Scooter helped hundreds of kids
COEUR d'ALENE - Scooter wouldn't let go, not until she saw her boy one last time.
Jean Robinson, owner of the 13-year-old female golden retriever, believes the power of prayer helped Scooter, ailing from cancer, stay alive long enough to make the 10-hour drive to Pocatello for a final reunion with Robinson's son Brandon, a sophomore at Idaho State University.
"I sent prayer requests to friends and family and it spread," Robinson said.
Robinson, a teacher at Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy, made the plea during the last full week of March, and quickly received a flurry of text messages and e-mails with prayers for Scooter.
When Robinson reported Scooter's March 27 death on her Facebook page, she received another stream of messages from people whose lives the animal had touched.
From the time Scooter, a therapy dog, was three months old, Robinson had taken Scooter to visit special needs classrooms and nursing homes. Scooter began her work in the Pocatello region, where the Robinson family lived. The Robinsons moved to Coeur d'Alene 11 years ago, and Scooter continued brightening the lives of the sick, the lonely and the anxious.
Robinson brought Scooter, year after year, to visit Fernan Elementary School teacher Susie Brott's life skills class for students with special needs. The dog's last trip to spend time with Brott's students was in December.
Since learning of Scooter's death, Brott said she has reflected on how many children's lives the animal touched for nearly a dozen years, too many to count.
"Their faces would just light up when Scooter came in the room," Brott said.
Students in Brott's classroom are often afraid of dogs, or are what Brott calls "tactilely defensive," meaning they are sensitive to touch, often easily overwhelmed and fearful of ordinary, everyday experiences. These children are frequently unable to fully benefit from the learning that comes from social interaction.
Scooter helped break through that.
"Scooter was just so gentle, and wise. That's the only way I can describe it," Brott said. "Scooter would bide her time with them, and the kids would come around." Before the last week of March, Robinson and her husband, Ed, knew Scooter's days were coming to an end. They planned a spring break trip to Pocatello so Brandon could see the dog one last time. In the days before the couple's planned departure, Scooter's condition worsened, and it became a race against time.
When Robinson went to work that Wednesday, she didn't know if Scooter would be there when she got home.
The couple made the trip to Pocatello with Scooter in a bed made up for her in the back of their Jeep. After the dog spent time with Brandon on Thursday, Robinson looked up their old veterinarian, and learned he had retired. Coincidentally, the person who replaced their veterinarian was a former student of Robinson's.
The family went to the vet's office on Friday, and Robinson said they held Scooter as she "walked the Rainbow Bridge."
Brandon was 7 when Scooter came into his life. He attended dog training classes Robinson taught, and with Scooter became for a time, the youngest Pet Partner dog therapy team in the nation.
"It was one of the hardest things I've had to do when we put Scooter down, but I don't know how I would've reacted if I hadn't seen her one last time," Brandon told The Press. "She was the best dog, friend, and pet anyone could ask for and it was just crucial that I saw her one last time before we put her down."
Robinson said they did it for Scooter: "I don't know if I would have done this for any other dog."