Things went on pretty much the same until one day in 1992. I remember mommy had company and they went away for a few days. They left me home alone. A really nice lady named Anita would come in twice a day to make sure I had food and water and then she'd take me for a walk. I remembered her. She had been one of the teachers of the obedience classes. Bill came in at night and he'd take me and his dog, Wrinkles, for a walk. After a couple of days they came home. Of course they brought me a gift. It was a stuffed toy that mommy said was a seagull. She said its name was Scuttle and that it was from a Disney movie named "The Little Mermaid". Mommy and her friend laughed as I shook Scuttle and threw him in the air. Scuttle become my favorite toy. Mommy still has Scuttle stting in a place of honor next to her bed. The next day mommy's friend left. Then the strangest thing happened - mommy left. I didn't see her again for 6 weeks. It seemed like forever. Anita and Bill came regularly but I spent most of my time laying in front of the door to the garage waiting for Mommy to come home. That was where mommy always came in and I knew she'd come back that way. I was right. Mommy did come back but for a while things were different. We didn't go out and mommy was very quiet. I heard mommy tell her friend that she had been sick and was in a rehabilitation hospital all that time. After a few weeks life returned to normal and we were back to taking our long scooter walks every day but I noticed that mommy didn't use her walker much in the house any more. Now she was getting around in a shiny red wheel chair. That was OK with me because there was just enough room under it for me to hide whenever anybody I didn't know came in the house. Again my life returned to normal until the summer of 1995 when Bev came to live with us. She was a fun lady who would buy me new toys and treats. Around Christmas mommy left again but this time Bev was with me so that wasn't so bad. She'd play with me and even used mommy's scooter when we went out for walks. It wasn't the same as having mommy around but at least I wasn't all alone. This time when mommy came home things were really different. She had a different wheel chair. This one wasn't as much fun as the shiny red one. This one had a motor and things called batteries that filled the space where I liked to hide. Mommy spent a lot of time in a funny bed that was in the living room. Since mommy couldn't come down to see me, I would get up on the bed with her. The funniest thing about mommy was that she no longer used her right hand to pet me. I tried to get it to move but it never would. It really didn't matter to me because mommy could still pet me and slip me treats with her other hand. I was always a very polite dog. When I was up on mommy's bed while she was eating, I would never take anything from her plate. I didn't have to because mommy would always feed me with her fork. Humans are so silly trying to eat with a fork. I always found it much easier to just grab the food with my mouth. But this was mommy's food and she made the rules. A strange thing happened to me. During the summer, I started walking funny and my mommy panicked. It was on a Sunday and that nice vet, Dr Stevens, wasn't there. Bev and another friend of mommy's took me to the animal emergency clinic. A nice lady vet there examined me and took an x-ray. She then said I had bladder stones. The next day I went to see Dr Stevens and he operated to remove the stones. For awhile I didn't feel like jumping and running. I couldn't have even if I wanted to. Mommy made me stay in my crate except when Bev took me outside on a leash. After 2 weeks things returned to normal except now I had a special food that was supposed to keep the stones from growing again. It must have worked because I never had any trouble with them again.