Gotcha Scruffy!!

Relaxing on the bear rug and occasionally humping dancing with it.

Today is Scruffy's Gotcha Day!  It may not seem like a big deal to some people but to the dogs it sure is a great day.  One year ago today we sprung Scruffy from dog jail aka, the shelter.  It was ok as far as dog pounds go but who wants to live in a noisy concrete pen? 

Last year at this time Mr. Fox was getting antsy in his cone of shame with his missing eye and wanted a furiend to play with him.  Someone who's face he could bite or whose collar he could rip off.  I began scouring the shelter websites for a dog that looked like Ginger Pie so Fox would be happy.  I didn't know if it was the right thing really, especially for us humans.  We were traumatized still from the bad thing that had happened only a few weeks prior.  Sooo... I found this little Scruffy on the shelter website.

I called the shelter and asked if she was available and the lady on the phone promptly told me that this dog had been labeled 'aggressive' and I had better not make up my mind until I met her.  Off I went after work and on the freeway to the shelter.  I talked to the guy on duty and he said she had just been returned the day before by some jackasses people who took her home for one day and during that one day she growled at their toddler and their cat.  Poor thing.  That damn baby and cat probably scared her.  She's a little dog so she has to protect herself with her growl.  When the guy took her out of the cage she was friendly and we even went over to the window where all the cats were and she didn't growl at them.  She was comin' home with me!

When we got her home she was a little growly but not so bad and now, a year later, she doesn't growl a lot anymore.  She was scared when she first came home and didn't know what to do.  She got the dreaded bath and trembled terribly.  Now she still trembles but not that much after her baths and only if something really scares her like a screaming, playing 8 year old boy who needs yelling at.  She has just, within the past month, begun to relax.  By that I mean, she lays in my lap longer and her little ten pound body has lost so much tension.  I can feel it.  She even sighs...

Doing her best 'Dog Baby' impression of Mr. Fox in my lap.  

 She has her name because Ginger was a scruffy dog and husband wanted to call her Scruffy but I said no because one my favorite dogs we had as a kid was named Ginger (pre-scottie days).  When I walked in the house, one of the first things Husband said to me was, "This dog's name is Scruffy because you got that $2500 dog."  He was talking about Mr. Fox, whose eye cost that much.  So my little cupcake is named Scruffy.  Tyger at some point came up with the nickname Scruffy Doodles and that has morphed into Scruffy Doodolls and Doodle Dog.  We just love her little Scruffiness!!

Relaxing with her bestie.