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My husband, Lou has always,
since I have known him, loved to fish and hunt ducks and
geese. He truly would rather go duck hunting than eat. Many
years ago, when we lived in Granite City, IL a friend of a
friend gave Lou a black Labrador retriever. He was just a
pup then. He was a registered dog with papers. He had a
long, long name given to him by the previous owner. But it
was too long for anyone to remember, so the name was
shortened to Sam. My husband built him a dog house and
erected a fence around it to keep him from running off.
Sam was
my husband??™s constant companion, except when he was at work.
We lived
on a lake called Long Lake. We took the kids swimming
in the lake and when our youngest son was just a baby, maybe
three years old, Lou took all three of the kids swimming and
took Sam along with them. He had just gotten a movie camera
and he took movies of the kids swimming and of Sam jumping
off the dock to retrieve a stick my husband had thrown out
and told Sam to fetch.
Later
when we were viewing the movie, Lou reversed the film when
Sam jumped off the dock and the kids just thought that was
hilarious.
We lived
next door to a couple who had a miniature
Manchester dog. His name was
Tiny. He was not much bigger than a Chihuahua. Of course,
where there was another dog, Sam would always be there if he
could. They also had beagles. So, naturally when Sam was
allowed to be out of his pen, he would always go next door.
One
night my husband took our youngest son next door with him
and Sam followed. They were just standing out in the back
yard talking to the neighbor. Sam went up to our neighbor
and hiked his leg and urinated on him. Our neighbor, who
shall remain anonymous, let out a string of expletives that
would curl your hair. That night after they came back home,
our little son came in the kitchen where I was and said,
???Mom, that ba----d pis??”d on Mr. Black.??? (not his real name)
He was repeating what he had heard our neighbor say. I
nearly passed out from laughing. Not that it was funny what
he said, but he was only three years old and it just sounded
so funny to hear him come out with that sentence.
By the
next summer we had a baby girl, Deneen. She became very fond
of Sam. When she was two years old, I took movies of her one
day as she was playing with the dog. She put her arms around
his neck and just loved him. He was bigger than she was at
that point. We still have those movies of her loving old
Sam.
Later my
husband, Lou took the dog with us when we went to visit his
mother in Chester, IL. She lived on a small
community lake and there was a dock out in back of her house
on the lake.
Lou, his
mother, Deneen, our son, Nathan, Sam and I were all standing
on the dock. It was old and dilapidated and all of a sudden
it collapsed. Deneen was the only one who fell in the water.
She was almost three at that time. My husband, Lou told Sam
to fetch and he swam out in the water and we told Deneen to
grab hold of his neck and he pulled her in to the bank. Of
course, if he hadn??™t been there one of us would have jumped
in and saved her. But he was there and he saved her from
drowning.
One day
after we had moved from Granite City, IL to St. Charles, MO, it was thundering and
lightning and a storm was brewing. I came home from doing
the grocery shopping and I carried the groceries in and was
putting them away and I heard a noise coming from our
bedroom which was directly across the hall from the front
entrance.
I went
to see what it was and I was frightened by a big black dog
in my bedroom. It was dark in there because of the storm and
when I was carrying the groceries in, the storm door must
have been open long enough for Sam to sneak in. He was
deathly afraid of storms and I tried to get him out of the
bedroom and he growled at me. I said, ???O.K. Bud you just
stay in there till your master comes home. I won??™t bother
you.??? He was too big for me to handle, about 150 lbs. So, I
just left him in there. No way was I going to try to change
his mind.
Sam was
getting pretty old by then. He started getting heart worms
and he was getting arthritis. Then he got really bad. One
night my husband let him stay in the basement because he was
sick. We heard him running into things and crying or whining
and he just couldn??™t function anymore. So, my husband took
him to the Veterinarian and he said there was nothing he
could do for him but put him out of his misery. He gave him
a shot and put him to sleep. My husband came home and cried
like a baby. I cried with him. It was really sad. Sam was
sixteen years. He had been a wonderful companion for our
kids and a hunting buddy for my husband. What better
tribute for a friend.
Sam By
Nell Berry 5/3/04
nmberry@mcmsys.com
I am 73
years old. My husband, Lou and I have been married almost 54
years. We have four grown children and nine grandchildren. I
like to sew, cook, crochet, sing in Church, and write short
stories and poems/song lyrics. We live at Mark Twain Lake in Missouri.
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Blessings to you today
Bob Johnston
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