The American Hairless Terrier

THE AHT STORY

In the fall of 1972, Edwin and Willie Scott were given a small female puppy that was born into a litter of Rat Terriers owned by some friends of theirs. All the puppies looked normal except for this one very odd looking pup. She was normal in every way, but lacked one thing the others had.....hair! Little did the Scott's realize....the day that strange little pup came into their home would set them on a course of developing a new and very unique breed.....the American Hairless Terrier.                                                                              


The new puppy's name became Josephine and she quickly melted the hearts of everyone in the Scott's family. Josie turned out to be the "perfect" pet as she was highly intelligent, active, loyal, and best of all she was clean. With the lack of hair, there were no fleas, therefore.....no need for smelly flea products, and no dog hairs all over the furniture and floors. With summer, though, came the hot Louisiana sun and they learned that Josephine's soft and delicate skin would need protection against the harmful rays.  A thin layer of good suntan lotion proved to effectively protect their new little pup's skin on those sunny summer days.      


Josie proved to be a loving and loyal family member, an avid traveller, and a lover of everyone she met. She absolutely loved people and drew a lot of attention everywhere they went. The Scott's found Josephine to be such a special dog and excellent pet that they decided to attempt breeding her in hopes of getting more "hairless" pups. The fact that they had never bred dogs before was not going to stop them from this endeavor. This was a loving, playful and clean dog....."the perfect house pet".....they wanted others to have the opportunity to be owned by such a wonderful dog.                                                                                

They talked about their plans to many people, including several scientists, but they got the same answer everywhere they went. "It just can't be done." or "You're just wasting your time." seemed to be the repeating reply they would receive. "She's a freak of nature and will never reproduce the same....the hairless trait." But statements like this did not stop the Scott's. They decided to go ahead with their plans and bred her.      

At the age of one year, they bred Josie to a Rat Terrier. She produced a litter of four puppies and amazing enough, one of the pups was a hairless female which they named Gypsy. Unfortunately, Gypsy was too small to breed so they kept their hopes on Josephine. Over the years Josie gave the Scott's several litters, but not the hairless pups they were so hoping for....their hopes were beginning to fade.                                    

Then just as they were ready to give up, they decided to give it one more try. So at the age of nine years, Josephine was bred her final time. And on December 30, 1981, a miracle happened.....Josephine became the proud mother of four beautiful puppies. It would be a very happy new year, indeed.            


They named the hairless female Jemima, the hairless male was named Snoopy and the two female coated pups were named Queenie and Petunia. This became the foundation of the Scott's dream and brought their hopes back to reality. This was a new beginning for their family. They bred Snoopy to all of his littermates once they reached a year old. Jemima produced an all hairless litter and to the Scott's surprise, Petunia and Queenie produced litters of hairless and coated. Their house was becoming filled with these loving bundles of joy and the Scott's found they needed to make that decision to build a kennel for their four-legged critters. So a kennel was built adjoining their house and was aptly dubbed the name of "Trout Creek Kennel" .....home of the American Hairless Terrier.                                                
                                       

So you see folks.....dreams do come true and miracles do happen!                                                                      

This unlikely Louisiana couple had a dream and through all the negatism and unsurmountable odds, they persevered until that dream became a reality. This story may serve as a testimony to the strength a person can attain when following their hearts. The struggle a person can withstand when they know in their hearts they are doing what they have been strongly led to do.  I am so thankful to the Scotts for pushing through those odds and making the American Hairless Terrier a reality that we all can love and share.

Thanks Scotty....we owe you so much!