Stevie's Here

Stevie’s Home

Stevie the Brittany’s Story of Claiming Our Family as His

Stevie came to us as a Foster dog a year before he officially became a member of the family. We tried hard to find him his own family for a year or so before we stopped resisting his Brittany choice – the choice he had made despite our intentions – the day he moved in.

Stevie quickly won the hearts of everyone he met, despite his bad teeth and weird looks. He came from Kentucky or somewhere down South and had spent much of his life living outdoors in a kennel. He had spent some time with another Foster family, and then spent a few nights in a temporary home on the way up to us in northern Wisconsin. We met his transfer mid-state to pick him up. Boy, was he smelly! His teeth were horrendous. He was also extremely overweight and had clumps shaved from his Einstein-like hair where his temporary caretakers removed some of the mattes he sported. But he was happy! The ride home was stinky, but his joy was infectious. When he was received by the Rescue, he went to the veterinarian for neutering, vaccinations, a heart-worm check and all other cares necessary. He was a Senior Brit, probably around twelve years old already – hard to know for sure – could have been more or less, but he had the spirit of a puppy until about a week or two before he passed away. He must have been 16 or 17 then. He was only with us for about 4 years.

He rode well in the car. When we got home from his transfer to our care, we took him on-leash first in the yard, then into the house and released him. The first thing he did was find a corner cabinet in the kitchen, lifted a leg and peed on it! We told him that was inappropriate, taking him quickly outside to finish his business. He never had an “accident” in the house again.

That evening when we were all settled in, our daughter, who was about three years old, brought her little Fischer Price piano into the living room, proceeding to play and sing “Stevie, you stink, but you’re a good dog!” Stevie sat there proudly in front of her, clearly enjoying the serenade with his tongue lolling from his happy smile, enjoying the new digs, and soon the couch, which he would gladly share with the other two dogs. He made himself right at home, as if he’d been here his whole life.

One of the first things we did after Stevie came into our care was to shave down the rest of his coat. We also switched him to a higher quality diet and an appropriate amount of food so he could get back to a healthy weight. We took him to the veterinarian for attention to his teeth, which were cleaned up. He was put on antibiotics to conquer the infected gums. They also took a sample of his nose tissue to analyze what was causing the disfigurement. The results read Lupus – which is different than human Lupus in it’s affect on tissues – and we were able to stop the progression with some simple medications. Lupus was never a problem. It just left him with a slightly odd looking nose as the Lupus had eaten away some of the tissue.

One early morning, my husband got up to go turkey hunting. Stevie sat beside him at the table while my husband made himself a sandwich to take for lunch. He put the stuff away after making his sandwich, and when he turned back to the table, the sandwich was gone! Stevie just sat there quietly grinning his typical goofy Brittany grin while my husband prepared himself another sandwich, carefully putting it into his lunchbox before Stevie could help himself to that one, too.

Although Stevie enjoyed his time with myself and my daughter during the day, he would jump and dance around ecstatically at the front door when my husband got home from the office. It was always fun and fascinating to watch the old , stoic dog transform into the joyous, hopping puppy-like Brittany!

He disliked cats, though. When the wily cat would get too close to Stevie on his tie-out outdoors, he would excitedly grab that cat by the tail, only letting go as the cat would twist around and sink his claws into the old guy’s muzzle! I guess it was a fun game for them both as it happened repeatedly.

My husband and I took Stevie with us one time for a long weekend at the family cabin in the early spring. My parents had come up to stay at our house to care for our daughter, other pets and horses, but we didn’t feel comfortable leaving them with Stevie. He was getting older and we feared that he might experience another seizure while in their care. He rode well on trips and was happy to go along, so he went with us for the weekend. He stayed in the truck for the day – with potty breaks – while we attended my equine riding clinic. He did very well. He was quite content, really! At the end of the day, we went back to the cabin. We made the bed up, then went out to the main area. It’s a small cabin, so we could see everything. As we sat in our chairs, getting ready to go get some dinner, Stevie was watching us with his chin resting on the edge of the bed. We weren’t going far or for long, so we decided to leave him there alone. By the time we returned, he was curled up and sleeping soundly on the bed, enjoying the comfort of our pillows! We didn’t have the heart to wake him, but he got himself up not long after, as he never could resist the smell of food.

It was shortly after this point that his health started to deteriorate more rapidly. That’s the hardest part of taking on a senior dog. You don’t have as much time together as you would with a puppy or young dog, but it is rewarding to be able to offer a wonderful home for a dog to live his life out in love and comfort.

Maybe it was his surreptitious, smiling thievery of the early morning sandwich, maybe it was the way he joyously greeted my husband every day with his excited bounce and happy Brittany dance, or how he carefully stared at us with his chin on the bed, waiting for us to leave the cabin so he could jump up and snuggle comfortably on our pillows. I think it was all these things that epitomized his quirky personality that endeared him to us, making it impossible to deny he was an embedded part of our family.

Stevie was the second senior Brittany that we took into foster care. We have also fostered several that weren’t classified as seniors. We adopted a young female previously, and then we adopted Stevie after many failed attempts to connect with potential adopters. Stevie apparently knew long before we did that he had already found his home with us. We had never planned on taking on a senior dog permanently, but I’m so glad we did! He was wonderful for having already well-developed quirks and personality. He was basically housebroken and well socialized. He just really appreciated life, and his experience and wisdom shone through. It takes a lot of years to achieve this with a puppy, and it’s a mystery whether or not you and your dog will ever reach the point of connection. With an adult dog, pretty much what you see is what you get. Stevie gave us an appreciation for the wonderful benefits of welcoming a senior dog into our home, and we look forward to offering our home again.