That's my Scooter

Scooter is one of the frontyard dogs. She is the smallest but has the loudest voice. And she makes use of it - all the time. When you look at her it is easy to see that she is a Boston Terrier - black Lab mix. Scooter was born without a tail. Her little butt is round, no stump or anything. Where normally a tail would be are three little white hairs, that's it. And because she can not wag a tail in greeting, Scooter smiles. Out of all the dogs that have come through here, Scooter is the only one ever to have done that. If you don't know her and if you have never seen this before, you might mistake it for baring her teeth in an attempt to warn you off. But the rest of her body soon gives it away. She sort of wiggles and just looks happy. There is that smile. It cracks me up every time she does it and I wished I could get it on camera, but she isn't a good model. And, of course, she will not smile on command.
Scooter is an instigator. If there is trouble in the frontyard, I'll bet you 50$ she started it. She is always egging the other two on and getting them to fight. Then she sneaks back to where it all started and steals that toy or whatever it was she wanted. Very much like kids!
Her voice is a kind of sharp, medium high, go through your ears into your bones voice. When this on barks, everybody takes note. Any movement outside the fence, unusual noises, pedestrians - you name it and she will bark at it. Not always pleasant if you are trying to sleep. Once she has everyone's attention, she can stop and go back to sleep - even if I can't.
I am always sad that nobody ever adopted her. She would have been a great companion. She is smart and funny, figures things out for herself and keeps herself very busy. Due to her Terrier ancestry, she digs and chews. There are two doghouses on the frontporch. Scooter has enlarged the entrance to the one closest to the frontdoor to where there is no wall left. When I sit at the computer and it is dark outside, I can hear this grating noise - Scooter working on the house. The next morning I will find all sorts of woodshavings in front of the house and all three dogs in the other one. One has to keep oneself busy!
As I told you before, I let the girls come in the backyard with me in the morning. We visit and do chores. If I am too late (God forbid), Scooter will stand by the gate and bark, bark, bark, bark....It never varies, it is the same tone of voice, the same loudness - her calling me. I would know that bark in my sleep. The other two don't do anything like that. It seems out of this bunch, Miss Scooter has all the brains. And a sense of timing and routine. I don't think that the other two don't know that I am late, they just don't know what to do about it. Scooter does!
She is also the one that will crawl in my lap and let me cuddle her. When she has instigated a fight between the other two, and they have figured it out and turned on her together, she will come to me and hold her paw up. And cry. That's all I need to see to know what happened. Usually I can't even find a mark on her but I know that they let her have it. So then I baby her a bit, lots of pet-me's and bellyrubs, and then the world is OK again. Sooo smart, the little bugger.
Stay warm and safe!