Now look at him. He’s set to be honored as the March volunteer of the month at The Rehabilitation Center of Raymore.

Pretty good comeback for someone with legs no longer than a trivet’s.

Skeeter is a Chihuahua. His owner, Pansy Willis, takes him to the rehab center in Raymore three or four times a week, toting the tiny dog in a basket like a loaf of warm bread, except Skeeter isn’t that big.

He perches on laps and looks into the eyes of the lonely. They snuggle him and gently stroke his back — probably thinking of long-gone four-legged friends.

Some residents greet him with the zeal of seeing a grandchild come through the door.

Others do so quietly. Like the man Wednesday in a chair in the corner. He doesn’t talk much, staffers say, not one to show emotion.

But when Skeeter is placed in his lap and gives him the look, a smile sneaks across the man’s face.

Activities director Zeny Klafta tells about a woman who was dying and knew it. Then Skeeter came into the room.

“She smiled and she hadn’t smiled all that day,” Klafta said. “She perked up when Skeeter was in there, and then she died.”

Klafta doesn’t attempt a clinical explanation. She just knows the little dog makes a big difference in the lives of people separated by miles and years from the soft touch of loved ones.

Skeeter, age 8, is the first non-human to be named volunteer of the month. The suggestion came from one of Klafta’s assistants.

“You know,” Klafta told her as she pondered the notion, “that’s a pretty good idea.”

To think Skeeter almost never got there.

A little more than a year ago, Jerry Jenkins of Raymore was driving home when he saw something nearly get hit on Missouri 58.

Too little for a dog, he thought, about half the size of a rabbit.

But he stopped, got out, and the Chihuahua came to him, clearly wanting to be held.

“I think he wanted someone to take care of him,” Jenkins said Wednesday.

He called animal control, but then decided to hold onto the dog because the little fellow was so stressed.

He also gave him a temporary name, all three pounds of him: Hercules.

Jenkins knew Pansy Willis loved dogs so he took him over to her house.

She already had three dogs and told him, sorry, no more dogs for her.

“But he sat in her lap too long,” Jenkins said. “Pansy fell in love.”

Willis already had volunteered at the Rehabilitation Center, which has about 135 residents, some in rehab, but most in long-term nursing care.

She takes Skeeter lots of places, but can tell the rehab center is his favorite.

Zelma Keeler, who grew up a farm girl in south Missouri, loves it when it’s her turn to hold him.

“We had dogs on the farm, but not like this little thing,” she said. “He’s like a baby, the way he looks up at me.”

On Wednesday, as Skeeter visited Genevieve Hayward’s room, she called him the light of her life and the one who brings her joy.

“How anyone could desert you beside the road I’ll never know,” she said. “They must have been sick in the head.”

To reach Donald Bradley, call 816-234-4182 or send e-mail to dbradley@kcstar.com.