Sam did quite well with other dogs with a few exceptions, he was not a fan of large intact male dogs (how he could tell the difference between newly altered & intact one was odd to me). Sam would play with most of them, & Ace was the play police, he would try & go between & stop them. I don’t think Ace knew what dog play was, still Ace got along with 98% of dogs he came in contact with, but not a fan of play or he didn’t understand it. Sam started to get snippy with dogs, which was out of character & it escalated & became consistent that I took him to the Vet to have his thyroid checked. I can’t recall now how I knew about this specialist in Thyroid disease & testing, but I asked to have his blood tested by her lab. Dr J. Dodds was what I called the thyroid gurus & what other Vets didn’t know & she could make all the difference for that pet. My Vet said his tests showed normal thyroid, but Dr Dodds came back with a different finding. We treated Sam with a natural thyroid product & got it regulated & the issue with dogs went away. When Sam had this issue & we were getting results & treating him till normal results I stopped fostering dogs & started to foster caged pets. Sam & Ace were actually quite good with most of them, of course supervised if near any caged pet. I never did DNA on Sam (wish I had), but think he was Golden Retriever/Rhodesian Ridgeback & maybe a little Greyhound & who knows what else. If he saw a Greyhound he immediately wanted to get near it, at a rescue event he even got in a baby pool with about 3 of them. I was talking with a volunteer & next thing we know he is in the pool & he didn’t want to leave them.
Sam went camping with me quite a few times & he took two trips to the Kentucky & Tennessee area with my brother & Ace where we visited our sister & camped also. Sam loved going places with me & was good in the car. When camping he was friendly out on walks, but guarded me at our campsite. A fellow camper came over to share some birch wood with us & Sam wouldn’t let him near till Tim came back from the showers. That made me feel real secure. The first time I camped with Sam & my little sister, sometimes during the night Sam started to growl & I was woken by it. It was a very low growl, it didn’t wake my sister. I realized the camper next-door had come in from fishing & had walked too close to our tent & he wasn’t happy about it.
Back when I had Sam there was a magazine called Dog Fancy & they also did calendars(wall & desktop) & you could send in a photo of your dog & if they were chosen then they would be featured in the calendar. Sam was not chosen which made me a little sad, look how cute he is. Well to my surprise they kept it & he was in both calendars the following year.
Sam was an active dog, played fetch all the time, but not hyper, if he saw a ball he had to get it, tennis balls were his favorite & even somehow he could get 3 in his mouth at the same time. My brother in law gave him a bag of them one Christmas & it was about brain overload for him when he dumped them all out at once. He gathered them & laid with them.
I can’t recall why I took Sam to the Vet this time, it could have been for an annual or for acupuncture, we were at a different Vet because Dr Adams had moved to California & eventually the clinic sold to a chain who focused on vaccinations & not holistic care & shut that part down. They tried to bring it back, guessing after they realized how many people left. We had moved on & were happy with our new Vet. The day I had him in to see the Vet, Dr Susan listened to Sam’s lungs & I saw her face & asked her what was going on, what was she thinking. She formed her hand in a letter “C”. I said cancer, but his blood work a few weeks ago was all good. She said his lungs sounded different on one side & she said we can do blood-work again or x-rays. I told her I wanted to do x-rays, so she did & one of his lungs was concave, being pushed in. She suspected a cancerous tumor started in his spleen & had metastasized in his chest cavity. I was devastated & cried so much knowing my pup (now 12) didn’t have a long time left. He was still playing & acting pretty normal till one day he wasn’t. I called my brother that he adored (Sam even knew the sound of his motorcycle approaching & would get so excited) to ask him to come help me decide if it was time to say goodbye. He told me he didn’t think he could make that decision as he never had. I asked him to come over so he did. Sam heard Tim & tried to get to him, but fell 3 times & I told him you don’t have to say a word, it is time. I called my Vet to tell her it was time & we were coming in. I knew I couldn’t drive & Tim’s car was small, so I called my sister Karen & she came right over & Sam just laid there this time & he really liked her too. Tim helped me carry Sam, as he was 60 lbs & too hard for me to carry & I sat in the back seat with Sam as Karen drove us to the Vet. Sam went to sleep laying in my loving lap & I am so grateful for my ferret mentor making me hold my ferrets as they crossed the rainbow bridge, because I wouldn’t have been able to do it for Sam. She told me it was my responsibility & out of love to let them leave this earth feeling loved. So I petted & held my beloved Sam as he Crossed the Rainbow Bridge. It is bringing tears to my eyes & making me sniffles just remembering & writing about it. Sam was a good dog & I was forced to learn a lot & it helps me to this day because from what I have learned I can help others help their pets.
I hope you are enjoying my blog, please share it on your social media sites, visit often, comment on my posts, share your stories, hit the ‘like’ button, & subscribe, these help my blog to be seen by more people & help me to reach out to more people. If you have a subject you would like to see me write about feel free to email me at echoinggreatpetcare@gmail.com Thanks, Debbie
Echoing Great Pet Care 