Finding a Buried Puppy Turns into a Family Treasure

I'll never forget the time my parents came home from walking our first dog, Pepper, with a little black Labrador only two or three days old in their hands. Evidently, someone less than humane had buried the little puppy in a few inches of dirt and left it for dead. Luckily for the puppy, which we named Sammy, my parents were walking Pepper and heard the whining coming from underneath a dirt pile.

The odds were stacked against Sammy from the get go. The veterinarian said it was a good possibility Sammy wouldn't make it, being so young and without her "mom". Her eyes and ears were still closed, so she had no idea what the world was like. For the next several weeks we had to feed Sammy with a milk bottle and have a clock ticking next to her while she was sleeping to emulate her mother's heartbeat.

Sammy did make it and she lived thirteen unforgettable years with us. As if she remembered her beginnings, Sammy took nothing for granted. Everything she did was with "gusto". When she drank water she did it with such enthusiasm it made me thirsty listening to her. Her love for the stick and ball is not uncommon for labs, but she had to win every retrieve contest. If any other dog got in the way that didn't own that ball or stick, she would make sure it was "off limits" to them.

It was hard not to fall completely in love with her. Sometimes I actually felt sorry for Pepper, because Sammy's personality dominated in every facet. It got to the point where Pepper would leave a few bites of dinner in her bowl for Sammy to finish up. Sammy wasn't a mean dog, but she let every living thing know what she wanted.

Sammy was a dog you just wanted good things to happen to. In fact, calling her a dog doesn't really give her justice on how important she was to our family for all those years. She was an equal. I would feel goosebumps on my arms just petting her, because you knew the love you showed her couldn't even come close to the loyalty and love she gave to you.

As she started to age, I remember wishing she could understand the laws of life, and nothing lasts forever. She didn't give up her passion for life, but she was limited in the things she could do. I'll never forget the first time a dog stole her stick that she was playing with. I knew she wanted to grab it back, but age was creeping up on her.

As I look back on my time with Sammy, I realize now that it wasn't her that was fortunate to have been found buried alive, but, rather our family was the beneficiary of crossing her path in her early unfortunate incident.