Today is Scooter’s eighth birthday.
This is Scooter’s expression when he is happy. Really.
He’s a funny little dog.
He is a dog of very little brain. Truly. I’ve had him since he was 10 weeks old. Before that he was in a loving home. He’s never been abused. Trained entirely with positive reinforcement. And yet…let me tell you about how he is with his leash.
Lily is a smart dog. A veritable dog genius. But, it doesn’t take a brilliant dog to recognize that a leash picked up by the person indicates that a walk is imminent. Lily hears me get the leash from the basket and she whines with enthusiasm. Scooter sees me walking towards him with his leash, and he curls up on the couch and squeezes his eyes shut. His thinking is, If I can’t see her, then she can’t see me. I continue to approach with his harness (soft cotton, custom-made for his odd body.) He shivers. He looks more pitiful than usual. I snap it on. Lily, Scooter and I walk out the door. As soon as the door closes behind us, Scooter wags his tail with surprise and happiness. A walk! Who knew?
Eight years, and he still hasn’t made the connection between the leash and the walk.
Brains aren’t everything.
Happy Birthday Scooter!
xx
Happy Birthday, Scooter! I can’t wait to see what tricks you’ve been learning to do in your classes.
LOL! Yeah, my daughter is living with a 70 lb doofus that belongs to one of her room mates. “Mom, you cannot believe how truly dumb this dog is.” But she loves him anyway. He’s kind and cuddly and even though he’s only known her for 6 months, he protects her from all threats, real or perceived. Good enough.
Happy Birthday, Scooter!
Happy Birthday Luck Dog!
I wonder what he thought was up when you put his birthday hat on him? Even smart dogs are weird, though. Our JR `Kitty` loves walks more then anything but she also loves being stuffed up as close as physically possible to the electric baseboard heater, preferably all day long. So she will do her B.R. duty as quickly as possible then literally charge to her spot by the heater. Funny thing is, it is quite mild outside here a lot of the time, but is rainy and wet. Kitty does not like rain! When we do go on her adventure walks where she can be off-leash, she wades through swampy under-brush hunting for rabbits(sorry Phoebe), and is wetter then a drowned rat by the time we get home, but a happier dog never existed.
That hat was photoshopped on :)
Clever….:) This old dog would like to know that trick.
Happy Birthday Scooter :) May many follow in good health
“Brains aren’t everything”… That would describe our dog Sox, a very smart girl, spoiled rotten and a very good dog. She acts as if she has been beaten a lot, which isn’t so as we had her from puppy on and she never needed any smacks on her behind for being bad. She just shivers n crawls as if she is caught in the act of doing something naughty, and don’t raise your voice, she hates it. She’s submissive so I guess that’s why she acts as she does.. but as said she is very smart, loving and very spoiled when it comes to being loved, she’s my baby girl and where ever I go she goes :).
Just saw you and Lily in the yard, Lily oblivious to the 14 degree chill. I daresay the birthday boy was inside under a blanket. :)
Be we still love him. Happy Birthday, Scooter.
Happy Birthday my little man.
As my mom tells my two dogs, “you do not know how lucky you are”.
A perfect short story for a blustery day! Thanks for the smile Terry!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Scooter! I love the hat…photo shopped or not. LOL!
Happy Birthday Scooter! Terry do you also celebrate ” Gotyaday” ? I do for the cat I rescued.He gets a special treat on both days.
Scooter, Scooter, love you little dude! Hope you had a great bday no matter what. Be true to you own self!!
Happy, Happy birthday Scooter dear,
May happy days come to you all year.
If I had a wish then it would be,
A happy, happy birthday to from me!
His teeth are so cute!
I see the time stamp on my last message was 10:40, but it is really 3 hours earlier here….take care Terry and thanks for the pic of Scooter!
That is a seriously cute photo! -And ha, the birthday hat had me fooled, good job! Desaturate it a teensy bit and perhaps give it an orange glow on the left edge, and it would be seamless!