My boy dog, Newt, recently got fitted with new belly bands to keep him from peeing on stuff in the house while we're gone. I think he's rather chagrined - he hates to wear anything - but Stevie was intrigued. She had to be right there when he put it on and sniff around for a bit.

I am still undecided as to whether she is *more* curious because of her extremely poor eyesight , or if she's "just a Min Pin". Anyone with a Min Pin knows they'll put any cat to shame when it comes to curiosity.

More new pix in the Gallery.

Cheers, G

I know Megan is worried about Stevie being over here, but she can take care of herself, I assure you.

In fact, not only does she not take any guff from my 3 pinheads, she actually instigates trouble. She will wander around and find where one of the other dogs is and then she'll start growling at them.

It's pretty funny. My three (Li'l Darlin', 12; Newton, 8; and Dakota Mae, 10-ish) do their best to be tolerant (see new pix in "Gallery"), but in true puppy form, she just can't leave well enough alone. The "big" dogs get reprimanded for grousing at her, but I find I'm having to correct Stevie as much as any of them! Once she finds where one of them is sleeping, she just *has* to pester them. It's so hard to be serious about telling a 4.9 lb dog she has to leave the 16.5 lb dog alone...

Being that I've been in Min Pin rescue for going on 5 years and that I've had my own Min Pins for more than 16 years, it was always a given that I would babysit Stevie any time Megan needed me to, for whatever reason. You have to understand, though, that Megan is pretty much a hermit. If she could somehow figure out how to live in a cave, trust me, she'd never come out. So, barring any freak accidents or debilitating illnesses, I pretty much figured I'd never really have to worry about it.

But a funny thing happened earlier this year. Somehow, Megan got it into her head that she *had* to go to a Pittsburgh Steelers football game. She's never been to a pro football game, and is a rabid Steelers fan. Hey, it takes all kinds.

My phone rang.
Me: Hello?
Megan: Hey, I wanna go to a Steelers game this year.
Me: Ooookay. Let's look at their schedule, just for the heck of it.
Megan: They're playing the Denver Broncos on November 9. (Our brother lives in Denver.) I could go to the Wild Animal Sanctuary on the same trip and take photos of the big cats and stuff. The tickets are expensive, though, and I hate to fly.
Me: Ooookay. Let's see what we can figure out...

Thereafter began a frenzied search for game tickets. Keep in mind Invesco Field has been sold out for years in advance, the Broncos (at that time) had not lost a game, AND it was a Monday night game. But where there's a will - and a little shove from big sister - there's a way. Plane tickets were purchased, I got an "in" with a ticket guy and Friday, November 6, I picked up Megan and Stevie. I dropped Megan off at the airport, and Stevie and I drove home to Horseshoe Bay.

We stopped first at the vet's office to have her nails trimmed. She really does seem to have about 27 legs when you're trying to do that all on your own, and even though she still doesn't weigh 5 lbs (4.9 lbs according to my vet's scale, but the collar probably weighs half a pound by itself), it's WAY worth the $9 to have someone else do it. She charmed the britches off the staff - no one could believe she's three years old and full grown. She gets that a lot.

Then it was off to the office - more charming (less actual work), meeting lots of new people and lots of new socks to lick.

Home to the house to meet my three. We went out into the dog yard to sniff, pee and generally socialize in a purely canine way.

I'm delighted to say that she has adjusted to our house and our dogs extremely well. In fact, it's freakin' amazing. She can "see" just enough to know not to bump into too much stuff, she knows a food dish when she hears one, and she doesn't take any gruff off my dogs - if they grouse at her, she grouses right back,
which is actually pretty hilarious.

Please check out the GALLERY (click on blue link to your right) for pix of her with my pack. I've tried to get some shots of her near my dogs so you can get an idea of how truly tiny a 5 lb dog is. For reference, Darlin' is 12.5 lbs, Newton is 16.5 lbs, and Dakota is 17 lbs (still working on getting that extra weight off from Mike feeding them all the time).

Enjoy the photos - I'll update again before she goes home. She'll be here until I pick Megan up at the airport on Tuesday evening...

P. S. - She is a very restless sleeper. I'm going to investigate a nap very soon.

Just uploaded three new photos (click on "Gallery" to the right) of Stevie. She recently got a new sweatshirt hoodie that says "Vicious" on the back. I only had my iPhone, and Stevie wasn't cooperating, so the photo isn't all that great. But you can just *tell* she's C-U-T-E.

The same day, she got a new blue ball to play with. She had one just like it a while back and when we found them again at Tuesday Morning, decided she'd like to have a new one. There's a photo of her playing with it and next to that, a photo of the damage she inflicted on that brand new ball after less than 10 minutes of play. She takes her play very, very seriously.

I suspect that no matter how many years Stevie and Megan are together, Stevie will remain C-U-T-E.

It was a chilly Saturday, November 4, 2006, when I picked Megan up at her apartment and we drove the 1.75 - 2.0 hours to Waco to meet Cathy Heuermann from Plano with the tiny blind black & tan female puppy who would soon be known as Stevie (named as much for Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nix as for blind soul singer Stevie Wonder).

Megan still recalls vividly how scared she was when she saw how small Stevie was. Don't forget that up until that day, Megan WAS an avowed "cat person". Stevie is her first ever dog. Everything every day was something new. They have grown and learned together. It's been interesting for me, because Megan always looks to me for advice, ideas and confirmation that she's "doing it right".

It was, and remains, a match made in doggie heaven, and it couldn't have worked out better for either of them.

Who knew three years ago all the wonderful discoveries and memories that were just waiting to be made?

Gotta love it.