Meet My Hottie

And by Hottie I mean Shotty. And by Shotty I mean Shotgun. And by Shotgun I mean my dog. Yeah that's his name. Shotgun. I bet you don't have a dog name Shotgun. He's just that cool. And you know why else he's cool? I bet you don't. See Mr. HottieShotty has three legs.

Leg?

You see, when Shotgun was just a wee little babe, he showed up in our rocking chair. For a week my mom yelled at us and said, "DON'T TOUCH THAT FIFLTHY DOG. HE'S PROBABLY GOT FLEES AND WE DON'T WANT HIM TO STAY HERE. AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DO. NOT. FEED. HIM!" After a week of being horribly awful to the pitiful thing, we had still not found his owners. Gradually we fed him and gave him water. Then we gave him a bath and slowly but surely started loving him. After that first week we still had no clue where he belonged and he had no tags so my brother decided he needed a name. Since he wasn't really a pet my brother just thought he'd call him 'Shotgun' because it was hunting season and he actually responded to the name. Well after another week, Shotgun still had no one claiming him and my dad had stared petting and loving on him.

As you've probably guessed, no one ever claimed the poor poochie and he had no tags and no microchip. The vet said someone probably dumped a litter of dogs since he was so young. My momma decided to call the Humane Society to drop him off to be adopted, but they had just had a puppy mill bust and even though they were no kill, they would have to send him to another shelter that did euthanize the dogs after a week or so.

There was no way we were going to let the little lover get put to death....sooo we decided to keep him. Shotgun. Our new doggie. And of course he had been called 'Shotgun' for two  weeks, so we couldn't change the name.

Well anyway, that's how Mr. ShottyHottie came to be our newest little four legged pet. BUT!! When Mr. ShottyGun was about two or three(ish), he became our newest little three legged friend. Mr. Shotty was outside in his underground electric fence with me, my grandparents, and my whole family when he decided there was something interesting across the street that he thought was worth the shock to chase. He darted out of his fence as me and  my grandparents watched on. As soon as he went towards the fence we hollered and chased after him, but it was too late. A car came flying down the road(cars are always going down our road way to fast) and hit him.

The saddest part was the car had to *back* off of him, but they decided not to stop. Yup, that's right, they just. Kept. Driving. As my little elementary kid self stood there and watched in horror, I ran to my doggie lying in the ditch. It was awful. I only glanced at his little body lying there in. I saw that he was in fact still alive and ran to get my mom and dad. All I remember afterwards was that my mom and dad made me stay in the house with my grandparents while they went and swept him off to his vet. I remember tears, I remember the not knowing, and I also remember the call from my parents to my grandparents that said that the receptionist at the vet said it was almost closing time and that they weren't taking anymore patients.

I was horrified. First, I saw my dog getting run over. And then next the vet is saying that they won't help us? Well, my parents decided to take the dog to the emergency vet clinic thing way in town. I guess it was almost a blessing he went there because they were awesome. They took care of him and were really friendly to us. He stayed the night there and they said his organs were okay, but that his leg wasn't going to heal.

I remember that night my mom was researching ALL about three legged dogs. I mean we didn't even know if it was possible for a dog to walk with three legs.Well nowadays I'm wondering why we were even worried because that boy can run faster than me! *That's only when he's chasing squirrels and rabbits, of course when I take him jogging with me he's all 'you expect me to go that fast? huh..you're funny'*

'Disable the Label' at the Children's Museum

Anywhoo that's my Hottie. We love him...most of the time. Until he goes on a party in the woods and tries to knock you over with his stench...yeah..awful. He's also awesome because sometimes, after we give him a bath, he gets to go to schools and the children's museum to give programs on how he's different and 'disabled' but he can still do everything else other dogs can do. Then they relate it to children with disabilities and how they can do the same things, just a bit differently. He's like a total different dog when he enters a building. I think he knows his purpose. Plus kids love him. He lets them look at his teeth and tug on his ears and he could care less.

~ Miss Lyss