Led by compassion: Angelyne the Amazing Deaf Cattle Dog

Many dogs can balance a treat on their nose, waiting for the command that sets off a lightning-quick snap of the snout to seize the prize in midair.

Angelyne, an Australian cattle dog, can perform that trick, but the command she patiently and intently awaits comes only in the form of a hand signal.

Angelyne is deaf, and she’s known as Angelyne the Amazing Deaf Cattle Dog.

Eric Melvin, 39, of Dillion and Angelyne give presentations to various groups with a focus on compassion, overcoming adversity, service, perseverance, purpose and patience.

On Monday, the canny canine performed her magical tricks for a group of seniors, developmentally disabled adults and preschoolers at the Seniors’ Resource Center in Evergreen.

Melvin told the group Angelyne’s story, from a puppyhood with an uncertain future to a life filled with purpose — for both of them.

Angelyne, named after a melancholy song by the Jayhawks, came into Melvin’s world when she was a fluff-ball pup.

“I think I can see things other people don’t and, to me, she was the most beautiful puppy,” Melvin said. “She was independent and loving, and she needed a bond with a human being.”

Soon, Angelyne was in her new home with hours of love and miles of walks ahead of her, and Melvin wanted to get her off on the right paw with a puppy-kindergarten class. During the class, both Melvin and the teacher noticed that Angelyne wasn’t responding as the other puppies did. Something was amiss.

A trip to the veterinarian confirmed that she was born deaf.

“My first reaction was, ‘Show me. How can we know for sure?’ ” Melvin said. “I was sad; I had no idea what I was going to do. I have no idea how this would affect my life and what decision I would make.”

Melvin said that many deaf dogs are thought to be untrainable and dangerous.

“A lot of special-needs dogs don’t get good lives,” he said.

Special-needs dogs often end up in shelters and are sometimes mistreated and misunderstood. Many end up in a vicious cycle of adoption, surrender and eventual destruction.

Instead of getting rid of Angelyne, Melvin chose to train her, not knowing she would change his life — not because of her deafness but because of her devotion to him. He said he couldn’t give up on his deaf puppy and was determined to find a way to help her get along in the world.

There is no Bible for how to train a deaf dog. … There’s no book like ‘American Sign Language for Animals,’ ” Melvin said.

Melvin developed a simple training method and reward system for her, and the pair trained for three hours each day. Now with a repertoire of 40 different hand commands, Angelyne executes basic instructions and a series of sophisticated tricks, including jumping through hoops, giving kisses, leaping into Melvin’s arms, performing magic tricks and responding to commands with a flashlight, all with an enthusiastic focus.

“Once she learned the commands, she picked them up pretty fast,” Melvin said.

During Angelyne’s performance, Melvin allows audience members to help by holding hoops for Angelyne to fly through or positioning her so they can pet her bristly coat.

“I try to be an inspiration and an educator for people,” he said.

Joan Wilson, site supervisor for the Seniors’ Resource Center’s extension services, said she agreed that Angelyne and Melvin embody hope, education and inspiration.

Wilson said Angelyne’s presentation was one of the best events so far and that the program’s participants gravitate toward animals. Angelyne was special in part because she faces challenges, too.

“Whatever the challenge, you can overcome it,” Wilson said. “If she can, we all can.”

Melvin said he hoped that he and Angelyne show people how to look past boundaries and see beyond expectations.

Melvin credits Angelyne for helping him learn how to overcome his struggles in learning to live with childhood-onset type 1 diabetes, a condition he’s had since he was 14.

When it comes to Melvin and Angelyne, it can be hard to tell who leads and who follows.

“She taught me how to be a teacher and how to be patient, be more loving, kind and generous, and more focused on what’s going on in the moment,” Melvin said.

For more information about Angelyne or to contact Melvin about a presentation, visit www.amazingangelyne.com

This story ran in the July 21, 2010 edition of the Canyon Courier and the July 28, 2010 edition of the High Timber Times

Ride and seek: Rolls Royce club holds foxhunt

The sleek automotive aristocrats assembled in the dirt parking lot of the rustic Pleasant Park School might seem out of sync with their surroundings, but the gathering is part of an annual event to celebrate all things Rolls-Royce.

On Saturday morning, 10 classic Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles and their owners gathered for the local Rolls-Royce owners club’s annual “fox hunt,” a mix of motorcycle poker run, history quiz and scavenger hunt.

People stopped at the schoolhouse to look at the classic cars before the hunt began, snapping pictures and asking questions about the cars, their history and their mystique.

The hunt’s goal is for driver-navigator teams to wind through the mountain area ensconced in timeless motoring luxury. Guided by clues, the drivers follow directions to various landmarks and pick up pieces of a paper fox and the clue to the next destination.

Paper fox pieces were stashed at Tiny Town, the Hiwan Museum in Evergreen, Inter-Canyon Fire Department Station 2, the animal cemetery section of Evergreen Memorial Park, Flying J Ranch in Conifer and at Zoka’s Restaurant in Pine Grove.

Failure to gather all pieces of the fox, to follow the driving directions correctly or to answer any of the quiz’s questions could result in the porker of a prize: a ceramic pig.

The winner, meanwhile, has his or her name placed on a trophy and will devise next year’s motoring adventure.

The region’s club was started 20 years ago but folded due to lack of interest. Resurrected six years ago, the group has about 100 members in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. The regional group is part of the International Club for Rolls-Royce and Bentley Owners & Enthusiasts, according to president Jim Lobenstein.

“These are the prettiest sheet metal up here today,” he said.

Lobenstein, of Centennial, said people wonder who’s driving such rare and classic automobiles, and he considers their reactions amusing.

“They are so disappointed when I get out of my car and they realize I’m nobody,” he said.

He owns two Bentleys but brought his 1994 black Bentley Turbo R for the fox hunt. Lobenstein thinks there are only 200 of the cars in the three-state region.

“Some are hidden away, and you don’t see them for years,” Lobenstein said.

He points out that the club is for enthusiasts of the Rolls-Royce or Bentley, which originally were made by the same British company.

“You don’t have to have one of these cars; you just have to love them,” Lobenstein said.

Conifer resident Kurt Furger brought two cars for the show before the fox hunt — a 1926 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost and a fully restored 1929 Ford Model A Roadster.

According to Furger, the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is one of 1,701 cars produced by the company between 1921 and 1926 in Springfield, Mass. Furger is the car’s eighth owner.

Furger and his Silver Ghost toured Europe and Africa. After the Africa trip, the car was shipped home, and Furger picked it up in Newark and drove it back to Conifer. During the trip, the 400-cubic-inch engine got an average of 10 miles per gallon and needed a pit stop every 500 miles for an oil change and maintenance, a cross each Rolls owner has to bear.

Still, Furger said Rolls-Royce’s utmost attention to detail resulted in the “best car in the world.”

One doesn’t order a Rolls-Royce or a Bentley; it’s commissioned. They come with steering wheels on the right or left side, are hand-built, and have details that have disappeared from today’s mass-produced cars. But their maintenance can be complex.

Prices for a new car range from $150,000 to $400,000, and classic cars command six-digit sticker prices.

George Malesich of Denver owns an all-original 1961 Silver Cloud II with 51,000 miles and a speedometer that goes up to 120 mph, but said he hasn’t driven the car that fast.

When Malesich bought the car used, tucked into the glove compartment was a September 1960 Road and Track magazine that featured the ’61 Silver Cloud on its cover. Inside the magazine are ads for then-used Rolls-Royces for as little as $2,000 — cars that today would be worth tens of thousands of dollars.

“Back then the interest wasn’t there, so they sold cheap,” Malesich said.

Lobenstein laughingly said the distinction between the Rolls and the Bentley is simple: “One drives a Bentley, but one is driven in a Rolls-Royce.”

Taking a peek under the big top

Along with the sweet scent of cotton candy, a whiff of danger and hint of wistful excitement, the Culpepper & Merriweather Circus brought a little magic to Conifer. But for the performers at the traveling circus, it’s just another day on the job.

Trey Key, owner, general manager and lion tamer for the Culpepper & Merriweather Circus hails from Columbia, S.C., and after 20-years of circus-performances, he’s still hooked on the big-top world.

“To me, this is still magical and I wouldn’t do anything else,” said Key.

Small tears in the worn C&M tent turn the spring sunshine into summer starlight and added to the ambiance of the one-day-only performance on June 21 at Beaver Ranch. The circus showcased a lion-taming act, clowns, jugglers, aerial acts, unicycling and a small carnival.

Key’s duties as the lion-tamer take him inside the lion’s den, and as he enters the cage during each performance, there’s only one thing on his mind.

“The only thing to think about when I go into the cage,” said Key, “is the lion.”
“You can’t think about anything else.”

Francis, an African lion and the feline-star of the show, is content to receive a pre-performance back-scratch from Key or his handler, Phil Manus, 23, from Sarasota Fla., though he’s a fully grown carnivore. According to Key, it’s imperative to watch Francis at all times.

“If you can’t respect what they can do to you, then you have no business going in there,” said Key.

Manus, who likes the high-wire acts best, has performed with the circus for two years and besides cat-handler duties, performs a gorilla-on-the-loose-act with agility and pinpoint accuracy with a water-cannon. He admits he likes to scare the audience but insists it’s all for fun.

“We’re good people, with good stories and we’re friendly,” said Manus.

Key began working with the traveling circus eight years ago and said the entourage is a family, complete with homes, kids, pets and plenty of responsibility.

This year’s company consists of 30 show-people and six-office staff members who layout the road and stops in advance of the show. Circus transport vehicles consist of a recreational vehicle for support personnel, a series of private house trailers, six support vehicles and six house trailers.

“We’re not the circus stereo-type,” said Key, “we don’t drink, pass out and sleep under the trucks.”

Key said the C&M Circus is a good place for kids to grow up – there are several families in the caravan and the kids quickly learn responsibility and help the circus at each performance.

“It’s the best place to have pets and kids,” said Key, “Everyone knows where everyone is, who’s supposed to be around and who isn’t.”

Lana Dykes, 10, is from Sarasota Fla., and after her performance in the unicycle routine and her own show with the fan-tail pigeons, she expertly handles the money from kids wanting to enter the jumping castle and insists, “this is fun, you don’t need money.”

Still wearing bright blue eye shadow and her hair tightly styled, Lana said she is home-schooled year round loves the circus life.

Lana said she’s not paid for her time in the ring or for manning the jumping castle after the show, but that’s all right, it feeds her dream for her future. When she grows up, if she stays with the circus, she’d like to work with elephants, if not the circus, she’d like to train animals at Sea World.

“You have to keep working on it, to be in a circus,” said Lana.

Key said that Lana is a good kid who still gets to be a kid though she travels with her family throughout the year. She still gets to play, and she’s in charge of the family’s puppies, according to Key.

“She still gets to be a kid,” said Key. “It’s a good thing.”

Lana may have to wait to work with elephants with the C&M circus. Key said that in June 2008, in Wakini, Kan., one of their elephants got loose, and he said it’s a sinking, helpless feeling when that happens.

“All you can do is keep people away and let the handlers do their thing,” said Key. “No more elephants.”

Another animal the circus won’t include is camels. The circus did have a camel-act but Key said they learned their lesson about the nomadic animals with 12-inch-wide feet that are great for walking straight for 100-miles, but are lousy when it comes to being in a ring. They have no traction on grass surfaces and Key sweat the season when C&M enjoined the camel-act. The animals fell on a regular basis, and he worried a camel would fall and break and leg and that would the end of that circus performance.

Key said that all the current animals at his circus are part of the family.

“The animals are well-cared for, and it’s a nice escape from the circus-business to go and be with the animals,” said Key.

Seeing the circus
Conifer resident Jim Faucett, said he liked the performance, especially the hula-hoop wrangler, and brought his uncle who at 65, has never seen a circus. His uncle enjoyed the performance and Faucett said, “It beats sitting home watching the Flintstones.”

Ianna DeBrunner, 10, of Conifer also liked the performance, and thought is was pretty amazing. She likes the circus so much that she recently attended a circus camp to learn how to juggle and ride a unicycle.

The circus was sponsored by Biggie Wine & Liquor in Conifer and promoted through the Conifer Area Chamber of Commerce. Chamber Board Member Stan Foxx, played guest ringmaster for the event and said he was glad the circus, that celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, came to Conifer.

“It was a stupendous circus, everything you could expect,” Foxx said.

On the road
The troupe is heading west, on a trek through a 33-week season that ends in the third week of October. The crew will winter over in Hugo Okla., one of the circus-town Meccas in the U.S.

Next year, the performers will pull up tent stakes and head out on the road once again, possibly with a few new acts to wow the crowds.

Key said there’s a very limited talent pool and a lot of the performers have worked for Ringling Brothers Circus but choose to work at the C&M.

“This is a good, clean show,” said Key.

“If you want to join the circus, be at least 18-years-old and send a video and resume to the different shows around the country,” said Key. He said the circus is always looking for new and interesting acts.

As the circus left town around 5 a.m. the next morning after the Conifer performance, there were no reports of anyone who left Conifer behind to join the circus.

This story was printed in the July 7, 2010 edition of the High Timber Times and as Upslope in the Canyon Courier. This version is my original story, to see the edited version, go to www.hightimbertimes.com