Remembering Sam

When I first met Sam, I had no idea how much he would come to mean in my life. He came jogging up to the house one day, looking for food. Since I can never say no to a hungry animal, I fed him.

He was wearing an orange hunting collar so I figured that when he left he was going back home. But then he showed up again and again. Finally he stopped showing up. About six weeks went by, and all of a sudden, there he was again.

My daughter and I had named him Sam. This time we decided that we would try and find the owner and we went from door to door to door trying to see if anyone knew who he belonged to.

Nobody did....so we started letting Sam come into the house since the weather was getting cold.

I refused to call Sam "My dog" for two main reasons. First and foremost, I still figured that he had to belong to someone....after all he had been gone from our house for six weeks and certainly had stayed well fed, and secondly because we already had other dogs at the time. But he was nice and polite so he was always a welcome guest. I began to notice that his ears were bothering him, so one night I very politely asked him if he would mind if I swabbed out his ears. (Meaning please don't bite me if I check your ears). He seemed to say ok, so that is what I did...I cleaned out his ears. He was a trooper through it all....and he didn't bite me.

Sam started staying at our house more and more. He was a great watch dog. Sam was the only dog I've met that had a specific "people" bark....meaning that if there was a certain tone in his bark, I knew there were humans outside.

He also had a specific "Poop" bark, meaning that I had better let him outside so he could do his business. But still, Sam was not our dog.

Until one day.....I was about a mile from home when I received a frantic phone call from my daughter saying, "Mom, Sam's been shot!" I hurried home as fast as I could and I will never forget the sight that greeted me. My daughter was kneeling over Sam who was prone on the ground. I thought at first that Sam was dead....but when I got closer, I saw that he was lying there. My daughter petted him to comfort him, and bless his heart, as much pain as he was in, he wagged his tail. We immediately took him to the emergency vet who took X-rays and told us that Sam would have to lose his leg as the bone was just too shattered to fix. The next day we took him to our regular vet who performed the surgery. Sam was sooo sick....and he could barely move. After he recuperated and after a $900 vet bill, I decided that he was MY dog and if someone ever came to claim him, they would have to pay me for him. Over the following month, Sam was neutered and to our dismay we found that he had heartworms and so we started treatment for him. For one whole month he was one sick doggie.

But he recovered. I'll never forget the day he learned how to get up on the couch with just three legs. He had been trying for a while and just couldn't master it. But he kept trying. I shall never forget the look of satisfaction on his face when he succeeded.

Over the next six years, Sam became an indispensible part of the household. Whatever room we were in, he was in. He was happy as long as he was with all of us. He especially liked my future son-in-law, which gave him a big vote of confidence in our eyes. Sam loved nothing more than riding in the car. I have a PT Cruiser, which I call my "Dog-mobile" since the back seat is let down so the dogs have a comfortable bed in the back. Sam LOVED being in there. He went all over the country with me. From Maine to Minnesota to Arizona and back. I loved how he made me feel safe because if anyone got too close to the car he would give them a warning to "Back off".

It was on a trip to visit my daughter in North Carolina that the unthinkable happened. Sam had been happy all day. He visited my daughter at her dog school and he just was sooo happy! I put him back in the car and when I got back to the motel, I opened the door to let him out, and to my shock and utter disbelief, he was drawing his last breath. There was NO warning!!! Nothing to indicate that he was ill. I felt as though I had been punched in the stomach by life. I was just glad that my daughter got to be with him on his last day.

Everyone who knew Sam will remember him. He was just that kind of dog. Quiet and unassuming at times, but who somehow managed to wiggle his way into loving hearts. My life was so blessed for having had Sam in it for six years. Longer than that when you count the time that he hung around the house before he became officially our dog. I feel grief, but mostly I feel gratitude that this wonderful being gave his heart and his love to us. We shall remember Sam always.