I get a lot of readers asking me to write about their dogs. Each is more wonderful than any other dog.

I don’t do it, because I’m a serious journalist, dogonnit. And besides, my frou-frou dog, Gary, is the best.

But then came the letter from Maria Mandel.

It read: “I have a 3-year-old dog, her name is Stacey. Her full name is Stacey Mae Mountain. She has 4,704 friends on Facebook.”

That stopped me cold.

Here I thought I was doing good after I busted my butt to beg, grovel and pay my way to 199 friends. (Hint: please friend me on Facebook at Gazette Andrea Brown.)

Maria’s letter went on to talk about the good deeds Stacey does, like visiting nursing homes, as well as silly dog things like balancing biscuits on her nose.

“She has touched the hearts of so many people around the world,” Maria wrote.

I want to be popular like Stacey Mae Mountain. So I friended the dog, hoping some of her popularity will rub off.

And I called this Maria gal who turned a dog into a Facebook sensation, hoping to learn her secret.

Maria says she spends several hours a day doing posts about her dog, a stately, brown Greater Swiss Mountain purebred who likes to let her tongue hang out (something my purse dog Gary only does in private).

Then came the real shocker: Maria does it from a dorm room, 2,000 miles away in Massachusetts.

Maria, 16, is a freshman at a college prep boarding school for students with learning differences. She has attention deficit issues. Yet she manages to stay focused for big chunks of time on her dog, who lives her dad, Richard, in the mountain town of Guffey, where the teen spends vacations.

Maria talks to her dad daily for update fodder on the dog. It’s a labor of love and helps bridge the distance between the daughter, dad and dog.

“It makes me feel closer to Stacey,” Maria says. “It feels like I am there with her. I miss my dog a lot.”

I met Maria when she came to Colorado last week on spring break. And I met the drooling, 120-pound Swiss Alp hound Stacey, who is every bit as cute as her 577 wall pictures and 42 photo albums on Facebook.

Maria joined her dad and Stacey on their weekly Cañon City nursing home visit. The dog does for residents what she does for Maria.

“People talk about their old dogs. It brings back good memories,” says Maria. “She always smiles.”

Thanks to Stacey Mae Mountain accepting my friendship request, I now have 200 Facebook friends. She now has more than 5,000.

I’d drool with envy, but the dog has me beat there, too.—See more on my blog: http://yourspace.freedomblogging.com/

Maria Mandel and Stacey Photo by Andrea Brown/The Gazette

Stacey Mae Mountain at work Photo by Photo courtesy of Maria Mandel

Stacey at play Photo by