| |  When we got married, as I have described previously, the homestead had very large grounds for the suburbs, almost three acres. Not only did we move in my things and the Mrs. but my stepdaughter's, too, including her dog, Samantha. Now Sam was an exceptional dog in many ways. She was supposedly, according to the vet's best guess, part Golden Retriever and part beagle (although we later found out she was a true breed of retriever from Nova Scotia.) She was adorable and eager to please. She frolicked in the snow and played endlessly, even in her later years. She loved people food the best, especially pickles and ice cream. Sam was very sensitive to peoples' feelings, always wanting to cuddle when you didn't feel good. One of the things that set her apart was her great insight into things easily overlooked, and her ability to communicate it in her own way.
The best example of her uncanny ability came about in an unusual way. When we first moved in, I took Sam for a tour around the yard, so that she would know where the edge of her territory was. Since there were no fences allowed in our neighborhood, it was important for her to know. She took it all in and carefully walked on the border without much help. The exception was on the southern edge, which had a dense line of trees on it. She walked along and just kept looking up at me with a furrowed brow. Time went by and Sam never strayed from our yard with one exception. A handful of times my southern neighbor would call us to complain that our dog was on his property. The last couple of times he wasn't very friendly about it, either. In each case, we would walk over and pick her up. She would have a baffled look, something we rarely saw, I would gently scold her for her errant behavior.
One day the cable company called and wanted our permission to survey the east and south property lines so they could stay in the right-of-way. We agreed, and they set to their task. To our utter amazement, we found that our southern property line was a good 15 feet behind the trees, exactly where Sam would be found walking around! The surveyors had a good laugh, we were elated, and Samantha had just been doing her job of border patrol.
What amazing things have your pet or someone's you know, done?
|
| | Posted 4/3/2007 9:00 PM - 90 Views - 12 eProps - 6 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
