Scoobie

Recently we spent a few weeks pet sitting two dogs, a 2 year-old lab, Jules, and a 17 year-old dog (that's about 119 in dog years!), Scoobie. In her prime, Scoobie was a loyal, adventurous family pet. But now Scoobie is blind, deaf, and needs to be carried outside like a baby every two hours or she will have an accident. We noticed that when Liz picked up Scoobie (for her routine bathroom break) while she was sleeping, she jumped out of fear. Imagine being blind so you can't see someone approaching you and being deaf so you can't hear them talking to you and all of a sudden they are picking you up...that would be frightening!

Every morning Liz was surprised to see Scoobie, this poor handicapped dog, literally jump for joy and practically bite her to get the four medications wrapped in two pieces of pepperoni. It was all about the pepperoni! Her sense of smell and her appetite overcompensated for her other senses that had all but disappeared.

Scoobie had some peculiar mannerisms including walking around in counterclockwise circles. Apparently she has had several strokes so her gait is more like that of a drunken sailor and she is rather disoriented. Prior to taking care of her, we thought she was a three-legged dog because of her strange hobble walk. We were told that "Scoobie doesn't do stairs," but quickly realized that she does do stairs, just not in a controlled manner! She had a very bad habit of walking over the stairs and falling down them, then standing up on the landing, rotating 90 degrees counterclockwise, and repeating the process for the remaining stairs. After awhile Liz almost wondered if Scoobie had a death wish! Even after barricading the steps, she would still head towards them almost as if the stairs were equipped with a doggy electromagnet.

Fortunately, Scoobie didn't die on our watch, though it could have happened. The family said that if she did die, Liz could just double bag her and stick her in the freezer! I guess they were planning to wait till the spring thaw to bury her in the yard. When Liz expressed that she wasn't really comfortable with this arrangement, the family said that she could call the neighbor to have her cremated if it came to that. Fortunately, it didn't come to that, and Scoobie is still hobbling about, living for that morning pepperoni treat. Carpe Diem Scoobie!