Last fall, Austin artist Jessica Stone , who already had one rescue dog, told her husband she wanted another one. Not only that, she wanted a rescue dog that no one else would want, an animal with special needs, perhaps.
They put out the word and immediately received a call from San Antonio Bulldog Rescue . It seems there was a 7-year-old one-eyed bulldog named Piper available. Besides the missing right eyeball, there were other problems, chief among them, severe hip dysplasia which caused a noticeable limp.
The hip issue also made it hard for Piper to properly position herself for “Number Two” procedures, meaning whoever owned her would need to perform a bit of a wiping maneuver from time to time.
Stone didn’t care.
“The guy who surrendered her wouldn't give San Antonio Bulldog Rescue any information,” she said. “He said that he was afraid of her because she can be grumpy.
“And if you don't know how to be patient and understanding with her, then she probably would be scary. She gets startled easily. You can't bug her when she's sleeping. She doesn't like to get picked up because it hurts her hips.
“But she is quite the entertaining dog,” Stone went on. “I mean, there's never a dull moment with her. She's hilarious.
“Looking at her makes you smile. She even makes you want to talk in a silly baby voice. My husband talks in a voice I've never heard him talk in throughout the 5 1/2 years I've been with him. When you look at her it just makes you silly.”
So Piper moved in and started hanging out with Stone when she painted. But the dog didn’t just hang out; she stared.
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