I remembered I had saved this...I want so much of something of Scooter to be here...it was him who led me here and because of him, and Bailey, that I remain. It's a lesson I look at, or try to, as a gift...because without them, I would never have found all of you...


It was June 2002. I just got divorced and thoughts ran through my head of all the things I wanted but could never have had in my “previous” life. Maybe another dog, someone to keep Bailey company so his days weren’t so long and lonely with me working full-time now. Yes, another dog….another wonderful, loving basset. Someone to cuddle and to cuddle with Bailey….a new soul to love and nurture. Surely, all bassets are loving, kind souls. Every single one of them I met, well, they loved freely.

A rescue I thought….a wonderful, soft, warm basset who needs a loving home. So, the call was placed to the rescue. No, not that basset you want said the man…you want this other one. He’ll get along in your house so much better. So a meeting was arranged in a local parking lot with his current owner. Scooter was his name. Scooter? They are already built like skateboards, why would someone name him Scooter, poor thing.

We met…he didn’t come to me. He barely looked at me. Too much energy for my elderly father who lives with me and I work long hours was what I was told as the reason Scooter could no longer stay. Loving dog. Very well-behaved just “high energy”. He came from yet another home bc he didn’t get along with his “real” brother too well.

Well, maybe, just maybe I could win Scooter over, I thought. After all, I never met a dog I didn’t get along with…hhmmmm. So we made arrangements for Scooter to come home with me the following week. This dog not only cried in the car, he SCREAMED! All the way home, he screamed and carried on and screamed some more. OMG….I can’t comfort him. It will be better once I get him home.

Yeah, and the moon is square-shaped. Scooter walked hesitatingly through my front door, sniffed Bailey, let out a low growl, and then walked through the house sniffing every corner like he owned it. No he didn’t want to come near me. No, he didn’t want a cookie. No, he didn’t want his toy either. Attack…attack on Bailey! Bloodshed…bedlam…complete loss of any control!!!!

Hello, Scooter. Do you know you are a soft, loving, wonderful basset hound? Do you know you love all people and all dogs? Um, no, apparently not.

And so it went….for months….with a phone call to take this Scooter dog back! He’s biting Bailey, he’s biting me! He thinks he owns the freaking house and all that is in it! Got the old vet papers….Scooter was given up the first time bc he attacked his brother! FOUL! I called the rescue. Give it time I was told. This is normal until the pack order is established. Sure….my you-know-what!

And so life with Scooter went on….eventually not being quite such a bad boy. But the ruler of the house he was. He never did like sharing his food….nor his bed….and on the occasion he wanted to cuddle with his brother, Bailey, poor Bailey was so petrified he’d sneak away.
One night Scooter bit me….right in the face. I thought I was mad. But little did he know laying in wait was Bailey, much bigger and less tolerant when it came to biting the mommy. Bailey lunged at him…got him on his ear. More bloodshed. Scooter never bit me again. Although poor Bailey never did get the same break.

So, we learned to live in harmony…with gates at mealtimes and letting Scooter get his way SOME of the time.

There were playtimes with Bailey, snuggles with mommy, running the fence with his doggie friend in the back. He loved his ball like an obsessive demon. Running and chasing it, barking at it all the while. He’d hide it and make you come and get it….and he wouldn’t stop barking until you did. OK, hide the ball until playtime and earplugs were firmly in place. He caught the squirrel…and I hit him (GENTLY) with the shovel while I screamed my head off. He’d alert me when Bailey escaped the yard until one day, he decided he’d go too. But his house and his yard were the only places he wanted to be! Try a three hour car ride to vacation with a screaming dog!

Years came and went…good times and bad times. Always the Bad Boy (given that title by my neighbors). Sweet eyes hid bad boy ways. And I will never forget his ability to growl like he was underwater…I admit I’d coax him into it sometimes just bc it was so darn funny.

Then, Cushing’s….everything changed. In what seemed a single moment, our lives were never the same. Pills, tests, more pills, other tests, baths, other pills, more tests, and yet more pills. At the same time, Scooter knew he was being loved. He changed. He was more seeking of cuddle times. He was more tolerant of Bailey sometimes, not often, but sometimes getting his way first.

Nights were spent cuddled on the couch (hello, Scooter, do you know how pointy your stubby leg elbows are???)….sick times, both human and canine, were spent snuggled together under a warm blanket. Every bedtime, we’d have a drink of water together, take care of business, and I’d hoist him on the bed. He’d lay down across the extra pillows…or snuggle nose-to-nose. I’d wake up at night to turn over and always touch him with my hand to make sure he was snuggled beside me. When I couldn’t sleep, I’d breathe in rhythm with him taking in his peacefulness. I’d hold his warm, soft foot.


And now, he is gone….as fast as he came into my life and with as much fury…he left it.

Scoobie, you always had my heart. You will always be part of my very soul. I loved you, and will always love you, with every breath I take…and when I reach out to you in the darkness of the night, I hope to feel you still at my side.

Now, run, Scoobie and get your ball…and I’ll be seeing you when it’s time. Snuggle up with Grandpa and give kisses to Grandma and make your Uncle Dave find your ballie…

I love you my precious….I always did…I always forever will.
Mommy