Good Boy, Sam

Sam is the best dog in the whole world. I know this because he is our dog and he's the best. I may be bias, but I'm pretty certain I'm right.

Bill and I got Sam from the Arlington, VA Animal Shelter about 6 years ago. He had been dropped off a week or so before Bill found him. He apparently came from a family with "too many dogs". His dad was part lab and part collie and his mom was full lab. So, Sam is a lab/lab/collie. Bill and I were looking online at dogs at shelters around our area. I knew I wanted a lab mix of some sort. Bill did some scouting and found Sam one day when I was at work. In order to take him home, everyone in the family needed to meet Sam (who was named Christian at the time due to the white cross on his chest). Bill called me on my way home from work and told me I needed to get to the shelter by close of business that day. I drove right over and met a very sweet, kind, and somewhat scared 6 month old puppy. I filled out some paperwork and after a home visit to determine we were 'good folk' we were able to pick up Sam that weekend.

It took us a few hours to figure out that we wanted to name him Sam. We immediately knew Christian was WAY too much pressure for a 6 month old puppy. We tossed around some names and once 'Sam' was said, we knew that was it. Sam got all of our attention and he loved it! We took car rides together, took 2 or 3 walks every day, played outside, went to the dog park, and took obediance classes for a few weeks too (until we got to 'heel' and decided that was enough!).

Then, Heather arrived. He loved her too. The walks didn't change too much unless it was too cold to go out for very long. We still went for car rides, but not as many since it was hard to hold a car seat and a dog leash. Then Kailey arrived. And, pretty much everything stopped. We still took walks, but Kailey cried everywhere we went. We didn't take car rides very frequently because it was impossible to hold a little hand, a car seat and a dog leash. Now, kids are too heavy to push in a stroller very far (uphill to get off of our street) but too little to walk very far. So, Sam spends many days sitting around and hoping.

Even so, Sam has never resented either child. He has growled only once at Heather when she was very little and went after one of his toys. He never did it again. Heather gives him lots of hugs. Kailey feeds Sam almost every day, without being asked (and slightly more than he should be getting). Kailey sits on Sam, pulls his tail, pokes his mouth and nose and Sam just licks her.

So, today, when I looked over at Kailey, she had put her arm around Sam and was just standing next to him. She looked at him and talked to him. She gave him a kiss and a hug. He lay down. She lay down too.


Good boy, Sam.