Scoundrel? Scamp? Both! It's Willy!

The worst dog ever.

By Beth J. Bates

Ever have a pet that you loved to death, but was simply the naughtiest, most mischievous animal in the world? When we adopted Willy from the local shelter, he was quiet, well-mannered and so so sweet. What a scam. He is truly the worst dog ever.

It's timely that I've decided to talk about Willy today. As I sit here, my feet are aching. Why? Because this morning, Willy decided to escape from our brand new fenced in yard and took off running down our private drive. Panicked, I ran barefoot over gravel, sticks and thicket to try to catch him. My husband resorted to jumping in the car and drove down to catch him - and of course, Willy just jumped in the car.

Willy runs away - a lot. We have three other dogs who have no interest in running off. So, Willy makes up for them all by finding ways to crawl under the fence, jump over the fence, run out the front door - you get the picture.

Willy eats garbage. Any kind of garbage. My favorite Willy trait is that he not only jumps into the garbage can head first, but pokes his head out of the top with a mouth full of trash and growls. Yes, growls. I often resort to knocking the can over to get him out. As a bonus, Willy has terrible breath. Probably due to his choice of diet.

Willy pees everywhere. He is seven years old and properly house trained yet he pees on everything - chair legs, rugs, his sister Katie, your foot -- everything.

Willy chews up lingerie. I don't know what it is about the texture of a brand new bra, but Willy craves it and I've found my dainties shredded to bits more than once.

Willy starts fights. He's only 15lbs. but he will start a fight with any dog. We can't take him to the "little" dog park because he antagonizes the other little dogs. Inevitably, we get the "look" from the dog's owner and we have to leave. He chases the big dogs in the "big" dog park. Needless to say, we don't go to the dog park much.

Willy is so ugly -- he's cute. This is his secret weapon. More than once, other folks have offered to adopt Willy from us. Little do they know the pain and agony in store for them.

I love Willy. Despite his inability to follow direction, his naughty nature and his stinky breath - I truly love him and would never give him up. I love him so much, in fact, that I named my retail store after him - Wet Nose Willy's!

Check out Willy's Dogbook page and befriend him - he needs all the friends he can get!