The crate is working wonders for both Megan and Stevie. Stevie seems to be much calmer and is not tearing anything up in her big new crate. Megan is much happier to come home to a house without any extraneous clean up to do. Megan says it will save their relationship. Too bad it doesn't work on boyfriends or husbands, huh?


I went for a short visit yesterday, and Megan insisted that we go for a walk so she could show me how well Stevie is doing on "the Big Stairs". Going down is still very scary, but she does it well enough. We walked over to the mailbox and back and Megan told me, "You'd better watch fast, because she goes up the stairs much faster than down." Sure enough, Megan said "Step up" and Stevie bounded up them like she was doing an agility course for points.

She's so amazing, so cute and just a joy to be around. Sure wish I could bottle all that energy, though. I'd be fabulously rich...


Check the GALLERY for new photos!
Cheers,
G

Stevie is now the proud owner of one brand new, very large dog crate. Megan went ahead and stopped at PetsMart on her way home from work this afternoon. She is leaving it open in the front room so Stevie can get used to going in and out of it.

When Megan got home, sure enough, Sevie had shredded, torn, ripped and otherwise completely rearranged the potty papers. Many were out in the hallway area instead of the bathroom. All this in spite of walking nearly a mile this morning before Megan went to work.

It's not so much that Megan minds cleaning up, although that's annoying enough in and of itself. She's much more concerned about Stevie eating the paper, or the tape that [used to] help keep it in place, or the puppy pee pads underneath it. Tomorrow will be her first day in the crate. We'll see how it works out...

On a brighter note, Stevie did even better on "the big stairs" today, so some progress does continue to be made in other areas.

Ah, life with a puppy. There's nothing on earth quite like it. And, according to Megan, it's *still* all my fault. Mea culpa.

G

Today is one of those "good news, bad news" days. The good news is that Stevie went all the way down the apartment stairs AND all the way up them, all without too much additional prodding or coaxing. It was definitely a red letter day in that regard.

However... Despite two walks and playing "fetch Lucy" until Megan says her arm was about to fall off, Stevie still decimated the potty papers in the bathroom. More exercise worked for a couple of days. Kong worked for a couple of days. Bigger play area worked for a couple of days. But now, we're back to square one. As those of you who have raised puppies may remember, this is a VERY frustrating phase.

Megan is considering buying Stevie a larger crate to stay in while she's gone to work. I told her it's possible that will only have her tearing up stuff inside her cage. Who knows?

She feels it's a "last resort" -- she doesn't really want to do it, but until Stevie grows out of the newspaper shredding stage, it may be the only answer right now. I asked her if she would talk to my friend Annette Betcher (the animal communicator), but she said no. Oh, well, guess it's not for everybody.

I'll be interested to see how this plays out; you will, of course see updates here as soon as they're available.

G

As you know if you've been keeping up with this blog, Megan and Stevie have been working on "the big stairs" that go to and from the second floor where her apartment is. The going down part is pretty easy and Stevie has pretty well mastered that. Going up is a different story. The "big stairs" have about 17 steps, and to a blind not-quite-6-pound puppy, they must seem never-ending. So a few stairs up, she will quit. Every time, they try again, every time, Stevie gets scared or tired and stops. Until today. With much prodding (literally), Stevie made it all the way up those "big stairs", quite an accomplishment! Just one in a long line of continuing incredible feats for that tiny blind dog who still -- 8 months later -- amazes me no end.
G

Megan decided that the best way to get Stevie to stop tearing up potty papers during the day is to wear her out as much as possible before she leaves for work. So today, she got up a little earlier, they played "Fetch Lucy" for 30 to 40 minutes. Then they leashed up and walked around the apartment complex in search of a soda machine that actually worked (Megan's daily caffeine intake comes from diet Dr. Pepper rather than coffee). They got back to the apartment a little before 7 a.m. and when Megan returned from work today, nary a paper was out of place. They played "Lucy" again for a bit and then it was off to Math class for Megan. Evidently, there was o-n-e really baaaad piece of newspaper that had to be seriously reprimanded because when she came home, Megan found one sheet out in the hallway with a few shreds taken out of it. But I'll bet they'll both sleep GREAT tonight.
G