Lucky Friday the Thirteenth?

This past Friday was a scary day for me and Sammy. Erik was not accepted into UNMC nursing here in Omaha, but was accepted into UNMC Kearny. Last Monday we went to Clarkson College here in Omaha to check it out and although it was great, it wasn't as great as the webpage and brouchers made it sound. That meant we had a trip to Kearny to make. So we made an appointment for Friday afternoon since that was the first day we could make it. Since we had just been there a week before, we knew that Sammy would do fine while we were busy and we didn't need to try to find a doggy sitter.
I had geomorph which ended at 11am and that was it for classes on Friday. Erik and Sammy picked me up from campus, we hit up Petco on the way out to pick up a couple chewy treats to entertain him. Then we hit the road! Sammy is so happy with car rides, boy was he excited when we hit the road. He didn't know where we were going, what we were doing, who he would get to meet, but he knew it would be a fun adventure. For a while, to our surprise, he sat on my lap looking out the window and the wonderful Nebraska corn landscape. Even a dog has to be bored by hours of that, but he didn't want to miss any part of the adventure, so he sat there trying to keep his eyes open, watching the scenery not change. Eventually he gave in and curled up on my lap, but if I moved a muscle he went back to attention staring out the window!
We made it to Axtel, and to Erik's parents house. We found his mom and pup outside. Sammy remembered the fun he had just one week ago at this place. He remembered all the running and his new friends, but more importantly he did NOT remember a leash and collar! He bounded out with so much excitement! He remembered his new doggy friend, and she remembered him! In fact, I think she was excited to see him. Erik's mom made us chili to have a nice little lunch before we went up to Kearny. During which Sammy had the run of the yard. He just ran and ran and played and played! Both the dogs came inside and played. They played so hard that Sammy lost his breakfast! He vomited on the nice white carpeting. The last time he vomited was when he ate his bone...whole. I can only imagine how much fun they must have been having in order for him to lose his breakfast he had over six hours before! And it came out in looking like little kibbles in a thick, brown gravy!
At the same time Erik and I needed to go to Kearny, his parents were going to York to have dinner with his older brother Adam and Adam's wife Rachel. They were going to bring back Rachel and their dog Bella while Adam went on a hunting trip. Sammy was going to be in his crate on the front porch, to keep him out of trouble and mischief. It had the added bonus of calming him down and letting his food resettle. We put in a rawhide for him, his pillow to get comfortable, and then we left for our tour.
After our tour, we headed back down to grab Sammy and head back to Omaha. Sammy had heard us walking up to the house, and we could hear him barking. Not a mean, protective bark, but his playful bark, so he must have known it was us. However, the door was looked and we could not enter. Erik did not have his key, the spare key was not in the garage, all the doors were locked. We were locked out......and Sammy knew it.
Erik's parents hadn't even made it to York yet so we drove into Kearny to find something to do since it was way too cold to sit outside. Pus we would have driven Sammy even more nuts. We went into town and found him a "I'm very, very, very sorry" bone that is huge (he hasn't gotten it yet though). After spending some time at target, hallmark and famous footwear, we went back down to Axtell to grab the pup.
When we arrived Sammy was unsuccessfully dividing his time among 3 people, 2 dogs and 1 cat. He was a very happy puppy. It might have made up for leaving him in there much longer than intended. Plus, I got to meet Bella. Bella is a very happy and sweet black lab. A large black lab. So large that she is up to my hips, and I know I am not very tall (5'2") and I have a dog that might stand a foot off the ground, but that is still a tall dog! It was weird not having to bend down to pet her. Sammy came to say hi to us when we got there, but then went back to his new friends. It was so cute seeing Sammy and Bella play. Sammy couldn't reach Bella's head, even from standing on his hind legs! As Bella walked, Sammy ran alongside her jumping up and each of Bella's steps, licking her on the face. Sammy still feels that is the proper hello, licking another dog on the face. Doggie daycare has helped him realize that other dogs like to sniff, so he isn't as weirded out by other dogs sniffing his rear end, but he doesn't usually say hello that way. (That's my dog!)
Sammy and Bella had hit it off, however his older friend, the family dog, well she was happy to see them get along and have another dog to take Sammy's energy, but she was a little jealous. She was feeling left out, and she even instigated Sammy playing with her. They play mostly by going in circles! Bella felt left out and then joined in by going in the circle behind them. All three dogs were having a ball, and all five people were having fun watching them play! It was quite the moment. See, who needs TV when you have a puppy (especially when that puppy is Sammy). At one point Sammy sat down, and he had one dog on each side sniffing him. He just stared up in the air like "it's good to be king!"
When we are sitting at home, I can easily see how big Sammy is getting. I can see how tall those little legs are getting! We have a smaller apartment and not alot of things cluttering it up, so he looks like the perfect size for our place. Plus he is bigger than some of our neighbor dogs. Then when you see Sammy take down treats meant for dogs much bigger than he, he begins to look larger than he really is. Reality snapped right in place when I watched him play with the other two dogs, especially Bella. Reality also snapped in showing how special of a pup he is to be able to play with dogs probably 3 times his size and who are much older not of puppy playing age. In the car, he quickly fell to sleep from all the playing. Then he slept the whole night. Probably dreaming of more playdates with his new friends.
He doesn't know it, but he is looking forward to Thanksgiving. Sammy and I have this trip on the typically unlucky day, to be thankful for. We get to keep our little family unit in Omaha, and Sammy gets to go where he can play with both dogs and the cat, lots of people, and NO leash or stake and rope!

The Dog in the Speaker

Last night after I got off work, Sammy and Erik were relaxing watching Futurama. When I came in Sammy was on the ground next to his bone on the ground looking very drowsy. I always like when he looks tired when I get home from work, maybe I can relax. Usually that is not the case. Even when he looks tired, my sweet little Sam will wake up and be full of energy and want a play session. It is almost more scary when he is just fine sleeping when I get home.

Anyway, so I come home to a tired looking puppy. He was tired! Sammy didn't want to dissappoint though. He jumped right up, ears up, smile big, tounge hanging out and eyes sparkling! It really is the best way to come home, to a puppy at the door waiting for you. Sammy wanted to want to play, but he really was just too tired. Erik was on the couch, so after giving Sammy a proper hello, taking off my coat and dropping my bag down, I decided to join him. Sammy just laid down on the middle of the floor. I'm not the biggest fan of Futurama, not a bad show, enjoyable, but not something I miss when I don't see it. But it was particularly enjoyable considering the lucky circumstances where Sammy was comfortable without a game of hide and go seek.

A new episode starts and it has something or another to do with whats-his-name (the main character who is in the future but from our "time") somehow got his dog. Well, something with they found a dog remains and it was just right so they could get the DNA and clone him, so he could have his dog with him in the future. Honestly, for my intents and purposes it doesn't matter. It was funny, but as you can probably gather, I was distracted from the show and didn't quite get the full story (I should probably rewatch it and figure it out). This dog, like all dogs, liked to bark. Sammy was all sorts of distraught about this barking! We were watching from the boxset dvd that was in the game system in the living room (not sure which, its all the same to me) where the sound is wired through our stereo. I promise I am half explaining this for a reason, this means the dog sound is good and is coming from the speaker on the floor alongside the tv. Sammy was in the middle of the room asleep.

This sudden dog barking during Sammy's slumber woke him up, and startled him! When he jumps awake suddenly, like humans it's not so graceful. He was all stretched out and so when he jumped his front end (head neck and front paws) bounced up, and his rear end (butt and back paws) was also lifted up. As for that long middle corgis are so well known for...still on the ground! It's really funny and cute to see. Not so cute is the alarm written on his eyes. Corgis are little (very little) protectors. For a while he barked at Erik for touching me (boy did that make things happy around here). No hugs allowed, according to Sammy, unless it was Sammy! Sammy wanted to make sure there wasn't another dog in his apartment without him knowing. He didn't see anything, so I think he thought he dreamed it, and relaxed back on the floor. Then the dog barked again, and Sammy jumped right to attention, looked around the apartment. Nothing. Went to the door looked into our "yard." Nothing. He was baffled. As if on cue, the dog on tv didn't just bark twice like before, but a more constant bark. Sammy knew it was here, here somewhere. He looked at the speaker. BINGO! No dog though, so he stood up and walked towards it. No dog. Walked to the back side, sniffed the back. No dog. Looked behind the tv. No dog.

Bark, bark bark! He ran back around and stared at the front side of the speaker. Then he did the thing where he cocks his head back and forth trying to understand. Finally the dog barking subsided. Temporarily.

A few minutes later, the dog barked again. He jumped right to the speaker and stared at it! Then like a sudden ephinany, he looked up at the tv screen. Sammy was watching Futurama with us! He was cocking his head back and forth and watching the screen. When a dog (either that dog or the robot dog (Bender's dog)) would bark, his attention would divert to the speaker, but right back to the tv. Soon, he was a dog again, and was not at all interested in the images on the tv and laid down again. But any time that dog would bark, he watched the speaker just in case a dog jumped out!

Cuddle Bug

Often when I sit down to write, my inspriation comes from the silly things Sammy does that makes me laugh. The stuff I want to tell everyone that helps show Sammy's happy, energetic, cute and unique personality. Many times I just don't want to forget that moment, that silly and strange, never to happen again (probably) time; I want it available to me at any moment. (It doesn't hurt he has so much, I don't want to forget it.) The best part about talking about those times is reviewing that moment again and again trying to write it out to the best of my ability, I can think of how lucky and blessed I am to have those times, and Sammy. I can really think about those funny times and replay it, take the time to smell the roses, and catalog it in my memory. It adds new light to those special times.
When I sat down with a little bit of extra time to talk about my latest adventures with Sammy, the first thing that came to my mind was not that silly moment. Although there was no shortage of those funny times, it is not those I want to reflect upon. This past week was a very difficult week for my small little bubble, for many reasons. Mainly work and school dominated the week portion. Overnight on Monday, World Civ 2 test on Thursday and my big scary paper rough draft due Friday. Erik also had two papers to work on and changed departments at work. In anticipation of this week and the stresses it held, we put Sammy into a day of doggie day care on Wednesday. We got up bright and early, 6am. Ok, it wasn't bright and Sammy was unhappy about the time of day, but it was early. We got up, threw some clothes on and fed the Samster. We were off to Bone Jour. We could drop him off as early as 630am, so we aimed for 7am. We were right on time. We made it to the door before we had someone estatic to see Sammy. He knew right where he was, and he was excited! We went to the small dog room and found the Sammy "yard." (I choose to call it a yard because it makes me feel better. They have the pens set up with a picket fence as the perimeter of each crate. The floor is astroturf like material, the base is painted with grass. Then there is a sky painted with clouds and a plane.) The picket fence had his name and the "yard" had a bed for him. I brought a blanket, his bunny stuffed animal and a couple of rawhides for him. We put him in and had to walk away. I cried. Yep, I imagine it was like leaving your kid at daycare. I know that is probably offensive to people with kids who have done this, but I'm sure the feeling was similar. I just wanted to let him know I was coming back and see what he did, how he responded to the other dogs and what dogs would be his BFF's. I just couldn't voice it to him, well I could and he would try to understand and he might even, but you never know.
All day I looked at the clock wondering what he was doing. Between school and work, I couldn't brave going home to an empty apartment, so I went to work an hour and a half early. I watched and watched the clock at work just waiting for 6 to roll around so I could go get Sammy. Boy did I speed down 72nd! I got in and the lady called for Sammy. He stumbled out of the door about half asleep, I called his name and his ears perked up and he put as much energy as he could into running to see me. It was a beautiful moment! I grabbed his report card and we went home. He passed out in the car and the only way I could get him out was asking him if he wanted dinner. We went in he had dinner and slept for the next 14 hours! It was a pain to make him potty! His report card said he played with all the dogs and "wasn't shy at all" (underlined twice). It said he played ball and enjoyed playing outside. His best friends from the day were Charlie and Chloe. I am unsure of who Charlie is, but Chloe was the retriever/lab mix puppy from the previous time. I was so happy for him, and that he got to play with his old BFF.
Thursday was a sleepy day for him but he went on a 3 mile walk with us, so it was good. I came home from work that night and I had to get going on my paper. He wanted attention, so I couldn't get much done til after Erik got home. We had taco bell and came back and they were both so sweet and stayed up with me while I panicked about my paper and how crappy it was. Erik went to bed and Sammy stayed with me. He stayed with me ALL night through my all nighter. He was so sweet. He stayed next to my leg or climbed up on my lap! He curled up in the blanket next to me, anything to stay with me. I put him in bed with Erik, and he went to the corner and whined to come out. I couldn't believe it. It was one of the cutest things I had ever seen. He was exhausted and uncomfortable, but it didn't matter. I went to class and came back and he bounded to see me. After all the staying awake and dissappointment and stress from the paper, it was wonderful to have him so excited to see me. I had our whole day planned to. We were planning on heading back to Axtell, Erik's home, for the weekend after Erik got off work. I was gonna come home, take a nap, get up hit petco for travel rawhides, get him a bath and brushing, pack all three of us up and ready for Sammy's first road trip!
Unfortunately that isn't quite how it worked. It proved to be a very difficult day for Erik and I and Sammy was not comfortable with it. I felt bad for him, he saw alot of emotions he hadn't seen before. He wasn't sure of what to do, but he was quick to curl up next to me. It was very comforting to have him right there. After everything worked out, we quickly assembled our stuff and hit the road early. Off for Sammy's first big road trip!
We barely made it out of town before he was passed out. He slept the whole way! We drove into the sun, so it was probably good, hard to see anything. As soon as we got there, Erik had to say hello to his pup there. They have a shar-pei mix with lab or chow or both. Very pretty dog. She has a sad story, and for that she has a unique, stubborn personality. With her personality, as the story goes, she gained the same Shithead. Over time the name had to soften, so as it is spelled the same it is pronounced shith-eed. Allow it is quite a funny and witty story, I always feel bad using her name so I usually refer to her as Erik's pup. She is very sweet and very loyal to the family. She is not easily persuaded to allowing strangers, or acquaintance, or even friends to allow petting her. We were unsure of how she would feel about a bounding, little (respectively), playful puppy running around. Also, just how Sammy would react to all the room he could want. We knew he would not run away, or if he did, come back quickly, I was just curious to how much room he would use, how far away from people he would be comfortable, what he would find the most interesting, all of those things. The dogs got along, actually quite well. We knew they would be fine since they were both good natured dogs, but we didn't expect her to want play with Sammy. He got her to run a little! It was so much fun to see.
Upon arrival, they were introduced. They were allowed to run around and do what they need to do to meet. Us, people, went in and had some pizza. We fed Sammy, watched them play a little, and then we sat to watch a movie, "Changeling." Sammy did very well until about 1 hr, 45 min. Then he had to go to the bathroom. Erik and I kept thinking the end is just a couple of minutes away, but it wasn't. Not until 2 hrs, 15 min was the end complete. I made it until 2 hrs, 10 min before I took him out. After the movie, the real challenge came. Bedtime.
Although we have moved, Sammy has always had us and out sheets and smells for bed. This time, we had us, but a new enviornment, new bed, smaller bed, new sheets. It took a few before Sammy figured out it was time to calm down. Then he and Erik had to figure out how to get comfortable. The next morning we got up and had breakfast and went to our day. Sammy had no idea what he was in for! Erik's mom, Sue, wanted to take us into town (Kearny). We were there to do some Christmas shopping and furniture shopping. I was able to finally see the infamous Herbergers (or as I call it The Huntzbergers). We went to many Christmas decoration stores after that. It was alot of fun. As for Sammy, he got to stay at home with Tom, Erik's dad. He was at home finishing up a project. This entailed going back and forth from workshed to workshed. Nothing could have made Sammy happier. He got to follow and watch what people do. He got to do it without a collar and leash! What a lucky pup he was. Sammy is very inquisitve. He wants to know what people do and why they do it. So he just followed, I assume being diverted every now and then by a leaf or animal or smell. We came back and he looked like those photos you see of older corgis that are doing their purpose of herding and such around the farm. It was amazing to see! I made him come play with me. He found Sneezy, the cat. Sammy hasn't had much luck with cats, and Sneezy isn't much of an exception. Sneezy has back up with Erik's pup, and Sammy frequently gets outnumbered. He found Sneezy alone and chased him! Chased him right up a tree! (I had never actually seen a cat run up a tree before, that was cool!) But Sammy was quite content yet, he stood at the bottom guarding it in case Sneezy was going to make a fast one! I was so proud of him! Probably a silly thing to be proud of, but he was playing with the cat and was being a good farm/ranch dog. He didn't just let Sneezy get the best of him, but also wasn't a mean dog about it either.
Later we had dinner and watched the Nebraska game. In that time Sammy also stood up to Erik's pup then also. Although it isn't necessarily smart to act bigger than you are to a dog much bigger than you, I was proud not to see him just roll on his back or cower at all. It was good for Sammy to get pushed around a little, so he doesn't just think he is my baby, but it was also good to him not just take big dogs either. I think both dogs grew from it, gained a respect for each other. I think both were a little sad to split later that night. We hit the road after the game. We, all three of us, were very tired. I would have preferred to wait til the morning and just leave extra early, but Erik preferred to just go now, and he was the driver. We hit the road. I tried to stay awake, I really did, but I was just too tired. I got comfortable and drifted away. Originally Sammy had had enough of the commotion in the front seat and jumped to the back on his pillow before we even made it to the highway. Erik later told me that after I curled up on the pillow, Sammy curled up with me. He tried his best to sleep with me. All day today I kept thinking about how lucky I was to have my little cuddle pup. A puppy that is perfectly happy to sleep by himself, but also curls up with me when he senses I need it. A puppy, who just shy of 7 months, can win over older dogs, little pups at doggie day care, petstore employees who see tons of dogs, open "dog people," skeptical "dog people," and who always amazes me in a new way.
This a moment, a weekend, a feeling that I don't want to forget. This is a special dog and a special week, I just want to remember all of it!

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

All dogs do silly, unexpected, cute things. It makes every dog different, gives them character. Sammy has more character than most.

Some dogs watch TV. Sammy does.

Some dogs like to lick the sweat from pop bottles and cups. Sammy does.

Some dogs like to slide on slides on swing sets. Sammy does.

Some dogs like to make forts behind couches and chairs to hide rawhides. Sammy does.

Some dogs beg for ice cubes. Sammy does.

Some dogs like to sleep on top of pillows above your head. Sammy does.

Some dogs like to eat the squeakers out of every toy. Sammy does.

Some dogs fall asleep like babies on car rides (even just down the block). Sammy does.

Some dogs play hide and go seek or BOO! Smmy does.

Some dogs can drink out of cups and eat off forks like people. Sammy does.

Some dogs know cell phone ringers. Sammy does.

Some dogs don't want to be destructive when you leave and they miss you, they just want to pull out every piece of gum from the gum package from your purse, and leave it in a circle around the living room without a torn wrapper or bite mark to be seen. Sammy does.




Sammy has alot of character.

Sammy likes to look at himself in the mirror. Yep. I can just hear his little head going...."WOW is that a dog! I wish I could play with him! Look at that smile and ears. Why can't I run into more dogs like you? Your perfect!" Then his moment is ruined when something moves, like I appear behind him in the mirror. Then he realizes, "Oh man, it's not a new dog friend, it's me!" Poor guy. It just ruins his new friend idea. Erik thinks he looks at himself because he is a vain dog; because I call him the cutest, most beautiful dog in the whole world. (In my defense, have you seen him?) I don't believe it. I just see his eyes and smile drop when he sees that movement....I can almost hear that big heart of his crack, beginning to break.

This morning was one of those days. He was having a conversation with himself. Just 2 minutes before my alarm went off, I was laying in bed with Sammy on my side. Off the side of the bed on the wall is our closet. Our closet doors are mirrors. (Very nice! And it helps to lighten up the small room and makes it look so much bigger! Kodos Kensington!) Sammy was laying down with his rear end (frog dogged) on my arm and head looking straight forward toward the mirror. He was not barking, persay, more raar-rrer-aa-r-aa-rre, weird unique Sammy sound. It's so weird. I swear he is trying to talk like a human. I'm not sure if he does this because he is learning not to bark from the bark collar, because he wants to talk like a person, or because he disn't want to wake me up. Anyway, there is was making this weird, not doggie voices to himself in the mirror. The best part, his ears perk up as he's making noises, and he was cocking his head, like he does when he tries to figure out what people are saying .....or when timers beep.

It was all ruined when I pulled my hand up to cover my mouth so he wouldn't hear me laugh. But with that little movement, ears went back down, noises stopped, smile fell. I had ruined his PBFF (pretend BFF).

He often sees his reflection in the window that looks out on our "yard." He doesn't make noise since some vindictive squirrel walks by or leaf has to fly by. It quickly ruins his fictious world. Speaking of leaves flying. Sammy feels it is his duty to capture every flying leaf! It's fall, so that is no small task. When we talk little walks or potty breaks, Sammy is on the job running after every leaf that moves! He runs, captures it and carries it til the next one moves, then drops it and goes for the next one. This is all fine and good, and actually quite cute .....that is until one of two things happen. First, very self explanatory, if he is in the process of doing his "business." Or second, if we are inside.

Friday evening, Sammy and I were enjoying our end of the week by chilling inside away from the sparatic rain showers. I enjoyed some Gilmore Girls (season 5 marathon) while Sammy felt he was not fulfilling his sole purpose of life....to chase the leaves. Mind you, if he was outside, he would feel the rain and sad-eye his way back to the door to seek refuge. Thus, he sat in front of the sliding glass window to watch the chaos. When a leaf would run by he would attack! Attack the window! He clawed, licked, even tried to bite the window to the leaves! Very funny for the first ten minutes. I let him out, he came back in. Attacked the window some more. I let him out. He begged to come back in and attacked the window yet again. I thought I could be smart, but him on his rope and opened the door just enough that he could go in and out. It didn't work, he sat inside and still clawed at the door. I resorted to closing the door so I wouldn't have to freeze, and thought he could attack the window until his little heart was content or claws tired. How long could that take anyway? Half hour? A half hour later, he was growling at the window. Ok, how about an hour? An hour later he was on his back trying to push the door up. Two hours? Two hours later he had his nose smashed in the corner trying to re-open the door. I let him out again. He went to the bathroom and ran right back in to his post.

Now the wind has come up and he is frantic to get to those leaves. I really did feel bad for him. I especially felt bad that he felt it was his obligation to get all of the leaves. I'll cut to the chase, he attacked that window until dusk, probably because he could no longer see all the leaves. It had exhausted him and he was ready to sleep all night long.

That was until he saw his PBFF in the window. Now he had his friend back.