Sammy D, My First Boy!

My roommate Scott brought home Sam as a puppy and asked if I wanted to share ownership of him. Co- mastership of his new puppy so to speak and he said I think he likes you better anyway. Sam our new puppy proceeded to chew up every one of Scott’s valued possessions and left everything of mine untouched. Sam was a Chow Lab and was unlike any other dog I have ever met. We lived in Maryland for two years and then I moved to Colorado. Sam loved Colorado. He blossomed into super-dog when we moved to the base of Basalt Mountain. He loved the snow. Loved it. Every day for seven years he thanked me over and over again for leaving Baltimore and moving to Aspen. A friend once told me if you always have a dog you will find yourself living in better places. I find that to be true. This picture of Sammy D is from some random bush-whacking hike with TVA and Wild Bill overlooking Old Snowmass and Elk Camp. We hiked Mount Elbert twice Sam and I! 14.4K tallest in Colorado and camped on Mount Sopris many times. Sam was the most human dog I’ve ever known. For nine years he was my Yoda. He was my home. He would have loved Emma and had his hands full with Tyler, but back in the day he had Kind Dog to raise and Stinky Moe to love. Because of Stinky Moe Suzy liked me. Morgan was Torre’s red haired Golden Retriever and Kind Dog and Lukey were here pups. Sam was the Alpha Male in a six dog house. Sam knew things other dogs didn’t know like karate. Chow Karate. Whenever a really big dog would bear down on him he would always somehow flip them on their backs dive into the dog’s jugular and hold on for the ride and they always submit whining and whimpering. Not just a few dogs, but all dogs over nine years of rarely wearing a leash. I think it was because his neck was bigger than his head and early on he became an escape artist with even the tightest collars the leash became useless. But he never wanted to be anywhere but by my side anyways so that didn’t matter unless there was a porcupine nearby. He tangled with four killed one. Prairie Dogs didn’t stand a chance when he was ninja stealth mode. Oh and UPS guys. He had gotten maised by a UPS guy back in Baltimore and he never forgot it. The drivers pulled up to one of our trucks and delivered on the roof without ever getting out of their trucks. The Fed Ex guy and mail man fine, but Sam would never again tolerate a man in brown.