Sam - A Dogs Tale

The Saga of Sam

Sam is a dog...a German Shepherd puppy to be exact. A big puppy...probably a half grown puppy. And yes, this is a picture of Sam in my backyard! Shocking I know! This is the saga of how Sam came to be in my backyard.

On Monday morning I was headed out to an appointment in the middle of a downpour. It was one wet and windy day. As I was coming to a stop at the stop sign at the corner of our street I noticed a very wet puppy in a big red collar run up to the porch of the house at the end of the street. "I don't think they have a dog" I thought to myself. "I wonder if that little guy is lost?" I briefly thought of calling animal services but then realized that my phone was home charging on the counter. Off I went without a second thought.

Hours later, after the rain had cleared, I went to retrieve my daughter and her friends from school. It was my week to drive carpool. As I was coming up the street I saw a young college boy and the puppy from earlier that day. I slowed to a stop in front of the house the boy and his friends are renting and rolled down my window to ask if this was his puppy his. To which he replied that this puppy had just attached itself to him as he was getting his mail. He wasn't inclined to do any more than let his cute guy wander of to an unknown fate so I decided to intervene. I called to the puppy out my rolled down window... to which he perked up his cute puppy ears and responded by lolloping alongside the car as I drove slowly down the street.

Once home I checked his big red collar for a tag. Nope! No tag! In to the back yard he went while I went inside to get him some water and a bowl of cat food. After getting him his snack I proceeded to pick up every shoe, toy and item in the back yard that may be seen as chewable by a puppy that still had his baby teeth. He had already shredded the cover off of a baseball!

At this point the kids had discovered there was a new addition to the back yard. They squealed and yelped as he licked their face and pranced around his new friends. They engaged in a rowdy game of fetch with the disfigured baseball while I went out to talk to the neighbors and see if they knew of anyone missing a puppy. No luck!

I returned to find the kids and the dog sprawled in a puppy pile on the back lawn. "We named him Sam, Mom" they said. "Are we going to keep him?" I explained the this cute, well kept, puppy had a family somewhere that was probably missing him something fierce right now and would be worried about him having gotten lost during the earlier rain. "Can we keep him if they don't want him?" came the reply. I told them we would talk about it if his family couldn't find him. I was confident that someone would claim this cute, little guy. German Shepherd puppies don't come cheap! Then I went inside to call Animal Services to come pick up Sam and help him find his way home. About an hour later three sad little faces watched Sam drive away with the nice Animal Control Lady.

The next morning the neighborhood was covered with posters advertising a lost German Shepherd puppy named Max who was sporting a red collar and had gotten loose the previous day. I called to let his family know where to find him. After school I delivered the news and the kids were understandably sad at the loss of their new friend. Then Miss E piped up. "When I think about how sad I was when Sam left yesterday, it makes me think about how really sad his family must have been to lose him. I think we did the right thing Mom." Deep thoughts coming from an eight year old. I'm glad she understands.

As for me..... I can't help but feel like I just dodged a 50 lb bullet covered in fur!