A Story To Warm Your Heart

These are our dogs, Sam (White English Pointer) and Lilly (Chocolate Lab). As you can see they have become really close since Blake came into the world. I suppose they don't get as much attention from us now so they decided they may as well be good friends. Sam is supposed to be Joe's "bird dog" - whatever that really means. Sure, Sam is bred to hunt and Joe says he seems to love it, but he sleeps underneath covers and generally doesn't even like being outside most of the time.



Last Sunday Joe was working on some training with Sam in the back of our neighborhood. Our neighborhood still has several open lots in the back and behind them is nothing but farm land. Sam must have smelled something and ran off. For those who haven't been around this kind of dog before - they are like canine cheetahs. Joe spent all Sunday looking for Sam on the surrounding farms with no luck. Our major concern was the fact that Sam had a rope attached to his collar that would make it easy for him to get caught on something and we all know coyotes like to snack on puppy dogs. All week we called animal shelters, posted ads online and left dog food by the back door. By Friday we both really thought that Sam probably had found a new home or a coyote had found him.



I must tell you how Lilly acted the first few days Sam was missing. Normally we could leave Lil out in the house all day long and she would sleep and never touch anything. However, we had one incident with the garbage can strewn across the dining room - no good. Also, she went into the nursery one night and found two boxes of Blake's outgrown baby clothes and threw them all over the room and shredded a box. As mad as we were (because she knew it was wrong) we felt really sorry for her - her furry brother was missing. I suppose a dogs attention span is not as lengthy as ours - by Wednesday she was over it.



Friday night on the way home from dinner we were kind of reminiscing about Sammy and talking about how we just hoped he was somewhere safe. As we pulled into the driveway that night we didn't see anything unusual. We pulled up the driveway, garage door already opening, and we both froze. Having to always state the obvious I blurted out, "It's Sam, oh my God, it's Sam!" He must have been waiting in the front yard and when he heard the garage door start to open (yes, I like to push the button as soon as we pull on our street) he darted inside.



He was skinny but he was home!!! The rope that had been attached to his collar was now only a foot long. He must have gotten stuck somewhere and chewed through it. Sam was actually clean, but he smelled like straw. I suppose he took shelter in someone's barn. He went right back to being Sam - sleeping on the love seat and trying to steal covers when he gets the chance. I had always heard stories about pets that were missing and after days, weeks or months found their way home, but I didn't think Sam would last out in the world on his own for nearly a week.



Welcome Home Sammy!