Good 'ole Sam

Tuesday my dog died. He was almost 15 years old and had been really sick the past year or two. Quite honestly, I'm glad my parents finally put him to sleep. He was practically blind, deaf, couldn't smell, and just miserable at times. But never once did he complain. My dad and Kurtis buried him in the backyard. Did you know the vet will give you a cardboard coffin for your dog? He was the best dog a family could ask for. I remember the first time I saw Sam (AKC registered as Chief Remington Sam), he was the cutest thing I had ever seen! A white and brown (liver is the official color) fluff ball. He didn't have the typical English Springer Spaniel markings all over his back. He followed me and Jesse around and was so calm with us that we knew he was the puppy for us. That first night we slept in the basement all of us -me, Jesse, probably Kimmy, Sam, and my dad. My dad of course had to take Sam out every few hours and carry him up and down the stairs - sorry Dad I seem to remember saying I would do that but I did feed him, take him for walks, and picked up dog poop! Sam went everywhere with me and was inseparable from the family till the moment he died. I loved taking him running and boy could he go and go and go. He would run for miles with me (yes, I used to run MILES everyday). I would take him running in the farmer's fields by our house hoping he would figure out he was supposed to be a hunting dog and flush pheasants but he was always so busy running around that those pheasants I'm sure just sat there and mocked him. I remember pulling stickers and ice balls out of his hair and toes afterwards and no matter how much it hurt, he always let me do it. I always felt safe running with Sam and to this day tell everyone the reason I don't run anymore is because I lost my running partner. He would pull us on our bikes, climb the playgrounds with us and go down the slides, bite and run through the sprinklers, spring up and down in the alfalfa fields (it was hilarious because you would Sam spring up then disappear then spring up somewhere else) and swim at Bear Lake until he almost drowned. Seriously, he almost drowned because he couldn't stand it to see us playing in the water without him. I finally figured out he would sit on our inner tubes if we pushed him around the lake with us. What dog does that? None that I've seen! Sam would have done anything to protect me. I remember one time he kept barking to go outside so I of course opened the back door and let him out. Us kids were home alone at the time, and the next thing I heard was someone yelling. I looked out the window and saw that Sam had chased the utility guy up our back fence and was barking at him. He also did that to my grandpas a few times, but only when we were home alone. I'm pretty sure in his prime Sam would have killed anyone who had tried to hurt us. He could leap into the back of a truck with the gate up without a running start, not to mention leap our 6 foot high fence like it was nothing. We could always expect to see Sam sitting on the front porch waiting for us when we came home - he jumped the fence a lot. I remember teaching him to shake hands, lay down, and when Kurtis would stick Cheerios on his nose and say "steady, steady, get it Sam" and he would flip them up and catch them in his mouth. He would sleep with us, lay under our feet (whether we wanted him to or not), and despite getting into the garbage, eating entire bags of Hersey's Kisses (whoever said chocolate kills dogs obviously did not meet Sam), never walking calmly on a leash, or inhaling any food left on the table, Sam was the best dog in the whole world! I will miss him so much and so will Pearl. She just loves doggies and I think that was her favorite part of going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. It just won't be the same without him.