To me, September 11th is not just the day the Twin towers came crashing down,  in 2013, on that very same day, my dog that has been with me since I was two years old, passed away from tumors that were swallowing up his stomach. Chester was a dopey, extremely fat, sausage-shaped basset hound who always smelled like Cheetos. The loss hit my family hard, we cherished that dog. A week went by without him, then a month, and my house was changing without him there. There were no more eye boogies on the walls from him rubbing his face against the corners and the smell of Cheetos was going away. My other dog, Sophie, was lonely, I could tell. She loved Chessy. On the day we were taking him to be put to sleep, she ran out the garage door and hopped in the back of our Volvo, as if to say, “Wherever he’s going, I’m going too!”

I remember sitting on the couch with my computer in my lap, watching a show called Too Cute that follows the lives of puppies from birth to when they’re adopted and,  suddenly, I was typing in breeders for various kinds of dogs. Subconsciously I had decided it was time to get Sophie another friend, to get another dog to messy up our house. So, I showed my dad information about breeders and dog breeds, and immediately he was on board- my dad is always up for another animal in the house. My mom was more skeptical, but I could tell deep down she was excited at the prospect of another furry child. My dad has always wanted a German Shepherd, ever since he was a little boy, so we decided that was the breed for us. We talked to a breeder and before we knew it, we were supposed to pick our puppy out in the beginning of December.

December 2014
In the beginning of the month, we went to North Carolina to pick out our puppy. Both of my sisters came home to help make the decision. We had all agreed that we’d get a boy and name him Sampson. When we finally arrived, we met with the breeder, his name was Walt and he wanted to give us the grand tour. It was wonderful to see the facilities that he had and all his dogs but I was too excited to see the puppies to really pay attention to much of the it. He finally took us into the house and we saw seven pairs of black, glassy eyes staring up at us from a giant box. For a while, my family and I just sat and loved on all the attention-hungry three week old puppies and didn’t worry about making a decision. One of the two males was obviously the “alpha”. He had a red collar on, and was full of personality. He sat in the middle of all of us, and whined and howled when we were paying attention to any of his litter mates. He was ridiculously cute. The other male, who had a blue collar, was much more timid than his red collared brother. He looked like a fluffy teddy bear. My mom had been paying more attention to him while the rest of us were busy with his sibling. My mom was sweet-talking him and he looked right at her as if he were listening and understanding what she was saying.

“Are you gonna be my Sampson? Would you like to be my Sampson?” She asked softly, petting his head. He was looking directly into her eyes. She passed him around and when it was my turn to hold him, I could smell the wonderful scent of puppy breath. I hugged all over him and felt how warm he was. I talked to him and he looked right into my face with his tongue hanging out. It was decided: we were going to get the blue collared boy. He was going to be our Sampson. We had to leave him there for another two weeks, so he could nurse on his momma more. Which worked out nicely, because I would be on Christmas break, regardless, those were the two longest weeks of my life.

Break finally came around and so was the time to finally pick up Sampson. We met Walt half-way so we didn’t have to drive the entire four hours. Sampson had grown so much in just two weeks. His ears were fluffier, one was standing up, the other still floppy, his paws were enormously unproportional to the rest of his now five-week old body. I was convinced they took up the majority of his 6.8 pounds. On the way home he mostly slept. We played with him regardless, passing his limp body around so we could all enjoy his sweet puppy smell and warmth again. 

When we finally got home, the first thing we had to do was introduce him to Sophie. Sophie wasn’t used to being around other dogs, and we were all on edge because we were worried she was going to decide she didn’t like him. She came into the room, and Sampson went right up to her and the sniffing commenced. It was as if she was trying to inhale every puppy particle she could, drooling all over him in the process. He was sopping wet by the time she was done. She went into a playful stance with her rump up in the air and her fore-paws on the floor. Sam took the invitation with joy and she began to tumble and chase all around the living room. Soon, it started to smell like dog breath. She had worn Sam out and on his way to the water bowl, he plopped down and immediately went to sleep.

That’s basically how the first month went with him, he would play either with Sophie or one of us and then randomly fall down and pass out. If there was a loud thud, it was most likely Sam literally falling asleep on the kitchen tile floor.

January 2015

In mid-January, Chesterfield, Virginia got its first snow storm. School was canceled and I was so happy because all I wanted to do was spend time with Sam. He had gained probably ten pounds  and seemed to be growing by the hour. His personality was really starting to show; he loved his Sophie and his crate where he slept at night. His mischievousness was revealed when he would steal things, especially shoes, pillows, underwear, and bras. He would steal something and then look at us and wait for one of us to chase him around. It was never so much about having something to chew on, it was more about having someone to chase him around.

He’d never seen snow before. When we went out in the yard, he went crazy and darted all around the back yard. He would stick his face in and  bite the snow and then run off again. He loved it. I would make snowballs for him and he would carry them around- when it was time to go in, he would even bring them in the house and lick on them. 

Afterwards, he would immediately go to his blanket and begin to suck on it. We called it his “Momma Blanket” because he nurses on it for comfort and to calm himself down (which he still does today and he’s three years old). He would suck on his Momma after every play session, walk, and adventure. Snow most definitely required some nursing on his blankey.

February 2015

In the beginning of the month, we started going to training lessons with Sampson. He was only two months old but he was growing fast and we needed to take control of him. He learned how to open the lower kitchen cabinets with his mouth, where he found entire collections of things to steal. He also started to tear things up- teething was a painful time for him, and a painful time for us as we were his favorite chew toys.

It is safe to say that Sam is one of the smartest dogs I have ever seen. He learned fast, and had a drive to try new things. German shepherds are naturally high-driven dogs- a perfect working breed. Sampson was no different: first lesson, he had sit and stay down. For a dog that has severe A.D.D., he was very patient and attentive.

April 2014

Fast forward to April; my sister, Meaghan, who was still a student at University of Virginia at the time, was starting to really miss Sampson, so we brought him to Charlottesville. This was his first long car ride. He and Sophie were pretty good in the car, except for occasional dog fart that would transform the car into a toxic gas chamber- those were God-awful.

For lunch, we went to Chartlottesville’s Downtown Mall. It was a perfect place to bring the dogs, the mall was outdoors and most restaurants had outdoor seating. The dogs were surprisingly good during lunch. Sophie, who turns into a complete psychopath when she catches a whiff of food stayed on the ground for once, and Sam was just bored, having no interest in the food, he fell asleep.

Sampson and Sophie were really good, for the most part, until they saw another dog and then they would turn into ferocious, fire-breathing dragons. They would bark and cause a complete scene. It was so embarrassing, unfortunately, like Sophie, Sampson grew to have a hatred for other dogs. I suppose it was a territorial thing (another typical German shepherd traits that makes them good police and protection dogs).

Sampson created another public disturbance when he started to scream and cry as my dad walked away. Now, at this point in time, Sam was four months old, but by no means did he look it. He was way bigger than you’d think a four month old puppy should be and looked quite intimidating to people who didn’t know his personality, some were so threatened they’d snatch up their small child or dog. This scary-looking dog made the biggest cry and scream ever, everyone who witnessed this dog started to laugh, because he was just a giant baby.
That’s a good definition of Sampson, just a big, needy baby. Never judge a book by it’s cover.

May 2014

In May, my parents rescued a “pocket beagle” off the road. She was skin and bones and very meek and mild, but also so sweet. We named her Minnie. We were a little nervous for her to meet Sam because we didn’t know how she is with dogs and we knew he doesn’t like other dogs.

After heavily sniffing Minnie from nose to tail, they started to play. It took me back to December when it was Sam getting smelled to death by Sophie, it was quite relieving. They played and played and so began a beautiful friendship.

July 2014

In summer, we were looking for activities to do with our dog pack. Sampson, who was six months and 75 pounds of rambunctiousness, got bored easily and with dogs, boredom equals destruction. My mom had heard about a river beach in Yorktown, so we decided to take a day trip there with all three dogs.

The beach was very pretty however most of it didn’t allow dogs. The only area that did allow dogs had no net around it to keep the jellyfish away. We didn’t see that many so we set up our beach spot. I walked into the river and Sampson followed until he couldn’t touch anymore. He liked the water though, so did the girls. They splashed and jumped on each other, everyone was having a great time.

Suddenly Sampson started crying and his ears got all crooked; a jellyfish’s tentacles got caught on his head around his ears, the poor baby. It was very traumatic and caused him to lift his paw, which he tends to do whenever he gets minorly hurt, even if it’s not his paw that hurts. He lifts it up, whines, and looks to every single person for comfort.

After he had recovered from that ordeal, we went to the picnic tables for lunch, we all sat down and my mom went to the car. As she was walking away, he tried to run after her but got caught by his leash and started crying; flashback to Charlottesville. Oh that puppy cried and cried, he wanted his momma back, it was not okay for her to leave without him to protect her.

It was a fun day, but everyone was so tired afterwards, especially Sampson, Sophie, and Minnie.

November 2016

On the November 19th, 2016, we celebrated Sampson’s 3rd birthday. We threw our dog pack a little party, where they enjoyed delicious doggy ice cream and party hats. On that day, I found myself thinking of how much these dogs mean to me. Minnie is the sweetest little lapdog and Sophie is the polar bear with an underlayer of cuddliness that only her family get to see.

And Sampson… is the silliest best friend one could ever ask for. He’s the type of dog that knows when you’re sad and will lick your tears away. Full of energy and mischief, he will nudge you or mess with your stuff to get your attention to play with him.  He’s the type of dog you’ll always remember for the rest of your life even after he’s passed on.