My Dog Sam - He's a Real Dog's Dog!

I love dogs. I have always . . . . always, always had a dog. I think maybe there was a sum total of about 5 years of my life when I was without a dog. During that time I was in mourning over my dog Meg. She was my transitional dog. She saw me out of my childhood, went to college with me and helped me become an adult. She died just a couple of years short of getting to meet my children. Growing up I always had a dog. They were considered family members. They traveled with us, slept in our beds, ate people food, etc.

After Meg "went off to college" (aka died) I swore I'd never love another! But much to my dismay, my daughter's first full sentence was "I need a dog!". And she wasn't kidding. She's an animal person. She neeeeded a dog. So we held a family meeting and decided that after house breaking a set of twin humans we were really in no position to house train another animal. So we put out word that we were looking to adopt. We read all sorts of descriptions of dogs and decided we'd most like a Samoyed. We started the process of adopting a Samoyed through Samoyed rescue - an extensive project mind you that involves home visits etc. But while we were awaiting the perfect pooch - word of our search got out locally and one day a mom on the playground said - "I know an older woman who is moving to a condo, she has a three year old Samoyed who needs a home". Bingo! Sam came to visit a few times. The kids fell head over heels in love. Then he started to come for weekends and he accepted the then 3 year olds as his "pack". Then slowly he made the transition to being a member of our pack. Unlike all the other dogs I've had in my life - Sam is not a "people" dog but rather we have become his dog pack. He's 100% D.O.G.

Sam spends all of his time outside (except in the height of summer when he can't stand the heat and then retreats to the basement). He comes in at dinner time to eat then goes back outside to bark his head off well past sun-down and comes in at night to sleep but probably would be just as happy if we laid out a pile of straw under "his tree" in the front yard for him.

As a breed, Samoyed are sled dogs, pullers and long distance runners. I held to my promise of never falling in love with another dog for a while. After all this was the kid's dog. Their turn to experience canine love. And they do! And by the way they are excellent at taking care of him - they feed him, brush him, occasionally walk him, etc. They are fabulous, responsible, loving pet owners. But then I started to run with Sam and we fell in love. I bought him a sledding harness which he wears when we run. A friend of mine who is a veterinarian (and a runner) warned me not to take him further than 5 miles, especially as he is getting older - he just turned 9.

But he and I can't resist. He was literally born to run. He asks me at least 3 times a day everyday to run. He sulks and cries when he sees me leave the house with my gym bag, clearly a swimming day. He knows sit, stay and BRICK - which to him means sit and stay as I ride away on my bike 'cause when I come back you're up! He's allowed on any run up to 8 miles anything over that and I worry about him (not that we're moving all that fast). When I put on spandex he squeals with delight - not a reaction I get from any human! And I have to admit, I've fallen in love. I love the way he asks to run - he looks at me and sniffs my knees. If I don't respond he gently nudges my knees with his snout. If I still don't respond he gently puts his mouth around my hand and "herds" me towards the door. How can I say no?

But here is where the love runs a little thin. This incredible sled dog thinks he's out on the tundra or part of a sled team pack. Lately he has been barking at our back woods well into the night. There is something going on back there that is upsetting him. Last week he went into the woods and emerged with a tail! Yes, a tail. After we freaked out a bit, we had a close look and decided it seemed to be either a coyote tail or maybe a fox tail. Today the kids were outside enjoying the warm weather when I heard them screaming. I jumped up thinking someone was hurt and much to my surprise they were yelling at Sam who had emerged from the woods with the entire leg of a deer (hoof and all) in his mouth! YUCK!!

He's a dog through and through. But he's our yucky dog and we love him. Maybe once the snow melts he'll stop having his sled dog delusions of grandeur and go back to being a nice little pet!