As my posts become a little bit longer in between, I've decided to give up on the number of days (Stevie, Day 2,476 anyone?) and just use years. This is the beginning of her second year with Megan. She is just as cute, just as funny, unpredictable, determined and completely oblivious to her blindness now as she was the day she came into IMPS care.

Today I went to pick up a new foster dog (currently going by the name of "Sweet Pea") out north of Austin in Round Rock. After I got paperwork signed and settled her in the dog crate in the back seat, I [quite naturally] headed south to see Stevie and Megan.

It is the first time I have ever seen anything of the canine persuasion that was actually SMALLER than Stevie. You will recall that Stevie weighs in at a whopping 4.75 lbs, and has about 475 lbs of attitude. Sweet Pea must be all of 3 lbs, half of that is her ears, I think. I mean, I thought Stevie had big ears! Well, okay, so she does. But proportionately, Sweet Pea's ears are much more large.

Sweet Pea wanted very much to play, but Stevie was far more interested in trying to sniff butt and keep from getting jumped on by Sweet Pea, who was also very determined. Stevie did try to accommodate Sweet Pea's sniffing overtures by raising her hind leg (looked for all the world like she was gonna pee like a boy). Try as we might, we couldn't capture that Kodak moment on digital file... Stevie growled and barked a little bit and after a couple of minutes Sweet Pea replied with her own bark.

It was funny to see. I never in a million years would describe Stevie as "big". But next to this one, she is, kinda. Go figure. Guess everything really is a matter of perspective.

Cheers!
G

Greetings, faithful readers of the The Stevie Chronicles!
G has been silly enough to give me the keys to her cyber-kingdom, thus allowing me to post Stevie Stuff directly...I know it's been hard sometimes for her to keep track of all the goofy things I report, and (truth be told) she puts in more hours per week dealing with goofy HUMANS than I do. FAIR WARNING: Postings straight from Stevie-ville will begin to appear, hopefully with a bit more regularity. I know most of you are all hip to the dog thing...it's pretty much still new to me...insert mental image Stevie licking my pillow as you read.
Stay tuned.....megan

It was exactly one year ago today that Megan and I drove to Waco to meet Cathy Heuermann and bring tiny, blind Stevie home to Austin. Megan recalls being scared sh--less when she saw Stevie. She says, "I couldn't believe she was so small. All I could think was holy crap, what have I gotten myself into?!"

I look at those first pictures of when we picked her up, and although she has lost her puppy dimensions, she is still small at just under 5 lbs. Both Megan and Stevie have adjusted wonderfully. Cases in point:

1) Although Stevie rarely barks, she will occasionally jump straight up in the middle of the night (under the blankets) , bark once, then go back to sleep.

2) Megan and Stevie often play "Go find Lucy" (the orange "devil" ball with feet). Megan will tell Stevie "Go find Lucy" and typically, Stevie will run off in search of Lucy and will come running back a couple of minutes later with Lucy in tow. This time, though, she came back with the bone. Again, Megan told her: "Go find Lucy!" A moment later, Stevie came back with the neon frog. Megan looked at her. "That's not Lucy! Go find Lucy!" Stevie ran off and returned with her plastic keys. Baffled, Megan finally got up and went to find out where the heck Lucy was. She looked in the bathroom, and there was Lucy, head down in the water bowl with her feet sticking up in the air.

3) Stevie continues to learn where things are. She can now jump up onto the bed without the use of the doggie stairs, but she doesn't always know she can do it. She usually gets all excited and just shows up on the bed all of a sudden.

4) Megan continues to find new names for Stevie. The latest is her "Transformer" name: Piddlebot. I'm sure you can figure that one out quite easily.

It has been a year of learning for Megan, professed cat person, and little Stevie who still has no idea that she is different than any other dog on the planet. I'm certain the years ahead will also provide many new learning experiences for both. And those experiences will still be chronicled here for all those interested parties to read.

Cheers!
G