When Scooty the dog was very young, she was hit by a car and lost the use of her back legs. Her mom, Erica Loring, rescued her in 2012. At first, Loring wasn’t sure what kind of life Scooty would have.
“I didn’t know what a lifespan would look like for a dog with disabilities,” Loring said. Loring decided to get Scooty a wheelchair but wasn’t sure how she would take to it. The moment Scooty was hooked up to her wheelchair, Loring’s worries disappeared.
“She didn’t even give me a second to step back and take a picture,” Loring said. “She was flying in her wheelchair from minute one.”
Scooty’s infectious joie de vivre has captured people’s hearts and attention for many years. In 2016, a video featured Scooty zooming around at breakneck speed — with and without her wheelchair. Eight years have passed since that video, and Scooty is now 13. One might think she would have slowed down by now, but Scooty actually seems more energetic than ever. So energetic, in fact, that she sometimes gets a little too excited and crashes. (Don’t worry, she’s totally fine.)
Scooty’s favorite place has always been the beach, where she can run around freely without worrying about bumping into anything. Plus, she loves how the sand is softer than concrete on her paws.
“She doesn’t have a care in the world and she can just run to her heart’s content,” Loring said. “Here we are, 12 years later, and she is still zooming down the beach.” Sometimes, other people with dogs at the beach worry that their dogs will injure Scooty. But Scooty, of course, ends up leaving those other dogs in the dust. Scooty also recently got a little brother, and now, one of her favorite activities is chasing after him.
Loring hopes that when people see how happy and healthy Scooty is, they’ll understand that there are many great options for dogs with injuries or disabilities.
As for Scooty, she’s just going to keep doing her thing.
“These days, I treasure every zoomie,” Loring wrote on TikTok.