From Stevee Rae's forever family...

Stevee Rae is doing well and starting to learn all the basics of being a normal dog.  Okay as normal as possible with being blind.  She takes a lot of her cues from Sophee Bear -06-488.  If Stevee goes out Sophee will go out with her to keep her safe.

Everything is taking much longer to teach Stevee Rae, but we are getting there.  She still bounces everywhere, she rarely will just walk.  She also thinks jumping up is an okay thing.  We happen to disagree, but that is a tough one and we will continue to work on her skills.

When she is out in public, she is still very scared of her surroundings, but we figure if we continue to bring her to events with fosters and just out in the public she will get better.

Thanks for checking on Stevee!

Hello from Stevee Rae and Foster Parents.

Stevee Rae was an awesome car rider, she played for the first 3 hours in the back seat of the car and then napped the last 6 hours. She met Aunty Karen and Uncle Mike and their 4 dogs – she was a little scared but she did okay. She had no accidents either – good girl!

She played and by 9 pm, she was out and wanted to go to bed. So we put her in her crate and she slept until 6 the next morning. She got to stay with Aunty Karen and her group while we moved Ricky into the dorm. We got back at 12 and off we went on our 9 hour drive back. The first 6 hours she slept hard, but after that watch out – we just barely made it into MN and she was ready to play. So we played a little ball in the back of the SUV, chewed bones and ate dinner. When we got home around 9 at night she played with Sophee and Mistee until 11. I could not have asked for a better car rider, what a good girl she was.

Okay now to our Eye appointment today.

Stevee was born with Micropthalmia OU – This is a birth defect with the development of the eye. She has Severe Micropthalmia – her eye is 7mm, when it should be 24mm. She may be able to see a little dark and light but not much.

Depending on her growth pattern Stevee Rae may have a couple of complications down the line, but they are minor. It is possible that she will have to have surgery for Entropion, this is where the eye lids roll in and irritate her eyes. If this happens they correct it by removing some skin from the eyelid. Again this is just a small complication that may or may not happen. The other complication is conjunctivitis (pink eye to you and me). She may have periods where there is marked drainage from her eyes or she is rubbing them more than normal. She will need to be put on an antibiotic ointment to clear this up.

Mr. O. did say it is going to be very important that Stevee Rae have another dog that she can count on and that they have a physical fence to keep her safe. It will also be imperative that she goes to obedience class to keep her safe from harm. She will also need a special teacher to help her learn words like Step, Stop, Sit, Left, Right, Door, Wall and several others to help her keep safe.

Thanks for looking at Stevee – we know it is going to take someone very special to love and care for her.

Foster mom and dad

Stevee has had a couple of rough days and we keep hoping she will snap out of it. She will only sleep where she and Coal would sleep, she has taken over the vent. I keep taking Stevee off because the air is on and I think it is too cold for her without Coal there.

Stevee now wanders around looking for Coal but cannot find her. She has noticed Mistee once in a while but it is just not the same. She will look for Sophee when she wants to play, but it is not as often as it used to be. So we decided Stevee will have a little play night tonight. We are going to bring her out to the cul-de-sac and play come and get us. This is where we stand really far apart and call her and give her lots of treats when she finds us. She is actually really good at it and usually loves to play it.

Stevee and the foster family wanted to thank everyone for all the kind words – even Stevee’s sponsors sent their well wishes. We so much appreciate that! It has been a tough few days for all of us, but now we need to work on finding a perfect home for Stevee so we can help even more dogs. Coal was and always will be the most incredible dog anyone could own. However, Stevee is a close second with those really cool eyes!

If you are interested in Stevee, just let us know.

Stevee continues to do well. This week we noticed in her left eye she actually has an iris that you can see every once in a while. So we are hoping this is a good thing. Honestly I don’t know what it means, but we will know on the 2nd of September when we go to the eye doctor. We are so excited about that visit. It would be really cool if she could get sight in the one eye. But we cannot get our hopes too high.

Other than that, Stevee is doing well on her potty training. The days she does horribly is when her hay gets wet. She hates wet hay and will insist on peeing in the house. So we will continue to work on that. She follows our voices and our sounds. You no longer have to talk to get her to follow you, you just say "Stevee, come" and she will follow the sounds of your feet. Well, at least she will Rick's feet.

Stevee went to the vet last week to get another set of puppy shots and micro-chipped. She weighed in at 10 pounds! She is still looking for that special family.

Foster mom and dad

Wow does time fly by. Stevee is now 7 weeks old and loving life. She sleeps a lot still and gets up once or twice a night to go potty and than goes right back to sleep – what a good girl.

She has started playing with toys. We try to have lots of stuff that makes noises so she can follow balls around and chase after them. Of course Sophee thinks she should get them first. When Stevee starts playing with Sophee she tries to stand on her hind legs and jump at her. It is so darn cute. We are still working on the word Wall, Door, Step up, Step down and STOP. Every day we make progress.

When she is in her kennel and she has to potty she lets you know she wants out NOW to go. I think that is a great sign. She always goes in the same spot and we always go out the same way. Once she hits her hay, she knows it is potty time. She is so good about that.

Stevee is going to go with Auntee Cindy and Lindsey to Dog Days at Alimagnet Park on July 26th for a little visit and then Cindee our daughter will come and pick her up. We are going to the car show this weekend, so we have lots of people babysitting our little Stevee.

Stevee is still looking for her perfect family and she would love to meet her admirers. So if you are looking for a lovely little girl who has the most beautiful eyes, let placement know.

Foster mom and dad