Meet Sammy, a gentle 4-year-old Golden Retriever. He has lighter cream and blonde coloring and has a constant smile on his face. He is a real gem. We had a vet appointment today and he is UTD on all vaccinations and preventatives. He is a little on the thin side, though, so needs to put on some weight.
Sammy came to RAGOM in a round-about way and all I can say is that he is a testament to the resilience of some dogs. A neighbor, after seeing him neglected and not able to stand it any longer, talked his owner into giving him up. Sammy was badly matted and thin. He stayed with her for two weeks and then with another person for three weeks before he came into our care. They couldn’t get his mats out with a brush so had to resort to cutting them out, along with much of his beautiful Golden feathering. He looks a little like a ragamuffin right now. I’m going to take him to my favorite groomer to get him touched up, with the goal of keeping as much of the remaining feathering as we can!
In spite of his history, Sammy is easy-going and about as perfect as they come. He has incredibly open and lovey energy. He is a happy boy and loves his people more than anything and always wants to be close. When he first got here, he quickly learned it is much easier to snuggle if he is up by me on the couch—he is a complete love bug. His other favorite snuggle partner is Pixie, a Terrier/Beagle mix we are watching. The first night he was here, I was pondering what the best sleeping arrangements would be for him. I went into the bedroom and he followed me in and hopped up on the bed, so I left him there. Later when I was reading in bed, Pixie was right up next to me and I looked down and Sammy was laying next to her using her as a pillow. They’ve been inseparable since.
Pixie and Sammy taking a snooze on the couch.
Sammy LOVES to go for walks and get exercise. I don’t think he has ever been walked on a leash, so I’ve been exploring what works best for him. The first day I tried using a flat collar leash, but he chokes with any pressure on his neck, so I switched to an Easy Walk harness. He pulled quite a bit with that too, so I finally dragged out a Gentle Leader and he is quickly getting the hang of that. With more practice, he’ll be a pro. When we get back in the house after walking or playing, he immediately chills out. He is well-behaved, mellow, and beyond words affectionate.
Is it time to play? Is it time to snuggle? I sure do love you!
We haven’t been gone for any periods of time yet, so I need to test how he does when we are away. He had free roam with the family that cared for him prior to coming into our care. He does fine with cats. The previous person also said he is great with children of all ages, so I look forward to seeing how he does with a family member’s toddler. He had one marking incident the first day he was here, but no accidents since. He has no resource guarding of any kind. The only issue we’ve run into with the other dogs is that he keeps whacking them in the face with his wagging tail, so there is a lot of squinting going on.
Sammy is doing great going out on a leash to do his business. If he gets plenty of exercise, he will not require a house with a fenced yard. He has excellent recall unless something grabs his attention, then he has selective hearing. He is very interested in all the outside smells and sounds so will need firm boundary training. Sammy will need a person or family that can give him consistent exercise and regular opportunities to run full throttle, i.e. at a dog park. I don’t think anyone has ever played ball or fetch with him. He is super attentive and so eager to please, so obedience training will be perfect for him. He has not had any training, so I am starting with basic commands: sit, down, stay, come. It will be so rewarding to work with him and help this beautiful boy be the best dog he can be. He is so ready to be a faithful companion, and is about as sweet as they come!
Keeping us company (and chewing on a bone) while we put shelves in the shed.
The sweetest boy ever
If you think you may be a good match for Sammy, please contact your placement advisor. We will update more as we learn more about him!
| Mixed Breed | Born: July 2009 |
| Male | Weight not specified |
Status: Adopted
Meet Sammy, a gentle 4-year-old Golden Retriever. He has lighter cream and blonde coloring and has a constant smile on his face. He is a real gem. We had a vet appointment today and he is UTD on all vaccinations and preventatives. He is a little on the thin side, though, so needs to put on some weight.
Sammy came to RAGOM in a round-about way and all I can say is that he is a testament to the resilience of some dogs. A neighbor, after seeing him neglected and not able to stand it any longer, talked his owner into giving him up. Sammy was badly matted and thin. He stayed with her for two weeks and then with another person for three weeks before he came into our care. They couldn’t get his mats out with a brush so had to resort to cutting them out, along with much of his beautiful Golden feathering. He looks a little like a ragamuffin right now. I’m going to take him to my favorite groomer to get him touched up, with the goal of keeping as much of the remaining feathering as we can!
In spite of his history, Sammy is easy-going and about as perfect as they come. He has incredibly open and lovey energy. He is a happy boy and loves his people more than anything and always wants to be close. When he first got here, he quickly learned it is much easier to snuggle if he is up by me on the couch—he is a complete love bug. His other favorite snuggle partner is Pixie, a Terrier/Beagle mix we are watching. The first night he was here, I was pondering what the best sleeping arrangements would be for him. I went into the bedroom and he followed me in and hopped up on the bed, so I left him there. Later when I was reading in bed, Pixie was right up next to me and I looked down and Sammy was laying next to her using her as a pillow. They’ve been inseparable since.
Pixie and Sammy taking a snooze on the couch.
Sammy LOVES to go for walks and get exercise. I don’t think he has ever been walked on a leash, so I’ve been exploring what works best for him. The first day I tried using a flat collar leash, but he chokes with any pressure on his neck, so I switched to an Easy Walk harness. He pulled quite a bit with that too, so I finally dragged out a Gentle Leader and he is quickly getting the hang of that. With more practice, he’ll be a pro. When we get back in the house after walking or playing, he immediately chills out. He is well-behaved, mellow, and beyond words affectionate.
Is it time to play? Is it time to snuggle? I sure do love you!
We haven’t been gone for any periods of time yet, so I need to test how he does when we are away. He had free roam with the family that cared for him prior to coming into our care. He does fine with cats. The previous person also said he is great with children of all ages, so I look forward to seeing how he does with a family member’s toddler. He had one marking incident the first day he was here, but no accidents since. He has no resource guarding of any kind. The only issue we’ve run into with the other dogs is that he keeps whacking them in the face with his wagging tail, so there is a lot of squinting going on.
Sammy is doing great going out on a leash to do his business. If he gets plenty of exercise, he will not require a house with a fenced yard. He has excellent recall unless something grabs his attention, then he has selective hearing. He is very interested in all the outside smells and sounds so will need firm boundary training. Sammy will need a person or family that can give him consistent exercise and regular opportunities to run full throttle, i.e. at a dog park. I don’t think anyone has ever played ball or fetch with him. He is super attentive and so eager to please, so obedience training will be perfect for him. He has not had any training, so I am starting with basic commands: sit, down, stay, come. It will be so rewarding to work with him and help this beautiful boy be the best dog he can be. He is so ready to be a faithful companion, and is about as sweet as they come!
Keeping us company (and chewing on a bone) while we put shelves in the shed.
The sweetest boy ever
If you think you may be a good match for Sammy, please contact your placement advisor. We will update more as we learn more about him!
Sammy was adopted by the wonderful "O and M" family. He'll have an older 4-legged brother of the Golden variety, two young grandkids that stay at the house regularly, and 7 horses that are used for therapy. I can totally see him being a therapy dog down the road too! Please join me in wishing the family and Sammy the very, very best!
Sammy had a really excellent week, with lots of “firsts.” He had his first ice cream cone, and not only that, he beat the two resident dogs in being the first one done! Each night after supper the dogs get a chew stick, but Sammy wasn’t sure what to do with his so always spit it out. One night he kept on chewing like he’s been doing it all along. We have a couple of boxes of toys sitting out, and it was apparent when he first got here that he’s never played with a toy. This past week he played tuggie with me—that was pretty exciting! It didn’t last long and wasn’t too rambunctious, but it’s a start! And some really good news—this week Sammy found his voice! He has different vocalizations he makes when he’s content and getting pets, excited getting ready to go out for a walk, and others. When he does this he reminds me of a walking talking snuggle bug. Speaking of snuggling, he’s learned that cuddling first thing in the morning is the best thing in the world.
The Tale of the Stealth Worm
This is one of the ‘not so fun’ things that happened to Sammy this past week. I thought we were in the clear for any worms because he was given a dewormer before he was surrendered to RAGOM, and then his fecal sample was negative at his vet visit last week. I was surprised the other morning to see several unusual looking worms in his stool. I brought a second sample into the vet, and still nothing was showing up. After going back and forth and back and forth with the vet tech (that I really did, honest to God, see worms… the sample can’t be negative), I was able to talk to the vet. To avoid redundancy with treatment (he’s already on Heartgard), and not have to bring in yet another sample, we agreed to treat him for tape worms. We debated this because the worms that I saw didn’t look like the typical rice-shaped segments, and I wasn’t seeing any sign of tape worms at home. She sent me home with a prescription and I administered it that night. Boy oh boy the next morning his stool was loaded with dead tapeworms (yuck, poor guy). I’ve been feeding him extra portions of food to help him put on some weight and we’ve been seeing minimal progress. Now that we have the worms out of his system he is already starting to fill out, and I can tell he feels tons better.
Another first, Sammy saw a professional groomer this week. Everyone who meets him immediately falls in love with him because he is such a sweetie, and she was no exception. She gave him a good bath and trimmed his nails and did some minor shaping—mostly to the lower legs. She didn’t think he’d ever had his nails done before, judging from his reaction. She also said some of his choppy and dull looking coat is due to malnutrition, and now that he’s eating a high quality food and the tapeworms have been eliminated, his coat should start looking really nice.
We’ve left Sammy at home to free roam with the other two dogs a number of times now, anywhere to 2 hours, and last night we were gone for 7 hours. When we got home the dogs were pretty eager to see us, especially Sammy with his wiggling butt. He did great—no accidents, nothing was out of place.
Sammy is making headway in learning commands. I’m following the “nothing in life is free” model where he has to sit before he eats, before going out, etc. He flinches whenever a hand comes near his face, so I’ve had to be extra careful when using training treats to reinforce commands. The person who was watching him before he came into our care said at first he was really touchy with seeing a hand anywhere near his face, but that got much better over the three weeks he was with her. I’m just seeing a residual of that reaction here. I’m so thankful to the two people who got the healing process rolling, who nurtured and loved him up before he came into RAGOM’s care.
I can’t begin to tell you what a sweetheart Sammy is. He is so grateful for anything I do: any pets, any treats, going along for a ride. He has old dog mellowness—always going with the flow and never demanding or hyper. I’d like to find a family for him who will honor this gentle soul, and give him the devotion and kindness he’s missed out on in his earlier years.
Please let your placement advsor know if you are interested in Mr. Sammy Samich (short for sandwich, because he is yummy like a sandwich).
