HAPPY 2-YR BIRTHDAY SCOOTER!

For all of ya'll who know my little Scooter booter ... he is the sweetest, cutest, cuddliest, stuffed-animal-look-alike westie you will ever meet! I've met alot of westies and I have to say that Scooter is, hands down ... one of the cutest ... and no that's not owner narcissism! LOL! It's just the truth. Look at him!

Scooter's Story:

Now I know many of you will look at Scooter and think about how precious and cute he is ... but his life wasn't so cute .... about a year and a half ago.

Roughly 2 years ago a cute little westie was born ... the reason why I don't know his exact birth date like Ronny (his brother - by pack not blood), is because his very first owner lost all of his paperwork!

They purchased John Paul (JP) his "original" name for the woman's little girl. I'm sure at 8 weeks JP (aka Scooter) was a little 5lb bundle of joy and cuteness. But as time progressed and no one took the initiative to potty train, that little 5lb bundle of joy and cuteness became an 8lb- 10lb peeing and pooing machine. We know how often puppies pee and poo, if you've ever owned a puppy you KNOW, LOL! It can be infuriating but you can't blame them ... they don't have diapers, well they do NOW, but it's not normal for them and they have tiny bladders.

So at age 4 months Scooter was tied (this is my timeline according to the information sources I have, it can be wrong, but until someone comes up with evidence otherwise ... I'll assume this was the approximate scenario) up outside in the backyard ... this is roughly late January, early February. By the way, we ALL know how cold it is at that time of the year right? If you live anywhere in the Tri-State area you know that's the coldest time of the year! So at the coldest time of the year Scooter was tied out and left in the yard and that's where he remained for the next 4 months, until...

One of my friends, Lourdes, who also happens to be a distant relative of the former owners of Scooter went to visit them at their home in the Pokanose (is that how you spell it?) section of PA, which is a very affluent and well-to-do neighborhood. During her visit, she noticed Scooter out in the back and not only did she take note of his plight but she also noticed that he was still just a PUPPY. She managed to persuade the owners to let Scooter go. A week later my friend Monica, drove to PA to pick up Scooter.

She brought Scooter back and put up an ad on Meetup.com asking if anyone was interested in a westie puppy and put his picture up. At that time, I had just started my job as a paralegal working 13-hour days and was distraught that my poor little Ronny was home all alone and depressed. I felt he needed a brother to keep him company through the day while I was gone at work. So when I saw the ad for a FREE RESCUE westie pup I jumped at the chance!

JP, Ronny and I first met on July 4, 2007. I felt when I got Scooter at the time that he needed a new name, for a new start. Many people who were in the meetup group and who were aware of JP's situation were very much against me changing his name, but I felt that he was young enough that the name change wouldn't affect him much and anyways, he was going to my pup and I would be caring for him PERMANENTLY so it, really, at the end of the day it was going to be my decision. So I changed JP's name to Scooter. *^_^*

The name change couldn't have been more perfect! Scooter actually scoots along the floor when he's feeling particularly playful, which I didn't know he did until about a month after I re-named him. Scooter had a horrible haircut when I first got him though, because his original owners had just left him outside and his hair had become so matted that the only thing to be done was to take scissors to his fur and chop and they used clippers without guards so he had a lot of superficial burns and cuts from the scissors and clippers. It looked awful!

Well about 2 weeks after having Scooter and letting him settle in, I contacted the original owner and asked her for Scooter's papers and veterinarian information. She had neither. She had lost Scooter's papers and he had NEVER been to a veterinarian since being with them. The ONLY shot Scooter had ever had was the deworming shot that the breeder had given him. Talk about irresponsible! I immediately scheduled Scooter for a full-set of puppy shots and to-date he is completely up-to-date with all of his shots! He took the visit to the vet like a champ!

Scooter additionally used to eat as much food as you put down and more if you put more down. He would eat so much that he would throw up. Then after throwing it up he would try to eat it again! Yikes! That only signified to me that while he was tied up outside he wasn't being fed regularly so he had the mindset that he should eat as much as he could then throw it up and eat it later ... get it while you can right? Some would argue this is a problem in many dogs, but it's not Scooter's problem because over the last year and a half he no longer eats that way. He's just like Ronny now, he eats until he's no longer hungry and isn't afraid to leave uneaten food because he knows that there will always be more.

You couldn't pick Scooter up either when I first got him. He had no idea what it was to be handled and cuddled by a human being. He was so awkward when you picked him up, he didn't know how to relax and he would totally go rigor mortis and freak out, you couldn't roll him over on his back at all, he would fight TOOTH AND NAIL! Additionally, Scooter was aggressive towards certain men of a certain look, especially if they wore large coats or sweaters with hoods. He would growl and posture aggressively towards them. Many things that Scooter did in the past lead me to believe that he was not only neglected but also possibly abused. But that's in the past and we've moved on.

Scooter is now a mushball! LOL! Ask anyone! HE's the sweetest, darlingest little westie ... he makes friends with everyone (people and dogs alike - except with a few pitbulls, I have no idea what his problem is, as a pitbull could eat him for dinner easily! LOL!). He rolls over readily onto his back to have his belly rubbed and enjoys being held in most people's arms now. What a change! He loves to sit on your feet and give pedicures and snuggles up when it's cold or when it's bedtime. I'm just so blessed to have him in my life and it's his BIRTHDAY today! My arbitrarily set birthday for him ... I got him July 4th, 2007 at 8 months so i figured his birthday was November 4th-ish. What a special pup and what a special day! His birthday landed on one of the most historically important days in the world! He's getting a gigantic pork chop! He'll be in heaven ... but after a bath first! LOL!

I'm a tough mom ... what can i say! LOL!