It's that day of the week. Happy hump day. The middle of the week. Half a week down, or half a week to go, however you want to look at it. Kinda like the glass half whatever arguement. All I know is that a parent sees it and will immediately ask, "who left a half a glass of water out?" Just saying. This week is a half full kinda week. I passed the PFA I mentioned yesterday and no longer have to do remedial PT (my shoulder is in full riot and is protesting for independance, but I passed). So all in all it's agood thing. Now for the story.
This week Idecided I would regale you with a story of the first dog I remember. He was a great dane named Sam. He was a golden color and was the most caring and loveable dog I have ever had. With three of us kids (My younger brother wasn't born yet) crawling all over him, he would just lay there. He never got up if we were on top of him. Not because he couldn't but because he knew he could hurt us. He was a 4 ft tall puppy that knew he was loved and could love right back. No matter what Sam was in charge and was going to have fun. There are several incidents that show this.
The first instance occured when I was about 6. One summer morning one of our neighbors called. I only heard one side of the conversation, but my mother filled me in on the particulars several years later. Apparently, the neighbor had seen Sam chase his cows accross the field and was upset by it. Mom was calm and collected as always.
"Just watch him for a bit before you take any actions," she said into the phone, "no mr. Jones*, I doubt he will hurt them. Please just watch them for a bit.......Thank you."
I changed the name because I don't remmber. But anyway, she hung up and went back to work. About a half hour later the phone rang again, "Hello...Oh, Hi, Mr Jones.....You did huh?....I see.....no problem....you have a nice day now." Only years later did I learn that the conversation was about Sam and highlighted his fun side. Seems that he was indeed chasing the cows accross the field. He would then circle the herd twice and then the herd would chase him back accross the field. They were playing together! The farmer actually asked that mom let Sam come down once a week since the cows seemed so happy and were doing so well. That was Sam. never doing what was expected.
A couple of other incedents stand out as well. One was simply called the tree incident. Here is what happened. In the middle of the night, we were woken up by Sam going crazy at the front door. This was unusual as Sam usually was quiet through the night. Dad got up and opened the door for Sam and sam took off like a shot. As dad watched, Sam chased a racoon out from under the porch and up a nearby sapling. Apparently, racoons have no concept of size as the sapling was less than 2 inches in diameter and barely 10 feet high. Sam simply put his front paws on the trunk and bent the tree in half. The Racoon immediately relized his mistake and jumped the 2 ft to the ground and took off. Samm leapt forward. The tree tried to straighten. We heard a yelp, and dad got to witness his newly planted apple tree disintegrate. Needless to say, Sam was in a little trouble with dad. The only thing that saved Sam was the fact that dad couldn't stop laughing for a good hour.
The last incident I want to regale you with is a bit scarey. Dogs chase cars, it's a known fact. Why they chase cars has always been a source of conjecture. At least for most people. I believe I have an absolute answer thanks to Sam. Most experts believe it is because the dog is protecting his territory. This may be true for some, but for Sam it was revenge. You see we lived in a small rural community at the time. The town we lived in had exactly 4 houses and a feed store. We lived on the main street and Sam was given the run of the town. All of our neighbors knew and loved Sam and cared for him. It wasn't unusual to see him trotting down the road looking for his next friend to play with. Everyone from the town knew to go slow (the posted speed limit was 10 mph), not because of the speed limit, but because Sam was prone to suddenly deciding the other side of the road was where he wanted to be. The day in question was a beautiful sunny Iowa summer day. Mom was out working in the garden and us kids were playing in the yard. Sam was accross the road. As we watched, a mid sized truck came around the corner. It was someone new to the area. He obviously didn't know Sam. At that instant, Sam decided it was time to play with us and darted into the road. The truck hit Sam broadside and Sam rolled under all 4 tires. The truck stopped and the guy got out. You could tell he was mortified and he knew he had just killed out dog. at least that's what he thought. Sam on the other hand wasn't so sure. He stood up. Shook himself. His head slowly turned to look at this thing that dared challenge his authority. The driver stopped and his eyes went wide as Sam started to growl and started a slow lope toward the truck. The driver jumped in, started the engine and took off with Sam in full pursuit. From that day on, anytime a truck drove by Sam came to his feet and growled until he was sure it wasn't his nemesis and was always wary of any truck that stopped at our house. The truck that hit him, was never seen in the town again. The only other thing that changed was now Sam looked before stepping into the road and the people of the area breathed a little easier when driving by our house.
A few months after the truck incident, Sam went out hunting on his own and never came back. We aren't sure what happened, but he we assume he was hit by a larger vehicle and died. I was 6 at the time and have had many dogs since then including another Sam. But none were as fun or as big as the original. I havae always hoped for another dog such as him, but have not found one. In any event, thank you Sam for your love and attention.
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