Sammy Story 32: Visit with Auntie and Uncle

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I had to go away: first for a weekend, and then for a week. Theo was away working. I could not leave Sammy in a kennel, and I didn’t want to ask his original family again. After all, they had given him to us, and we should probably get used to keeping him!


So our good friends, Frank and Val, who lived in Edmonton, agreed to babysit. The weekend away would be a trial run and if all went well, he would stay with them for the week.


He did great!


Val reported that he settled in just fine. She was his go-to safe spot like I was, and Frank took over as Ogre.
Their house was a two story with a walkout basement. Since it was winter, and the backyard was full of snow, it was decided that Sammy could do his business on their deck off the dining room in the snow. Easy to scoop up the frozen poop, and hey, Frank had no problem hosing off the deck in the spring.


When he went back to stay with them for the week, this process got changed. Val trained him to go down stairs with her and go out to the back yard. When he came back in, he would have to sit and wait while she wiped his paws. She told me they were totally entertained by Sammy and how funny he was. In the evening, during TV time, Sammy would be curled up on the couch, next to Frank, getting petted, eating bits of snacks, happy, happy, happy. Then Frank would get up. Oh no! The Ogre is standing up! Sammy was out of there!


At night, that was his time to prowl. Frank and Val would be in their room, Sammy would be on the couch in the great room. Then they would hear him hop down and his dog tags would tinkle down the stairs while he nosed around for a drink of water.


Then Theo came for a visit. All of a sudden, Frank was okay, and Theo was The Ogre! He would curl up with Frank on the couch and give Theo dirty looks across the room. We wondered if this dog had short-term memory loss or something. He seemed incapable of remembering it was okay to be petted by one or the other of them without having to be scared.


Maybe he was hard-wired to only love one person at a time. It seems he has to have one Mommy and one Ogre at at time.

About Author

about author

Lou Rider

Mary Lou lives in Central Alberta with her awesome husband Theo and their rescue-dog Sammy.