Sorry I've been blogless lately! :) Lots going on this time of year.

Stevie continues to be the center of Megan's world. Tomorrow, Stevie gets her 3rd set of puppy shots, so it will be okay for her to go outside. It was probably okay before, but Megan is more interested in erring on the side of caution. That also means it's time to start leash training, oh, boy!

Megan has some newer photos than what I've posted so far, and I'm begging her to get them to me or to post them herself here. Stay tuned; there will be more photos soon.

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Double checked with Megan on the whole Stevie barking thing. Turns out she has only barked about 3 times. I have yet to hear her "speak", but I can certainly vouch for her tough girl growl. Unfortunately, it's so darned funny -- kind of like a cartoon -- it just makes you laugh. She's so serious and fierce, ooooh, scary. Ha. I'm sure at some point, she'll be barking regularly just like every other Min Pin, but for now, we just enjoy her antics, her body language and her gruff growls.
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I wanted to make a note about the denim jacket Stevie recently got (see Gallery photos). A friend of Megan's bought it and put "Born 2 B Blind" on it using fabric paint. Stevie's not as happy about wearing it as we are to take her picture in it, but she's cute even when she's not overjoyed.

At Thanksgiving, my brother-in-law (the one who's a veterinarian in El Paso) looked at photos of Stevie and said there might be two things wrong with her eyes. One was congenital cataracts, which he said was bad news at that age. I don't remember the other thing he said. But he did say it would be important to have her looked at by a specialist or two -- get second and third opinions if it makes us more comfortable. He said that on cataracts, it's usually around $1,000 and that they normally do only one eye. Megan has said that once Stevie has 1) finished all her puppy shots, 2) gotten spayed and 3) gotten microchipped, she will at the very least take her for a professional specialist evaluation. We can go from there.

By odd coincidence, Diedre Cuellar (the TX IMPS volunteer I finally met face to face at the Cesar Millan seminar yesterday) told me her vet specialty clinic has a new ophthamologist starting on Monday... and his name is Dr. Baldwin! Well, at least we'll be able to remember his name!

It will be interesting to get to that point and see what happens...

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Sorry about Thursday (bowling night, ya know!) and Friday (Christmas party at my house - see new photo in Gallery or Profile).

Mike and I attended The Dog Whisperer seminar at the Austin Convention Center today. By happy coincidence, we were seated next to another TX IMPS volunteer and her husband, Diedre and Damian Cuellar. It was a great seminar and it was terrific to finally meet Diedre in person.

After the seminar was over, I talked Mike into dropping by Megan's place to meet Stevie. Of course, I made it sound like it was really important for HIM to meet her before she is all grown up. I didn't say out loud the part about me needing to get more photos and a puppy fix. :)

Stevie is getting VERY anxious to explore the outside world. She gets her 3rd set of shots this coming Friday, so LOOK OUT, world! It will be truly time to get her leash trained. Megan has already figured out how she wants to work with the leash (by using a small pvc tube to put the leash through and guide Stevie). It will be another adventure in puppy-dom for both of them.

Mike was completely charmed by Stevie (of course) and got down on the floor and played and played with her. At one point she found the hand strap to my digital camera and was dragging it behind her all over the room. That's why I only got a couple of photos today... She had my camera and I was laughing too hard to do anything but watch her have her fun. Megan snapped a couple of pix, so if/when she sends 'em, I'll put them in the Gallery here.

All in all, it was a great Min Pin day!
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Megan is still sick and Stevie is still, well, Stevie! :)

Megan: "She's SO wound up!"

Me: "Yeah, well, that's a dog thing..."

Megan: "Is it a puppy thing?"

Me: "No, it's a DOG thing. Particularly a Min Pin thing. Mine are still wound up, and they're 5 and 9!"

Megan: "Oh. Well, she needs to let go of my pillow. I should have at least ONE pillow that doesn't have dog slobber on it!"

Me: "Umm, good luck with that. Ya never know, it could be one of the dangerous ones..."

Megan: (sighing) "Yeah, I guess so."

Aside from the fact that Stevie is completely oblivious to Megan's illness, she is still a wonderful addition to Megan's life. I honestly think this is one of those things that was "meant to be". I'm just glad I'm some peripheral part of it all... :)

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