had her choir. It gave her something to do other than telling him what he should be doing. She was gone from the house at least twice a week for practices, about three hours each time, longer if she had coffee with someone afterward. When they had performances, there were
The Other Choir Member Read More »
Foster or Fail? When we lived in Oregon, my husband and I fostered over 25 dogs for our local shelter. Fostering fit in well with our lifestyle, where we travelled often and didn’t want to commit to dog ownership. When we would talk to our friends about fostering, they’d say, “Oh, I could never do
Ramblings From The Ranch – May 2024 Read More »
