I'll bet you thought I gave up, huh? Well, just because I haven't posted for a while doesn't mean that Stevie hasn't been up to her usual puppy antics. Like what, you ask? Well...

1) You may recall that one of Stevie's nicknames is "Hu Flung Poo". She comes by it honestly. One afternoon, Stevie came roaring out of the bathroom where her "potty papers" are. That almost always means that she's being chased by a dangerous hanging piece of poop. This time, she ran out of the bathroom and ran around the room... Megan went looking for any leftovers and found, sure enough, evidence of recent poo flinging... 25 inches up the wall.

2) Although Stevie rarely barks, she does know when it's important. Megan had new neighbors moving into the apartment next door recently. They were fairly industrious as they were still moving in the wee hours. At one point, someone must have gotten confused and tried the door handle to Megan's place, rattling it. Not only did Stevie wake up, but she also sat up and barked most ferociously several times. Musta worked; whoever it was went away.

3) Megan recently bought a new bed. This one is taller than the one she used to have. That's akin to moving the furniture in Helen Keller's apartment... So there has been some adjusting for Stevie to do. She was very used to taking a flying leap and landing in the middle of the bed. (Megan used to yell, "Flying Dog Alert!") The added height of the new mattress made for interesting events for a while, but Stevie has mastered the aerodynamics well now. The extra height also made the first step of the dog stairs further down. Down is way more scary than up, you'll recall. But it's all good now and she has it all figured out.

I know there's more, since I haven't written since January. I'll try to be more diligent. In the meantime, I posted several photos from January, February and March this year. I'll be making the trek to South Austin again this weekend, so look for more pix and puppy prank reports on Sunday.

Cheers,
G

Was trying to post a newer photo of Stevie and Sweet Pea playing (just before Christmas), but the web site isn't cooperating.


Will try again tomorrow.
G

December was super busy... I'm sure you all were in the same boat. There have been some "Stevie Stories" and I've been hard pressed to find the time to relay them here. For example:

Megan was filling the food bowl and -- I'm sure this has happened to every dog owner on earth at some time or another -- the entire container of dry kibble toppled and sniblets went everywhere. Now, yes, Stevie's blind, and smaller than Megan, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with her olfactory senses, and she's closer to the ground. It was a race to see who could pick up the most sniblets first. Megan said it was a real scramble, and between the two of them, all of the little pieces got picked up. We'll call it a draw as there was no way to count the kibble that found its way into Stevie's tummy.

On a recent visit, I commented that Stevie was looking a little thin. Megan was taking Stevie to get another check up on her demodex and so asked the vet about food amounts. She recommended upping the food intake (Stevie was ecstatic). I took her some Merrick's Puppy Plate and she began mixing it with the Nutro puppy food she's been feeding her. I got a phone call a couple of days later.

Me: How's Stevie doing?

Megan: Just when I think I'm getting her fattened up, she poops everything out. The more I feed, the more she poops. I never knew a dog that small could produce that much poop!

Me: Ummm, well, give it a couple of days. It will take her a while to get used to the new food.

Megan has since reported that Stevie is doing much better and she's going to cut back just a little on the amount of food.

Stevie got a bag of Peanut Butter dog treats (Newman's Own Organics) from Li'l Darlin' and Newton. I hear that she really loves them.

I'm sure I've got more photos here somewhere; I promise I will get them uploaded sometime this week.

Happy 2008 to one and all,
G

I have had a not-quite-5-month-old girl puppy foster for about two weeks now. In an interesting twist, I called Megan this week with a bit of role reversal:

Me: Hey, what're you doin'?

Megan: Not much. Beating my dog [refer to previous post for the literal meaning of this phrase]. What's up?

Me: Ummm, ya know it's been 10 years since I've had a puppy. This one is driving me crazy.

Megan: Don't look at me. It's all your fault, you know.

Me: Yeah, yeah. I know. Hey, does your dog smell your burps?

Megan: LAUGHTER

Me: I mean, I don't do that very often, but I had a coke and this big ol' burp came out. Sweet Pea was sitting on my lap and her head whipped around and she sniffed the air that just expelled from my innards. Does your dog do that?

Megan: [Still laughing] Yeah, but she smells her own, too.

Me: Well, I guess I'm glad it's not just me. [Sigh] I can't believe how much energy this one has. She's merciless when she wants to play and she's driving my two nuts.

Megan: [Laughter has subsided into snickers now] It's payback.

Me: Whatever.

I think Megan is enjoying my "puppy re-discovery" far too much.

Sweet Pea will go to her new permanent home in January [after she's spayed and recovered]. Stevie, however, remains Queen of Megan's apartment, something that's not likely to change any time soon.

Cheers!

G

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