Joey's
story is very similar to your previous Sam's. I had applied with Seattle
Purebred Dog Rescue, and they gave my app to the Sam Club of Washington
State rescue person.*{see following post after this "novel"!)
On Wednesday, January 7, 1991 I was told there was a Sam in the PAWS (Progressive
Animal Welfare Society) shelter in Lynnwood. He had been picked up a week
earlier running loose in downtown Edmonds, about 6 miles away from the shelter.
I had requested a female dog because I prefer not to have doggy help in
watering my plants, but I decided to go any how. I couldn't take time off
from work, so I called the shelter and begged them not to put him down,
that I'd be in on Saturday. I arrived at the shelter at 10 AM and the place
was packed with humans and animals. When I opened the door to the dog kennel
area, there he was - in the first kennel right in front of the door. It
seemed to me that this was to give him the best chance at being seen and
adopted, most likely his *last* chance, because he had already been at the
shelter for 10 days and 99% of the kennels (about 4x8) had 2 dogs in them.
So there he was, this gorgeous white fluff-monster, right up at the front
of his cage trying to make eye contact with everyone that came thru the
door, his barking barely audible above the other canines' bedlam. I squeezed
thru the kennel door and he was instantly glued to me. His coat was in excellent
condition, and his ribs were (too) well covered (83 lbs weight at the vet's
later that week). The shelter estimated his age to be 11 - 12 months, but
the vet estimated closer to 8 months. As I continued to rub him all over
and get acquainted, other people were constantly flowing thru the door.
They'd look at Joey
and say things like, "My, look at all that *hair*! Too much work!",
"O, a white dog! Impossible to keep clean!" And I just thought,
"Morons. He's the best dog here. Well, keep walking on - he's mine!!"
I had to do some fast talking with the PAWS counter person; because I'm
single and work full-time and commute about 3 hours a day, she felt that
he'd not get enough attention and at first declined to let me adopt him.
This may have been a ploy to see how sincerely interested I truly was and
if I knew what I was getting into. So I explained that I had been considering
what breed to get for three years, had decided a couple years previous that
a Sam would be the ideal dog for me (good huggable size, a friendly attitude
that wasn't prone to attacking/biting, lots of soft hair to brush while
watching Star Trek, not such a popular breed that the market was flooded
with poor health risks, a breed history of herding that would hopefully
help him bond well with my horses without chasing and harassing them) and
that this dog would be my "kid". So the PAWS rep relented, and
after keeping him for neutering surgery, Joey
came home on January 13, 1991. You want to know how quickly he settled in.
Hmm, that depends on what you mean by "settled in." He bonded
to me immediately, in fact he had extreme separation anxiety. Not only did
he insist on being in the bathroom when I showered, but slid the shower
doors open to make sure I didn't escape down the drain and abandon him.
However, it was about 1-1/2 years before I could trust him off leash when
I was home. He's now about 98% reliable. Those first months of dealing with
his barking, his shredding my plants, his jetting off on warp-20 self-guided
tours of the neighborhood would have been considerably easier if a) I'd
been on-line and SamFans existed then; b) my five acres was dog-proof fenced
so he could run off energy at home; c) I had joined the Sam Club to meet
more Sam owners; d) met my friend Robin who owns Sams and is a firm but
loving professional canine behaviorist; e) started stockdog training sooner
(tired dog = happy owner), f) had a fully trained dependable trail horse
to take Joey out on the trails with. But now, although I like almost all
dog breeds, I am a devoted Sam Fan. I just had to alter my sense of humor
and "go with the flow", and put my books down and get out more.
My life has a better balance for having been adopted by Joey.