I got my dog Scooby-Doo on September 28th, 2007. We went to Sac airport to pick him up, he was coming from Arkansas. My daughter Laila, my son Sean and I were anxious to see him for the first time. I thought he'd be shy and scared, but no, Scooby has always been a confident and sweet little fella!
In the beginning of his puppy days - remember... Scooby was only 8 weeks old at that time - I was a little scared. I was new to the puppy world, my son was not a baby anymore, so I've forgotten how much work a baby makes. But little by little, with perseverance and lots of love, he got potty trained. Yayy!
I really have to thank Scooby's breeder, Darren from bigboybulldogs. I'd call him and ask for advice and he'd be always there to help me.
Raising a puppy is pretty much similar to raising a kid: you gotta give them boundaries, limits, set the rules and apply tough love. It's not easy for me to use tough love, but I learned a lot in the process!
My son Sean was going to first grade and I wanted to find something outside the house to do. I'd ask myself what I could do. Something that I'd enjoy, but couldn't figure out what. I wanted something that would also give me the possibility of making my own schedule. My family is my priority, so I wanted to have time for them. I was a German and English teacher back in Brazil, but I didn't want to go back to teaching. I wanted something new...
My friend Shelley who is Scooby's petsitter and Scooby himself gave me the idea of being a petsitter. I remember in the past saying "wouldn't it be great to be able to rent pets?" I love pets, but couldn't have all the ones I wanted. Of course 'renting' pets was a joke, but little I knew that the universe was already conspiring on my favor! The idea just started getting shape... slowly... I started fostering dogs as well and realized that being around them was I really wanted for me.
Today I do what I love. I wouldn't trade that for anything else! I'd "combine" things, but not give up on my animals. It may sound cheesy, but all my animal clients are great! Maybe I'm lucky, maybe they're all really better creatures.
I'm just grateful I've found "my cup of tea"! I want to make a difference in these animals lives and their owners. I am not a dog trainer, but I've got experience in raising them, fostering them. I really learned a lot by talking to Scooby's breeder, to my vet's assistant Gayle and reading, reading. But most of all I've learned from putting myself in these animals place. They have feelings, memory, needs. I just see good in them. And I hope my heart will always be able to understand what they want and deserve.
Hi, I'm Scooby-Doo von Staudinger. I live in California... pretty cool, huh? Anyways, I'll tell you a little more about myself and my pack.
I just turned two on August 2nd. I'm an English Bulldog and I own 3 humans. The biggest one is daddy. He's the one that supports me and my pack. He's often working hard to provide for all of us, especially me. He's many times under stress, but he always manages to wrestle with me. He started this game right when I came here. I love it! There's one thing I hate about him though: he's always calling me "fatty"! What is he talking about?? I'm pure muscles!! Daddy and me have a few things in common: we both snore and fart a lot!
The second member is mom. She's the best! She cooks for me, feeds me the best and healthiest foods, buys me toys... that woman loves me! I take her for a walk at least once a day. On hot days I make sure she brings my own bottle of water along. Being a bulldog is hard at those times of the year! She's always taking my pics and telling me how good looking I am and what a great dog I am. Can't deny that...
Last but not least comes the littlest one, Sean. He's great to play with, but he can be pretty annoying too. Always complains about my slobber and is always saying that I stink!
I try to keep my pack under my control at all times. I play when I want to, I eat the best food there is, I take supplements, have lots of toys and everybody ADORES me! But a dog cannot let humans take over. We have to keep them in short leash. That's why I always like to walk in front of mom. I have to show her who's the boss! I let her get inside and outside the house first. Because of this she thinks she's the pack leader. LOL Not really! I just do this because I'm a gentleman, or should I say a gentledog?...
Mom has a petsitting business. She says she wants to make a difference in animals' lives but the truth is, she does this for my entertainment. This is the way she found to make it easy for me to make friends. And the money is to support my hobbies.
I have everything I need and want. Life is good!