Bernie Samson 06-195

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4/29/06: Samson (Bernie is his nickname) came to me this afternoon from a Humane Society. He is a 2 year old neutered male St. Bernard/Golden Retriever mix. He's a big ol' lug o' slobbery love. The Humane Society could not put him on the adoption floor because he growls when you take his food away. I personally don't see a problem with that as I would growl AND backhand anyone who tried to take my dinner away (but apparently this isn't appropriate behavior in the dog/human relationship). I'll pull out the dog reference books to figure out how to deal with this 'inappropriate' behavior :) However, putting his food down and allowing him to eat it seems to work just fine.....

He is a beautiful boy with very soft fur. Samson has an enormous head - that of a St. Bernard. His head is twice the size of my Zack's. Samson and Zack are both 80 lbs - neither are overweight but Samson is much larger than Zack. He is about 4 inches taller than Zack, too. I'll try to get a photo of them standing next to one another for comparision. Samson is all fur and bones - no fat.

Samson is my first foster after taking a couple years off. I just lost my girl, Diva, to cancer. I decided that Zack needed a playmate and fostering would suit both of our needs. Unfortunately, Samson is very laid back and so far isn't interested in playing with Zack. He is tolerating Zack's poor manners as that of a saint (St. Bernard?). Zack has been relentlessly barking at him and pulling on his ears to get him to play. Samson just walks away. He did finally turn and snap at Zack (after hours of being tormented) --- he has much more patience than I would have in the same situation.

I'm also sorry to say that Samson seems to be way more well behaved than my Zack. I can hardly tell that he's here! He just eats bones and lays around. I think he has much more St. Bernard in him than Golden - especially since he has no interest in playing with tennis balls.

I was told that he is fearful of men - however, so far he seems to be just fine with them. Within five minutes of him arriving I had my neighbors come over to meet him (they adopted one of my foster dogs a few years ago so they like to keep up on all the random Goldens at my house)...anyway, Samson was perfect with all three of my neighbors (mom, dad and 9 year old daughter all came to visit). He won mom over instantly by rolling on his back to get belly rubs. Then he went over to dad and stuck his head in his lap for a pet or two. And he sat very nicely for a treat from their daughter - he waited patiently and took the treat gently from her hand only after she offered it. He then began to wrestle and play with mom. He watched out the window as they left the house and walked across the street to their house....I think he wanted to go home with them to escape Zack's barking. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he decided to adopt my neighbors.

He also won over my mom who is afraid of large dogs (her dog is a mere 4 lbs). As soon as she met him she raved about what a nice boy he is and how soft his fur felt. This is very odd for my mom....

If you're looking for a Big Ol' Lug O Lazy Love...Samson may be the boy for you!

I'll post more photos as I get good ones.

Bernie SamsonBernie SamsonBernie SamsonBernie Samson

At a Glance #06-195

Breed not specified Born: March 2005
Male Weight not specified

Status: Adopted

Profile

4/29/06: Samson (Bernie is his nickname) came to me this afternoon from a Humane Society. He is a 2 year old neutered male St. Bernard/Golden Retriever mix. He's a big ol' lug o' slobbery love. The Humane Society could not put him on the adoption floor because he growls when you take his food away. I personally don't see a problem with that as I would growl AND backhand anyone who tried to take my dinner away (but apparently this isn't appropriate behavior in the dog/human relationship). I'll pull out the dog reference books to figure out how to deal with this 'inappropriate' behavior :) However, putting his food down and allowing him to eat it seems to work just fine.....

He is a beautiful boy with very soft fur. Samson has an enormous head - that of a St. Bernard. His head is twice the size of my Zack's. Samson and Zack are both 80 lbs - neither are overweight but Samson is much larger than Zack. He is about 4 inches taller than Zack, too. I'll try to get a photo of them standing next to one another for comparision. Samson is all fur and bones - no fat.

Samson is my first foster after taking a couple years off. I just lost my girl, Diva, to cancer. I decided that Zack needed a playmate and fostering would suit both of our needs. Unfortunately, Samson is very laid back and so far isn't interested in playing with Zack. He is tolerating Zack's poor manners as that of a saint (St. Bernard?). Zack has been relentlessly barking at him and pulling on his ears to get him to play. Samson just walks away. He did finally turn and snap at Zack (after hours of being tormented) --- he has much more patience than I would have in the same situation.

I'm also sorry to say that Samson seems to be way more well behaved than my Zack. I can hardly tell that he's here! He just eats bones and lays around. I think he has much more St. Bernard in him than Golden - especially since he has no interest in playing with tennis balls.

I was told that he is fearful of men - however, so far he seems to be just fine with them. Within five minutes of him arriving I had my neighbors come over to meet him (they adopted one of my foster dogs a few years ago so they like to keep up on all the random Goldens at my house)...anyway, Samson was perfect with all three of my neighbors (mom, dad and 9 year old daughter all came to visit). He won mom over instantly by rolling on his back to get belly rubs. Then he went over to dad and stuck his head in his lap for a pet or two. And he sat very nicely for a treat from their daughter - he waited patiently and took the treat gently from her hand only after she offered it. He then began to wrestle and play with mom. He watched out the window as they left the house and walked across the street to their house....I think he wanted to go home with them to escape Zack's barking. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he decided to adopt my neighbors.

He also won over my mom who is afraid of large dogs (her dog is a mere 4 lbs). As soon as she met him she raved about what a nice boy he is and how soft his fur felt. This is very odd for my mom....

If you're looking for a Big Ol' Lug O Lazy Love...Samson may be the boy for you!

I'll post more photos as I get good ones.

Bernie SamsonBernie SamsonBernie SamsonBernie Samson

Updates

Monday, May 29, 2006

Hi all. Samson here! I wanted to give you an update on my Memorial weekend. My foster mom, her aunt, my foster brother Zack and "Fred" (the Beagle) all went "up to the cabin" for the weekend. It was a long drive but I love to ride in the car so I was very well behaved in the car....except when the motorcycle with the big ugly man stopped behind us at the stop sign. I tried my best to scare him with my ridiculous barking and drooling antics but he stayed there. My foster mom was pretty ticked off at me for acting like such a freak show. Thank goodness she was in the front of the car and I was in the back so she couldn't get to me!

There were lots of new smells at the cabin which I took in immediately. Zack, the crazy kid he is, immediately ran down the stairs to this ENORMOUS bowl of water, I think they called it "the lake." The "dock" was a little scary because it moved when we walked on it. I was afraid that I was going to fall into the bowl...then sure enough I felt something push my rear end and I was in. I didn't know what to do and panicked.....everyone yelled at me to put my feet down and stand up but I was too scared of the "leeches" on the bottom so I flailed around for awhile like a pathetic excuse for a Golden Retriever. I tried to jump back up on the dock but I couldn't pull myself up so I had to walk to the shore and get out. I was scared to death but then felt invigorated and ran like mad to the grass to roll around! I never went near that bowl of water again the whole weekend. Turns out that I have these webbed feet for swimming (my foster mom felt them) but I don't know how to use them! Zack the crazy spent the entire weekend on the dock by himself pushing his tennis ball into the water and then diving off the dock to fetch it. What a weirdo! I sat on the deck and talked with the family the whole weekend. I overheard my foster mom say that she was secretly glad I didn't go swimming because she didn't really want to deal with two wet dogs.

I met this big dog named Fritz. They say he is a German Shepherd and is pretty aggressive as he is young and male. We immediately got into a brawl because he is so arrogant. After about 30 seconds he settled down and we got along just fine. Then two more Golden Retrievers came to visit- they were petite girls and I liked them but they just wanted to go in the water bowl with Zack and play tennis so again I stayed and chit chatted with the family on the deck. I really liked to lay on the deck facing the big bowl of water looking out at the boats and feeling the breeze on my face.

Everyone at the cabin thought I was a very mild mannered gentleman- and there were lots of people there of all ages, sexes and sizes. There were some young kids at the cabin too. Annaliese was dressed so cute in her go-go boots that mom had us take a photo together. My "grandma' nicknamed me Gus but I didn't respond to it as Sam is my name!

I love to play with soccer and footballs (tennis balls don't interest me too much). We played monkey in the middle with the football (apparently Zack and I were the monkeys)...see photo below.

We are home now and and I overheard mom say that she is waiting for the poison ivy rash to appear all over her body from Zack and I playing in the woods. She said that she gets it every Memorial weekend.

It was a tiring weekend and I'm pooped out and need to take a nap now. I overheard mom say that Zack is dead to the world (which is a first!!) and that she is VERY HAPPY!!! Nighty night! Luv, Sam

Monkey in the middleSamson babygated

Thursday, May 11, 2006

I received the trainer's report from Samson's prior family and have decided to take him off the unavailable list!

The two "incidents" were described by the trainer as follows: Regarding the first with the veterinarian-- "It is not uncommon for dogs to be nervous and frightened at the vet's office and the vet was a new person to him.... The second incident with the nephew occurred the same day after Samson had been neutered and while he was still under the influence of narcotics given at the vet's office. It is easy to reason that he did not feel well during that interaction." I wonder how many people out there are not themselves after major surgery and under the influence of anesthesia- I come out of it crying and sobbing which is something I don't do in the real world.

Throughout the trainer's two and a half page report her observations and recommendations were all very positive. Her summary reads: "Samson's observed interaction with me and with the family were good. I saw no displays of aggression around food or the Kong toys. Samson was compliant with commands and seemed to enjoy the attention and affection he was given by the family. Continue to use positive training methods with him so that he will develop a relationship of trust with you; also because his history is unknown and he is still relatively new to you, supervise his interactions with new people carefully."

I have absolutely no fear that Sam would bite (no more fear that I have with any dog- remember, ALL dogs are capable of biting if they want to). My recommendation to his new forever home would be to keep him monitored around new people-as you would with any dog. I would praise and treat him when he greets people to let him know that is appropriate behavior- he needs to see from you that each person can be trusted and that he is a good boy.

Some more of my observations of Sam in the past two weeks:

I was vacuuming last night and Sam took a particular interest in the vacuum. He watched it intensely and barked at it. He tried to nip at it, too. I think the vacuum falls under two categories- "if it's moving, chase it" and "if it's scary, bark at it." I gave Sam a stern NO when he would bark and nip at it. He soon realized that it was inappropriate behavior and would move away from it. I also chased my dog Zack with the vacuum a few times (Zack has no fears and I wouldn't do this with a dog that has a fear of a vacuum- like Sam). Of course Zack just got out of it's way. I'm not sure if I'm giving human traits to Sam but I think he saw Zack get out of the way and realized that was a good idea! Dogs have two instincts to fear- fight or flight. I was trying to teach him the latter was a good choice.

I have been giving Samson free range of the house while I'm away at work which works out to be about 10 hours. He does very well and doesn't get into anything inappropriate. I suspect that he and Zack are playing while I'm at work because I came home today to find Zack without a collar on! I found it in my bedroom- hmmmm, wonder what they were doing? Zack and 'Sam' are getting along famously! If Zack isn't pulling on Sam's ear to play then Sam is pulling on Zack's tail. It's like having two moose in my living room.

Sam doesn't growl when I take his food away- he now just lets me take it but begins to eat much faster as he sees my hand go in for the grab. I praise him when I take it and give it back. I was thinking about his first home where he didn't have food or water....dogs in the wild go for periods of time without food and it is part of their world. However, dogs in the wild have the opportunity to hunt for food. Sam didn't have that opportunity as he was at the mercy of his owner to feed him. No wonder he growled when people took his food away...he really didn't know when his next meal would come. At 82 lbs he is 10+ lbs UNDER weight....so I have been feeding him large portions. However, people guess him at 120 lbs....he's all fur!

Sam was afraid to go down my basement stairs. I taunted him with treats but he wouldn't budge. So I put the leash on him and very slowly guided him down the stairs (at his pace) and then PRAISED and TREATED him when he got to the bottom. The next day I had to do the same thing but he's a pro now and runs up and down them! He responds very well to praise and is food motivated- so training him is very easy! Remember, he probably didn't get either at his first home so they are huge motivators for him!

So Sam is ready for his forever home!!!!! Please don't overlook him because of his past- he is such a sweetie, a fast learner and wants nothing more than a family of his own to love!