Scottish
Terrier
Bonnie Boerema
©
Copyright 2017 by Bonnie Boerema
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Temperament:
Playful,Self-Assured, Alert, Fiesty, Quick, Independent.
In
the nineties, I was the proud owner of two Scottish Terriers. We got
them as tiny puppies when they were six weeks old. The first puppy
thatcaught my eye was an adorable little female. We named her Joy. We
found her at an expert Scottie breeder who knew her stuff, and loved
dogs. This was in the spring of 1993. She lived on a farm close to
Strafford, Missouri.
Joy
was a delight as a puppy, very fiesty, with her own unique
personality. She seemed slightly lonesome in our fenced yard. Six
months later, we added her brother, and named him Junior. They had
the same momma.
From
then on, they were inseparable. They’d walk along the fence
side by side, bark and play together. One time, on my day off from
work, I I heard a lot of barking. I looked out my kitchen window. A
Blue Jay was hovering over her wounded baby, squawking her head off.
Joy
and Junior were really worked up, barking excitedly. I thought fiesty
Joy would be the one to finish the baby bird off. But laid back
Junior was the one who popped it.
One
time I heard a big squabble going on between them, and they were
having a loud dog fight. Joy had buried a piece of cornbread in the
backyard, and Junior dug it up. I grabbed the hose, and hosed them
down, calming their tempers down.
At
our Christmas parties with my son, daughter, spouses and
grandchildren. Joy was such a social dog, she’d be right in
the middle of Christmas pictures. Scotties love children and other
people.
One
time we were having a steak and mashed potato dinner. Junior was
working up an appetite. The smell of the steak was too tempting. He
climbed into an empty chair, and proceeded to grab it.
We
lost Junior first, in 2002, right after Christmas. He got sick
suddenly. Before we had a chance to to get him to the vet. Him, being
a laid-back little guy was laying around a lot. When I left him to go
to work, he was in his dog bed. When I came home that afternoon, and
came into the kitchen, Junior was on the floor dead. I
called
Joy in from the back yard to see her reaction. She just sniffed him,
and ran into the living room.
We
grieved losing our little Junior for quite a while, and wished we’d
done more for him. He was nine years old.
Joy
lived four more years. She started having seizures. The vet gave us
medication to control the seizures. Then Joy got cancer. We loved her
so much we weren’t ready to give her up. Finally, we realized
it was time to have her put to sleep, although it broke our hearts.
Joy
had a good, healthy appetite right up to the end. Before we made that
last tripto the vet, I fixed her a bowl of ice cream. She ate every
bite of it.
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