NJ Bear Hunt   NJ Bear Overpopulation Issues

"Sammy"

Don’t know why I am writing this guess I can figure out a way to work it into my Bear Blog so if you will indulge me for a spell you might just find some good here. Sammy was our American Bulldog, a stout 65 pound female brindle color. We bought her almost eight years ago when she was (8) weeks old. Although she appeared to be real healthy we found out sometime later that she had a half paralyzed tongue. Now what this means is that she could not fully lick her chops after eating or drinking and actually she had to eat and drink from one side of her mouth. Didn’t affect her much but made quite a mess of the floor after each meal and trip to the water dish. We kept these dishes in an elevated dog dish holder so it was easier for her. My wife purchased a Hoover Floor Mate and with its water cleaning system she just followed Sammy’s drool trail around the house. Loving Sammy as much as we did it was never a problem and we got to joke about it, we called her Sammy the Drool and that was that.

Sammy was never full of real energy oh, she would hop around when we came home from work or got up in the morning. When we played with her in the yard or house she would just hop off the ground with her front paws, first one then the other like a little dance, so another nick name’ Hoppy or Hopity Hop. She was as strong as an OX though, as her family members included some championship pulling American Bulls.

She once tangled with a ground hog didn’t want to kill it, we don’t think, well she didn’t but the ground hog managed to bite her lip and then came another nickname, Scarface. The ground hog lived under a shed in our backyard, Sammy never forgot that shed and each time she went into the yard she would run to that hole and peer in, the ground hog wanted no part of her so it kept out of sight.

Sammy played a game of “team-penning” with the backyard rabbits, she was never fast enough to catch them but she would go out on the deck, stare them down, then make her hop, skip and jump run at them weaving from side to side cutting them off at each turn, but never getting closer than 10 feet from them, the rabbits liked the game.

Sammy was the ultimate watch dog and intimidator, anyone coming near the house was quickly detected she would start out with a huffing sound then escalate into a bark. Someone said she looked like a “junkyard” dog, so then came another handle, nickname; JYD.

When we moved to Vernon on a cul-de-sac backing up to acres of land we knew this was bear country. Sammy knew too as whenever we were in the yard, Sammy was by the windows. One day while my wife was gardening she heard Sammy letting out that warning huff, she looked around and sure enough just across the street a black bear was entering a small pond about (25 yards) away. My wife had enough time to reach the house as the bear came out of the pond and destroyed two trees in our yard.

One day after eating Sammy was standing there with large food drools coming out of each side of her mouth, my wife snapped a picture and it looked really scary. Her son was in Iraq at the time, part of the Air Force EOD, a bomb squad that was responsible for locating and destroying IED’S, roadside bombs. So she blew up the photo of Sammy, framed it with a caption” I Eat Those That Plant IED’S. Her Son hung it in their desert barracks and all the members asked; does your mother really own that dog?

He left the photo there for the others that were assigned to that outpost. So Sammy is a kind of Mascot for our Air force troops in Iraq.  

We looked forward to coming home each night as Sammy would always be there to greet us, she would lean to the left or right from a laying down position then ever so slowly raise a paw, like a high-five, until we grabbed it and held it.

Last night Sammy left us. After a perfect physical 3 weeks ago, an undiscovered heart tumor, not the Vet’s fault, took her. Thankfully, she did not suffer. As we stood next to her, in tears she looked up and somehow she tried to comfort us, to show us she was going to be OK, and in the end as in the beginning she came through as the loyal wonderful companion she was.

As my wife and I drove home from the emergency hospital, we dreaded going home to that empty house. Oh God, how these animals become such a part of our lives.

I was once told by a very well known dog trainer; A dog is like no other pet, when you come home they are there to greet you, happy to see you, when you are tired they lay by you, when you are sick they stay by your side, when you want to play they play, when you sleep they sleep and when you need warning of danger and protection they step up to the plate.

There are stories abound about brave dogs, in California a few weeks ago two brave dogs jumped a black bear attacking it’s owner. The woman was being bitten about the head as the bear attacked without warning as she was walking her dogs. She stated that she was about to give up as her eye socket was crushed and bleeding badly, when the two dogs stepped in giving her  hope and the  realization that these dogs were willing to sacrifice their lives for her. She made it out of there and so did the dogs. This was her Sammy.

That’s it I guess, something about bears and more a tribute to Sammy and all of your Sammy’s. Guess we are hoping that there is a dog heaven and that Sammy is looking down giving us the chance to say, Thank You Sammy, for all the good and happiness you put into our lives, for protecting us, for loving us,  we love you.

Mike D. and Denise and the Family