Today I drove into Austin to meet my foster dog Star's prospective adoptive family at a dog park. The outing went well, and Star went home with a new mommy, daddy and brother (Min Pin/Dachshund mix, Spike). I think she was confused, but I know they will give her plenty of love and time to bond with them.

As luck would have it, the dog park was just a few minutes down the road from my sister's place, so I went to visit her and get my "Stevie fix". That dog is just as cute and hysterical as ever. I don't know why I keep expecting her to stop being cute. I just keep thinking, she's going to grow up and be bigger and somehow stop being so darned precious. But there she is, cuter than ever and so full of beans, it's amazing.

She discovered my key chain today and decided that was much better than any of her other toys, which by now probably number somewhere in the millions. Okay, hundreds of thousands. Anyway, she was her comical little self as usual. Oh, yes, her comical little self weighs 5 lbs now.

I looked at her teeth again, and man, she's got a mouthful and then some. Her appointment is for Tuesday, and I know Megan (and I as well, if the truth be known) is anxious about it. It will be fine, of course, but it's hard not to worry.

I've put a couple of new photos in the Gallery so you can see her being disgustingly cute with my keys.

Stay tuned for more Stevie...

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Megan took Stevie back to the vet today to see about her alien dog teeth. The doctor agreed that, yes, those teeth need to be "coerced" into coming out. Evidently, the baby teeth just aren't getting loose enough to fall out on their own and allow her adult teeth all the room they need to grow.

She goes back on Tuesday for dental work. The good news is, the doctor who looked at her asked Megan to bring her back specifically when she is there. She said that while all of the doctors on staff are qualified to do the dental work, she is really interested in that and makes it somewhat of a specialty, so she will do a better job.

Megan wasn't really ready to face this eventuality just yet -- not so much the expense, but rather the mental anguish that goes with putting a beloved pet under anesthetic -- but she wants the best for Stevie, and the vet told her in no uncertain terms that those extra teeth are not only probably at least mildly uncomfortable for Stevie (no wonder she likes chewing on Lucy so much!), but that they're definitely messing up her bite. So, the appointment has been made, and Megan will arrange her schedule so that Stevie is one of the first in to see the doctor that morning, and, thus, one of the first to be allowed to go back home in the afternoon on Tuesday.

We will, of course, let you know how everything goes.

In the meantime, have a great weekend, everybody.

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Happy Spring!

Stevie continues to "sit" more and more, and has even "stayed" a couple of times. Megan is very excited about it. It's that big pay-off for all her patience and persistence.

Friday afternoon Stevie will go back to the vet to have her teeth checked. Seems her baby "canines" aren't falling out, but her new ones are coming in already. She looks like some kind of alien dog with extra rows of teeth! OOoooh, scary. :)

Megan wants to make sure the baby teeth don't need to be pulled. Me personally, I've never seen a dog with extra teeth like that, but then, I've only raised two puppies. To be honest, I don't remember how their teeth came in, but I'm pretty sure they never had four canines on the bottom and four on the top...

I'll be sure to report out on the outcome yesterday.

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Woohoo! Another first today: Megan called to tell me that Stevie SAT for the first time on command. She was very excited (Megan, not Stevie -- not sure what Stevie thinks, but it's probably something like "I don't know what all the fuss is about.").

I've had my dogs for so long, I forget how cool it is when a puppy "gets it", although I'm dealing with some of the same issues with my foster Min Pin, Star. At five years old, she's like a puppy in a lot of ways, too, because no one ever took the time to teach her. She has been more consistent with "sit" and today, she actually did "stay" -- a much more difficult proposition. :)

It's an amazing world, and we dog lovers are so easily pleased.

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Happy St. Patrick's Day, for whatever that's worth.

Today I made the trek into Austin again to visit Megan and Stevie. Megan and I are working on a poster for another volunteer gig I do at the Highland Lakes Squadron of the Commemorative Air Force in Burnet, TX. Megan is the genius PhotoShop mastermind behind the endeavor; my main job was to keep Stevie entertained while she asked me questions about tweaking the fine points of our poster.

We worked on the poster while Stevie ran up and down the dog stairs, chased after toys and ate my camera string. When we'd worked on it for as long as Megan could stand, we went out to lunch. Then it was time for a trip to The Stevie Tree. Stevie does very well on the leash with her training collar, and she looks like a show dog out there prancing along. She is doing much better with changes in color/composition of the terrain, as those don't seem to bother her quite as much as they used to.

Once at The Stevie Tree, off comes the leash so she can run around inside the white stone circle that surrounds it. The grass had gotten quite high because of all the recent rains, and I don't think she liked how it tickled her tummy. But that didn't stop her from having a grand time running around in circles, sniffing, snuffling, and checking stuff out in general.

Then it was off to the mailboxes and home again. I keep forgetting just how much energy puppies have! That dog makes the Energizer Bunny (c) look like a slacker! She continues to be WAY too cute for her own good, a slim little bugger who steals hearts and charms everyone she meets.

Come nail trimming time, she was still wound up. Megan accidentally nicked the quick on one of her claws, but Stevie didn't even notice. She didn't flinch, yelp or squirm. We got out the styptic powder, and Megan kept telling Stevie "I'm so sorry", but Stevie just jumped down and ran around looking for Lucy.

All of us who trim our dogs' nails ourselves have done this, and, more often than not, it's much more traumatic for the human than the dog. Fortunately, it didn't phase Stevie at all; and of course, we'll be that much more careful next time. (Although there must be something in the air... when I returned home, I trimmed Newt's, Darlin's and my foster Star's nails, and damned if I didn't nick a quick on both Darlin' and Star. Geez, makes ya feel like a novice and I've been doing this for 18 years!)

Ah, well. Happens to the best of us, and thankfully, our dogs love us in spite of ourselves. That's what keeps me going some days!

Be sure to check out the Gallery (click on "Gallery" on the right) to see photos from yesterday's visit.
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