Scrappy

I actually knew Scrappy long before he came into Prince' life.  He belonged to a young couple who lived up the street who sometimes gave him a lot of attention...and sometimes did not.  Before that, he had belonged to somebody else...and I think this person might have mistreated him.

One day, Scrappy's owners moved away and left him, and I found him wandering down the sidewalk next to my house.  Not really wanting another dog, but unable to abandon him to whatever fate might await him on his own, I took him into the yard...and then into the house.  It was immediately apparent that he had major problems.

Scrappy bit.  Two situations seemed to provoke this behavior; first, bending over to pet him (he bit several well-meaning people in the face), and second, putting your feet anywhere near him.  Even tripping over him caused him to react with outrage, biting at your feet and ankles in a fury.  From these two things, I figured he was teased, and probably kicked.

Scrappy didn't like other small dogs, in spite of his being a Shih-Tzu, a breed known for their good nature.  He ate everything he found outside, probably because at one point, he had not been fed very well.  Trying to stop him also resulting in his attacking you.  He didn't like most people...whenever someone passed by the yard, he would growl and bite the fence bars in a fury.  What he did like was cats...and large dogs, probably because he had lived with large dogs at one time in his life.  I think he liked cats because he had never been exposed to them, and therefore hadn't had any bad experiences with them.

He also liked me.

When he first met Prince, Scrappy was somewhat standoffish, but I knew he liked him,too, because he didn't attack him.  One time, when Prince tried to take some food he had left, he nipped at Prince...but Prince's reaction made that a one time thing.  Thereafter, Scrappy would always politely move aside.

After a few weeks had passed, Scrappy began trying to play with Prince...usually by enthusiastically gnawing on Prince's legs.  At first, Prince reacted by leaping away, but then he figured out that Scrappy was actually trying to play with him, and would respond either by getting down to Scrappy's level (which was quite a feat for such a large dog) or hitting him with his head.  As they got to be better friends, Prince would gently mouth at him, and Scrappy would roll over onto his back and kick all four legs in the air, wildly.

Nowadays, whenever the two of them get together, the first thing Prince does is gently nuzzle (and sometimes lick) the top of Scrappy's head.  Scrappy responds by happily biting his legs (and occasionally barking at him) and Prince kneels down.  Whereas Isabel, my Chihuahua, still chases Prince and barks at him, Scrappy is almost always happy to see him.

I know Scrappy has been good for Prince (he finally has a friend!) and he actually is somewhat calmer around other dogs since Scrappy came into his life.  I don't know if Prince has really been good for Scrappy.  After 2 years, we can finally put our feet by him without his attacking them (my boyfriend even plays with him with them!) and he doesn't eat everything he finds outside anymore (just some of it), but I'm not sure if the credit belongs to us, or to Prince.  I suspect if it were because of us, he would like other people better than he does, and he still hates everyone who walks by (and yes, he still attacks the fence in his rage).