It's All About Samson

Today, May 27, is Samson's 4th birthday. He is my first puppy ever, which means he is as spoiled as you would expect him to be when you hand an adorable fluffy creature to a stuffed animal loving girl and allow her to shower it with unbridled love and affection. (Ok, Hubby tried to bridle it a bit, but his "grew up with dogs" wisdom fell on mostly deaf ears and, honestly, he did some spoiling/affection showering too.)
[sadly, it would appear that all of Samson's puppy pictures were taken with a film camera and many of the scans I've made won't load to the blog. sigh. He was as adorable a puppy as you would expect such a handsome dog to be. So you'll just get grown up shots.]
For example, when Samson was a baby puppy and I would get insomnia we would go downstairs and share toast. Of course now I know that taking a bite of something and then handing a bite to your puppy is a bad idea because signals to the puppy that you are equals, but I didn't know that then. The end result being that he loves toast and has very little respect for me. :-) This also means he begs sometimes, but he's not a thief (well, aside from that sandwich incident the other week and the occasional stick of butter...). Really, you can leave a steak dinner on the coffee table and run back to the kitchen for a minute and he won't touch it. He might think about it, but he won't. Instead he'll stare at you until you acknowledge him then he'll glance at the food he wants then look back at you. It's very clever.
He is a pretty fearless puppy. When he was little we would bring him into the bed for cuddles (see, spoiled) and when it was time to get down he would just launch himself into the abyss expecting to land eventually. We also had many good giggles over watching him bounce off the side of the bed when he was too little to jump up himself. (oh, stop it he was fine.) And he will still sacrifice his body to catch the ball during a game of fetch. Crazy dog.
Samson is smart as a whip, which makes him kind of dangerous. If we put our minds to teaching him a trick/skill—especially if he realizes it will benefit him—he will learn it very quickly. For instance, when he was a puppy we knew he was house broken, the problem wasn't very vocal (and still isn't, happily) and so wasn't telling us when he needed to go out. I had the brilliant idea of hanging a jingle bell on the back door. I brought Samson over, rang the bell and opened the door. So it went and by the time I got home from work the next day, he had learned to ring the bell to go out. Much to hubby's exasperation. Hubby was home and Samson loves to be outside and since it was a new skill that had to be reinforced Hubby had to open the door every time Samson rang the bell, which was apparently very frequently.
He is an affectionate puppy, but not a snuggle bug like Baru. Samson is too squirmy. He prefers to sit in you lap and get in your face and nudge your hands, although he does usurp my lap when I'm knitting in the evenings sometimes. He also feels he has pillow rights in our bed. But unlike Baru, who puts his entire body on the pillow, Samson will stretch out next to you with just his head on the pillow. Very convenient for snuggles.
Although he is 4 he is still very puppyish and if you ever meet him you can expect to have 76 lbs of furry enthusiasm barrel into you, because he learned not to jump on the Alpha (ie Hubby) but we can't get him to extend the courtesy to other humans.
He likes to make up games with his ball. And he always goes and gets his squeaky booty after breakfast.
He has big brown eyes, and silky fur and his ears are like velvet. And he loves to be brushed. When he was a puppy, after a bath, I would put him on an ottoman and shove biscuits in his mouth while I brushed him. (Baru did not get this treatment. Samson likes being brushed so much he would bully poor Baru out of the way.)
Samson loves to go on car rides. Doesn't matter where, he just wants to feel the wind in his face. He always sticks his head out the window. Even if it is snowing, and then he'll come back in the car and give us a dirty look as though it is our fault it's too cold out and why don't we turn up the heat?
Finally, despite the fact he's a Golden Retriever, Samson is a good guard dog. He's got a big bark and isn't afraid to use it if someone is on his property.
Safe, warm and loved—what more could a girl ask for from the bestest puppy in the world?