The Birthday Girl

My faithful canine running companion is three years old today.  Sam(antha) came into our lives at the end of March, 2018. We adopted her about three weeks after our sweet Rosalita died.  Rosie's death broke my heart. For the uninitiated, I am a man who not only admits - but embraces - the fact that I enjoy my dog's company to that of most humans.  Losing Rosie wrecked me. 

Samantha found her way into our lives quite by accident.  Joe, Margaret, and I drove to Home For Good Dogs Rescue in Berkeley Heights that Saturday afternoon principally interested in one of her litter mates, another female pup whose name the tag team of time and age has erased from my memory. Upon arrival, we saw our intended, wearing her "cone of shame" and screaming because she had only recently been spayed.  Margaret looked at her adorable little face, declared "She cries too much!", and went off in search of other candidates. 

It was Joe who found our girl, Samantha.  She was playing in a little penned-in area with two of her brother. I know not what it was about her that caught his eye but whatever it was, it caused her to be removed from that area to an area where Margaret could hold her and Joe could talk to her for several uninterrupted minutes.  They fell in love.  She was ours. 

Adoption Day - March, 2018

The folks from the Rescue told us when asked that it was their best guess Samantha - a "medium-sized dog" - would grow to be thirty to thirty-five pounds. 

She was ten weeks old the day we brought her home and slightly bigger than a minute...

Sam - March, 2018

Her naturally mischievous side revealed itself not too terribly long after she arrived...

Sam - April, 2018

...and has continued unabated since. 

While her spirit and her energy have neither waxed nor waned, one thing that has changed quite considerably is her size.  Our "medium-sized dog" who we expected to top out between thirty and thirty-five pounds is a muscular sixty-pound fiercely loyal, absurdly affectionate, and unbelievably spoiled hound dog whose humans love her as much as she loves them - and who is one good-looking girl to boot.

Sam - September, 2020

Spoiler alert:  We stopped calling her Samantha almost immediately upon bringing her home.  She was quite a little hellion as a puppy and, frankly, having to yell "Samantha!" every time she did something worthy of interjection was exhausting and laryngitis-inducing.  "Sam!" it became and so has it remained.  

She is my favorite running companion and an integral part of our family.   

Sam - December, 2020

It is indeed a dog's life.  One to which I am happy to bear witness.  

-AK