My sister, Molly, is very wary of strangers.  Whenever people come over to our house and they ask to see us Scotties, three of us come running at full speed from upstairs to greet them, but Molly is much more cautious.  First, she sits at the top of the stairs and peeks around the corner to get a look at our visitors.  Then, she slowly makes her way down the steps, stopping on each one to reevaluate her decision to get a little closer to the visitors.

Sometimes it takes a few minutes for Molly to make it all the way down the stairs to the living room and sometimes it takes a half hour, but once she has finally joined our company, she will usually sit on the arm of the love seat, as far from our visitors as possible, where she can check them out without getting too close.

Molly will slowly edge closer to our visitors, but if they pay too much attention to her or make a sudden move, she will fly back up the steps and the whole process will slowly begin again.  Molly likes people, but one time when she was a puppy, a man suddenly scared her as a prank and she has been wary of strangers ever since.  Molly is curious though and she will meet new people, but only on her own terms.  It seems that she will never forget that unfortunate prank and for her, once being scared was enough!

Sadie had a little excitement on her weekly visit to the nursing home.  She and Wen were sitting on the bed in Wen’s friend’s room when all of a sudden, something out the window caught Sadie’s eye and she sprang to her feet and spun around to get a better look.

A man was right outside the window, spraying for bugs and Sadie didn’t like his presence there at all!  She stared at the man intently and barked her most high shrill bark.  Wen tried to quiet her, but Sadie insisted on barking until she couldn’t see him anymore.  Fortunately, the man had moved out of sight pretty quickly, so evidently, Sadie’s barking didn’t bother anyone and if someone would have showed up to see what all the racket was, by that time, Sadie was lying on the bed, wagging her tail.  After all, she was just doing her job, protecting Wen and her friend from intruders and the little black dog, as the residents call her, was satisfied that that she had done her job well!

It’s dinner time and we Scotties are here waiting to be served!  Here we are:  party of four!!  We’ll take the first available!

They say that Scotties are big dogs in small bodies.  Yes, we have big personalities and we may be short, compared to a lot of breeds, but we are definitely mighty.  People describe us as feisty, energetic, independent, dignified, and stubborn, yet we can sometimes be serious, sensitive, and even moody.  We have powerful barks for little guys and let’s face it–we don’t know that we aren’t big dogs.  We stand tall and proud!

Anyone who lives with Scotties knows that our personalities are larger than life.  I guess that’s why they say we have Scottitude!  If ever there was a perfect word to describe the attitude of a Scottie, that’s it!  Yep, just ask us to do something that we feel is beneath our dignity and you’ll see some real Scottitude!!

They say that dogs have the intelligence of very young children.  Research has shown that our instinctive behavior, what we learn from the environment to solve problems, and our working and obedience abilities put our mental capabilities close to a 2 to 2.5 year old child.

It’s pretty obvious that we can understand words and evidently, the average dog can learn 165 words, while super intelligent dogs can learn over 200 words, according to studies.  Yes, understanding words we have down.  Now if we could only verbalize them like humans, rather than just understanding them.  If would be really nice to say, “Sadie did it!” when we Scotties are getting in trouble!

They have also found that dogs are capable of deliberately trying to deceive other dogs and people in order to get rewards.  Anything for a treat, you know!

Numerous studies have found that dogs can solve complex problems and are more like humans than they originally thought.  It’s nice to know that people are recognizing dog intelligence.  Now, doesn’t that make you wonder what we are thinking as we listen to you speak and watch your actions?!

A bag or box of dog treats is guaranteed to have all four of us Scotties come running and sit or stand at attention.  If there is the potential of us getting a treat, we will be there, eagerly awaiting a tasty morsel.

Our Milkbones are kept in a big jar on our kitchen counter and if Wen heads in that direction, we will line up in anticipation.  Just rattle that jar and all four of us will be right there and ditto if Wen gets a new box of treats out of the pantry to refill the jar.  We know what’s in that box!

Sonetimes, there will be a bag of special semi-moist treats sitting on the counter next to the Milkbones jar and if Wen opens one of those bags, we scramble to line up for some of those yummy goodies.  As a matter of fact, there isn’t a bag or a box of treats that we haven’t found enticing, because we are big time treat hounds.  Bring ’em on!

We Scotties like to lie in the spots on the floor where the sun comes in through the windows.  Especially in the morning, we have some good spots where we can sun ourselves and soak up the warmth.  These spots make for some quality snoozing and as soon as we see an unoccupied spot, we are there!

Sometimes, there might only be one spot and we have to share, but that’s okay, because we all get along fine.  There’s nothing like an early morning nap in the sun and if it involves some snuggling, bring it on!

We Scotties like to snooze on the couch.  As a matter of fact, it’s one of our favorite things to do.  Sometimes Wen likes to try to sneak up on us and take our picture when we are all comfy and snoozing on the couch, but we are not that easy to sneak up on.  Most of the time when she gets close, our eyes will pop open and she’ll see that we’re not really sound asleep at all.  When our eyes are closed, our senses may still be paying attention, so if you’re considering being a sneaky sneak and sneaking up on us, the joke may be on you!

It’s fake spring!  We seem to be in a pattern of warm weather, snow, warm weather, snow and it will probably go on for weeks.  Just when the flowers and trees start to bloom–surprise, winter wonderland reappears.

My sister Sunny, the 13 year old queen of the clan, likes to spend time on the deck catching rays and sniffing around the grass in our backyard, which is just starting to turn green, but she is going to get a shock tonight when our gorgeous sunshine turns to snow again.

Fake spring–you gotta love it–or maybe not!

 

I’m an easy-going Scottie guy.  I don’t jump all over Wen and demand attention like some of my sisters do.  Don’t get me wrong, I love attention just as much as everyone else, but I am much more subtle about it.  I sit close by and give Wen the eyes.  Yes, I stare at her until she looks at me and while I stare, I’m thinking, “Psssst, down here!  Notice me!”

Guess what?!  My laid-back tactic seems to work just fine and ultimately, it doesn’t really matter, because I’m pretty sure that I’m her favorite anyway!