Smitty

By Patty Soza

A short story about my life changing adventures with Smitty, my first Scottish Terrier.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781387793143

Book preview

Smitty

Smitty

2018

Scottish Terrier Puppy

When Smitty came into my life at the end of the twentieth century, I chose a Scottish Terrier because an online questionnaire had indicated that a Scottie was best suited for me.  My family thought it was rather comical that I’d named him after my grandpa, but I liked the nickname.  My friend gave me the best advice I could ever have gotten about dogs, especially Scotties.  She said to be prepared to walk my dog daily, and fortunately, I planned on it.  Scotties may be small dogs, but they have a fair amount of energy to expend.

I never even considered being discriminating about which pup to choose once I spotted him, I just hoped and prayed they’d let me take him home!  He was already a character, with so much personality in his face, a bright, alert little puppy, tinier than a Chihuahua, with purpose and determination in every step, seemingly in charge of everything, rushing from room to room with dogs much bigger than he was.  The breeder had both Irish Wolfhounds and Scotties, and there were hordes of them in the house, and another crowd of them in view from the balcony window.   We went to meet his mother and father in the yard below before I left with him.  His father was so distinguished looking with his white mustache and chest!  I later learned that Smitty came from a line of Scotties with a white ring on their tail, the Bardene ring.  As soon as I got in the car with him, his paws were on my chest and he was gazing up at me in his trusting way, with misty, blue puppy eyes, and I found myself thoroughly smitten!

The first time I had Smitty groomed, he’d grown to have big brown eyes and I finally got a glimpse of his beautiful coloring.  There was a college of dog grooming not far from where we lived, so he got the best of cuts at an extremely reasonable price, since the college was very exacting.  His undercoat was a striped, dark brindle color, just beautiful!  The school had online cams to watch the process, and at the end of his grooming I was surprised to find him loose on the grooming floor with dogs of all sizes, getting along fine!

Strong Connection 

Smitty loved everyone and expected everyone to love him back, and with his good-natured friendliness, he was always a favorite with everyone we met!  He was the perfect pet, loyal and fun loving, and he went everywhere with me.   Before he was potty-trained, I found myself sleeping in his dog pen with him, not wanting him to be alone at night, so we had a profound bond from the very beginning. 

His pen adjoined a dog door to the upstairs patio, and I found him one day running wild eyed and wet in and out the dog door, into the drip pan below the air conditioner, and back inside, scattering newspapers everywhere in his pen before heading