the sammy story.

So, back in January Max came home from preschool with a bright green (his favorite color) flyer in his backpack. It had information about a pet adoption event going on at one of the Petcos in Vancouver. We set it aside and planned to check it out. The week before we went to Petco I had been looking at dogs online. They were all cute, and some were older which kind of tugged at my heart. I realized after some time spent looking that I was trying to find a Maggie among those dogs. I knew my thinking was silly. Maggie was Maggie and no other dog would ever take her place. But she was my first dog and I couldn't imagine loving another dog as much as I loved my sweet Maggie. But I really wanted to find a dog with all of Maggie's wonderful characteristics - sweet, quiet, loving, always wanting to be with people. I suppose it's a bit hard to describe.

The adoption event day came and I went to check it out while Eric took Max to his sports class. I was sure I wouldn't find the right dog there, and was pretty sure it would be all old dogs, since those are the dogs that most need adopting. I walked in, past the Chihuahua puppies (super cute, but we wanted a big dog) and headed straight to a group of dogs in a little fenced off area. And there she was. So sweet and quiet among all the other barking dogs. I was a little afraid someone else would claim her, so they got her out and on a leash for me and I waited for Eric and Max to come. It was a bit like hovering over an item at a silent auction. You kind of want to stake your claim. I sat down and Sammy sat right in my lap. And to make a long story a little shorter - Eric and Max showed up, agreed I'd found a good little girl and we took her home.

A few things about Sammy: She came from California two days prior to the adoption event and was given the name Christina. But we didn't think Christina was much of a dog name, so we changed it to Sammy. When I took her to the vet the next week he figured she was about 6 months old based on looking at her teeth.Which would make her about 8 months now. She's black and tan, and if you mixed that up I'm pretty sure she'd be a brindle color similar to Maggie. She's a jumper. As in she can jump straight up and kiss you on the nose in a flash. She has a couple of cat-like qualities - like scurrying up the stairs, into our room and under our bed. She also likes to pounce on her toys. She's a barker. And a loud one at that. Or maybe I was just so used to Maggie never really barking at anything, I don't know. She's an angel when "dad" is around. Not so much when he's gone during the day. (What is it with my kids not behaving for me?) She's pretty calm for a puppy. Maggie wasn't this calm till she was five or six.

Last but not least, she's just really sweet.

It's really nice having a dog back in the house again. After a long and lonely six months without Maggie, our family feels complete again. And I have no doubt Maggie had a hand in sending Sammy our way. She's still looking out for us from God's doggie park.