This was my dog Sam.


She was extremely intelligent.  Sam could identify the word 'beach', even when someone spelt it out, and was pretty good at the spanish & french translations.  It was always difficult to talk about the beach without getting the dog excited.

That's nothing.   Here's the real story:  I had just moved in with a boyfriend, but got called out of town for work.  I asked him to take Sam to the beach & throw a stick.  He was new, so he didn't know the drill, and I didn't think to explain.  He dutifully took Sam to the beach, found a stick, and began to throw the stick for her.  Now, not knowing the game, he figured he'd avoid the hassle of the dog getting wet, and throw the stick parallel to the shore, landing the stick in the sand.  This sufficed for a bit, Sam dutifully retrieved the stick, but with a worried look on her face.  She began to suspect that he hadn't been clued into the fact that the stick should be thrown in the water, after all what was the point of going to the beach if not for a swim.  So, she takes action.  She trains him.  She retrieves the stick from the sand, places it at his feet, and as he reaches for the stick, she picks up the stick and races to the water, drops it in the water, picks it up, races back to him, placing it in front of him once again.  As he reaches for it, she again grabs it, races to the water & back, repeating the excercise once more, for a total of 3 trips or demonstrations.  Then she finally drops the stick in front of him, with a look of expectation; "will he catch on? " Ta-da.  He did.  He continued throwing the stick into the water from then on.  Sam had successfully trained my boyfriend.  When I came back, he explained what she had done in wide eyed wonder, the very methodical 3 times as way of explanation/demonstration.  He was a bit taken aback when I told him he had been trained by my dog, but agreed.

This is Sam sleeping with my brother.  The one proof that she isn't all that intelligent.  He's going to kill me when he finds out I put this picture on the Internet.

I got Sam at the pound, so as far as we know, she's a lab/shepard mix.  She'd retrieve lots of stuff - sticks at the beach, balls in the park.  She was very smart, and had a sense of fairness.  I noticed this when I was an art student, working on a project with my tools beside me.  I'd occasionally reach down for something that I'd set down, and find it had been replaced with a stick.  She was always very careful to trade for things, not just take what she wanted.  Her favorite of mine was a pink eraser; I guess it was nice and chewy.  She also did her fair trade policies with random repair men -- they'd often find their screwdriver had been replaced by a stick.  

She's a good swimmer. Though, we did have to teach her how.  She disliked the thunder of the ocean as a puppy, and later in life she loved it so much it was hard to remember her early fear.  But when she was about 2 or 3, we were on a hike in Southern California, heading for the Punchbowls, which are natural springs, and found a nice clear deep pool.  It was hot, so we all played in the water.  And soon, Sam had found a stick and someone to throw it in the shallow end for her.  It kept getting thrown out farther and farther, and finally, it was too far out for her to walk to get it.  She watched our friend Deirdre swimming in the pool, and gave it a try.  That dog learned quickly.  She found she loved swimming after sticks, and after that -- she was so excited with the whole thing she got demanding about people throwing the stick in the water - it was just an excuse to swim for her.  Forever after, the ocean and any water were extremely fun places.  

The learning quickly had it's downsides.  Particularly for my mothers garden.  Sam watched my mother pruning her roses once, and went over all the areas my mother had "missed" -- nipping off all the new buds.  My mother was not pleased with that trick.  

Sam was incredibly hairy - she'd shed at least an extra dogs worth of hair a day, and have more the next. It was her duty to bark anytime there was a knock at the door, and, it was intensely important to tease other dogs who may be in their yards while she was on a walk.

When our friend Steve came over, Sam would make the most hilarious groaning and moaning noises -- he was one of her favorite people and she was very talkative with people anyway.  

Well, it's been a couple of years since I wrote much of the above, and time for an update- Sam died on May 30, 2000.  I still miss her terribly.  Sometime after she died, I was on hold on the telephone and the music was that song "Dog and Butterfly", and I was in tears --  I could barely talk to the person I was waiting for by the time they picked up the phone.  Three years later, and I still get choked up about her. 

Pete and I got a new dog, Sophie, a few months after Sam died.   I wasn't quite ready for a new dog, so she has since moved out with Pete - we still visit and hang out.   Sophie's page . 


New dog page