It is not often I go to an interview where the interviewee’s mum just vacuumed him to tidy up his appearance before he posed for the camera.
Nor would I usually take an interviewee a gift – a bag of shelled peanuts – but that’s the price you pay when you have the chance to interview Busselton’s international heartthrob Stewie Sheep.
Stewie is an 18 month old dorper damara cross, he has is own Facebook page, a sister Fyfe, brother Malibu and grows up in a regular Busselton backyard.
Stewie’s mum Susie Riley said he was just like a toddler and a naughty puppy.
He loves to go on walks to the park, hang his head out the window when he goes on drives down the highway and most of all eat.
Ms Riley said when Stewie’s at the park he jumps, hops and skips, which she called his “Pepe Le Pew run,” because he ran on all four feet at the same time.
“He thunders across the park,” she said.
His older brother Malibu taught Stewie how to get in the car and sit in the middle of the backseat to watch out the windscreen.
“You see all these people drive past then slow down when they see Stewie, the passenger will have their phone up by the window,” Ms Riley said.
“When I took him up to Perth for Christmas, people were amazed especially when we got into the busy traffic and Stewie had his head out the window.
“He certainly is a head turner.”
Since Stewie had his own Facebook page, Ms Riley said she had become obsolete, and now meets people who she did not know but they knew Stewie.
“When people see Stewie they say, ‘we are friends on Facebook and it is like I just imagine him saying all those things,’” she said.
“The people on his page are like a big extended family, he has a girlfriend in the UK called Gladys, a best mate called Norman who lives over East, there is Freddy, Billy and a goat called Zues who lives in America.”
Ms Riley said since she had Stewie she spent most of her time outside with him, pretty much living in her carport.
“It is called the pet cave,” she said.
“It has recliners, it has the dogs’ beds, it has his bed and Foxtel and we hang out in there.”
Just like any other dog, Stewie has learnt how to open the screen door by flicking his head across the lock then sneaks inside to pinch food off the bench.
“He loves toilet paper, if I do not close the bathroom door he will go straight to the toilet and hoover off – he eats it – and it is just like spaghetti because it just keeps rolling off.
“Sometimes he will wash it down with a mouth full of toilet water.”
Recently, Ms Riley had visitors staying for a weekend and brought home a big pack of toilet paper, when she arrived home with the shopping Stewie’s eyes lit up.
“Then he saw the fresh bread, with one swipe of his mouth the whole bottom of the bag was gone and the loaf fell out, Stewie just devoured it,” she said.
“I tried to get him out of the way and save a bit of the bread. That night he snuck inside and was up on the bench again, four more bits gone.”
If you would like to keep up with Stewie’s adventures be sure to check out his Facebook page Stewie Sheep.
