Little Alvin's Big Life: Putting it out There

As many of you know I have a second foster dog, Stevie. She is about 10-years-old and she is completely blind and nearly deaf. I wrote on this blog about when I took Alvin for his eye surgery I took Stevie along because of her cataracts and for her to have the eye doctor exam her eyes just to make sure they were doing okay. I was so surprised when the eye doctor said that she was a candidate for cataract surgery and that he could make her see again. It was such great news because with her being both blind and nearly deaf she is limited and it makes it very hard for her to get adopted. It isn't just a matter of me choosing to keep her because for every day she stays I can't foster another dog. How fostering works is that when someone fosters a dog for a rescue the rescue can then go save another dog. The rescue I foster for, Camp Cocker rescues cocker spaniels out of about 30 high kill shelters throughout southern California where about 30 cocker spaniels are being turned in every day. As you can imagine a great deal of them don't ever make it out alive. I love Stevie but I want her to find her forever home so that I can help Camp Cocker save another dog, and a dog after that and after that and so on. Before Stevie came to my foster home she was in another foster home and she couldn't stay there because when the foster mom left for work she would go outside and wait for her and if it was raining she would stand out in the rain until her foster mom came home. Initially Stevie did not do that in my home but just as the weather turned cold and wet she started to go outside and wait for me when I left and I have come home to her wet, yet still waiting outside for me. I think that if Stevie could see she wouldn't get so insecure and wait outside. Although she can barely hear, she can hear my dog Timmie's high pitched, shrill bark (it's ear shatteringly loud) and she gets very afraid. Unfortunately he is a bit of a barker and so when he starts in Stevie starts frantically trying to find me and once she does she literally crawls into my lap and often put her front paws on my shoulders and wants me to hold her. I hold her tight until I can get him to stop. I think she gets so frightened because she was in a over crowded shelter for two months and couldn't see what was going on. It's a miracle she was not euthanized because it's unheard of for a dog to live in that shelter for two months, particularly a blind older dog but the shelter staff just couldn't bear to put her to sleep. I don't think she would be so afraid if she could look around when Timmie starts barking. She is just a love and goes with me to my grandma's nursing home and I pull up a chair to face the patients in their wheelchairs and I go knee to knee with them and then place Stevie in our laps and she just lays there and lets the patients pet her. She is also going to start going to our local library to sit with children while they read as a part of a literacy program. I so want her to see again. She has a scar that goes around her entire neck that is a scar from a chain or a collar that embedded in her skin and so chances are she was tied up somewhere outside for a good part of her life. She was found skinny, dirty, and blind wondering the streets of LA. I don't know how she can still be so trusting and kind but she really is. What a difference it would be if she could see again.

The eye doctor is giving a generous discount but the surgery still costs $2,100 and so far I have been able to raise $1,270 of it. I have not posted a request on this blog because it's Alvin's blog and I don't want it to be a blog where people come and feel burdened to give money. The problem is that I kind of thought I could have raised the money by now but the donations have stopped. I have gone to my family and friends who have all been generous but I am now tapped out. I want to make it clear that those of you out there are certainly under no obligation to donate and I want people to be able to come here and read for fun but to be fair to Stevie I have decided to put the option on here.

I have created what is called a chipin, which allows people to donate through paypal and after the money is raised, each person will receive a tax receipt because the donation is tax deductible. Honestly, there truly is no donation amount that is too small. Things like this happen when people give $3, $5, $10 and it all adds up. A lovely woman has donated a beautiful drawing of a cocker spaniel that was created by a local artist and for anybody donating $20 or more will be entered into our little drawing for a chance to win it but if there are people out there that can spare even $3, every donation is appreciated more than I can articulate here.

So, here's the chipin and for those of you who can't give or would rather donate money somewhere else, please keep reading all about Alvin's adventures because there are bound to be many more. Thank you! http://helpsteviesee.chipin.com/stevies-cataract-surgery

Stevie and I at an adoption event. I end up holding her throughout the entire events because dogs tend to bark and she is only okay if she is being held.