Scooby

Future service dog number three came into our home in February 2014.  A black male aussie doodle about four months old. The extra month in age was super helpful in the house training department when thinking back to Sophie who was only three months when we got her. This little guy came with the name Dexter, but the future owners wanted to name him Scooby, so we changed what we called him and I had the theme song from the cartoon Scooby Doo in my head for the next two months.

Scooby bonded strongly with Pablo and always wanted to play with him, follow him around, be with him.  Pablo has been great with these pups – correcting, teaching boundaries, and playing with them.  Pablo got to show his incredible tolerance with Scooby, whether is was being pulled around the backyard or smothered in the passenger seat in a vehicle.

We had a real winter here in Kentucky and Scooby enjoyed each snow fall and chance to get out in the snow. He would run in the snow and eat mouths full and just be a puppy.

Scooby also seemed to sleep in awkward and crazy positions. Since it was basically the only time he was still enough to get a decent picture due to his dark color fur, I have plenty of photos of him in his crazy sleeping positions. With all this crazy sleeping, he was not a snuggler.  Relax was one of the hardest things for Scooby.

One day while I was working at my computer at the kitchen table, Scooby pulled a chair cushion off a chair and curled up on it. He continued to do this through the duration he was with us. I thought it was cute and smart and never stopped him.

Scooby was a bit more challenging than Sophie. He would test me more, check out everything in the house, was more about finding limits than pleasing me, but all in all was a joy and highly entertaining to have in the house.  He fought sleep in the evening and we found he would get crazy and loud and just be a handful – he just needed put in his crate and would fall asleep immediately – like a toddler.

He was a shoe mover, but thankfully, not a shoe chewer. He would often move a shoe and then sleep on it.  He also knew the box of toys that was all his and he would take toy after toy after toy out of the box to play with.

He was a boy – always wanting to wrestle Pablo, check things out, and ran around the house using the furniture as a launching pad to jump onto Pablo. He even would run around and jump over Pablo on some occasions. It is always fun when pups get to the teeth loosing stage.  Combine that with all the wrestling, I have found teeth all over the house.  With all the play, Scooby wore Pablo out and I think Pablo slept for a week straight after Scooby went to his new home.

We did go through a bought of worms with Scooby. Never fun with the random throwing up.

Scooby, just like Sophie, loved to search out his food. I would hide his kibble around the house or throw it on the garage floor or out in the yard and he would spend so much time smelling out all those kibble.  Great way to occupy him!

As Scooby grew, his fur around his face and on his legs turned gray. He went from a 99% black puppy to a black and gray dog by the time he left us in May 2014.

Scooby’s home originally picked out for him changed and he ended up going to an Iraqi veteran to be his service dog and to volunteer at the VA.  With Scooby’s draw toward males, he preferred Peter, and his fun spirit, he will do well at his job. I am always amazed with these dogs and the jobs they fill.