Find Sam a Home

One recent afternoon, the whole family was chillin' in the living room when Miguel noticed a person approaching our door.  He quickly asked me to remove the dogs from the room as to avoid the excessive barking that typically follows a knock on our door.  Our female, Delilah went into the bedroom without a fuss but our male, Samson wasn’t so quick to move from his position on the couch.  After persistent commands were given without response, I approached the dog to shoo him off the couch and into the other room. As I got within a foot of him, he turned and snipped at me aggressively.  I jumped back and Miguel was shocked! Now, I wasn’t quite as taken back by his behavior as this was Samson’s third time exhibiting this action towards me in recent history.

Now that Miguel has witnessed the dog almost bite me, he realizes I wasn’t over exaggerating when I told him about the previous snipping incidents.  I know that I was partially to blame for his angry responses towards me, however, in this house and around my children, snipping is not allowed for any reason; especially one as trivial as me wanting a trained dog to listen to me and get off the couch when instructed to do so.  This left us with a big family dilemma: what do we do with Samson? Do we just keep going on trusting that he will simply keep warning us but never actually bite? Or do we recognize that he is a dog and you can’t really ever trust them? 

Miguel and I agonized over what to do for about a week when I brought the subject up to my parents (which I knew better than to do).  I was immediately chastised for not getting Samson out of our house the second he acted aggressively.  My father said something along the lines of, “I don’t know why you’re even giving it a second thought” and “you know the right thing to do”, which implied that we should send Sam to his resting place.  I tried to explain that we didn’t believe that was the right option for our family and we were trying to find an alternative that is best for everyone. 

That evening I cried and cried as Miguel and I continued our discussion.  I was so sad and angry that our sweet dog was getting grumpy and we had to decide whether or not he could spend the rest of his life with our family.  He has shown zero signs of a health problem being the root cause for his actions or any pain/discomfort of any kind.  He is a healthy and spry guy at his estimated 10 years of age. In the past five years since Miguel and I rescued him, he hasn’t so much as growled at either of us until about two months ago.  It was the same scenario as this last time, I went to shoo him off the couch and he went to bite my hand.  Since this has happened three times, I can conclude that the dog doesn’t like to be booted of the couch.  What if Salem went to move Samson instead of me? Or if Piper surprised him while he’s napping on the couch?  Can we, as responsible parents and guardians of our children, keep a dog that now has a history of shady behavior under the same roof? 

Ultimately, we decided that we would rather be safe than sorry and Samson was taken to the kennel while we search for a new home for him.  My dad suggested we take Sam to his place in order to give us a chance to talk and think without having to look our dear dog in the eyes.  He has been gone since Sunday and the house feels quieter.  Salem asked for him once on Sunday but hasn’t since then, which is both nice and sad.  Although I love Samson and have for nearly five years, I believe in my heart that it’s best for all involved if we try to find him a new home.  I can’t trust him anymore and I wish more than anything that I could so we wouldn’t be dealing with his fate this way. 

And we thought he was the nice one!

Walking Jordan Pond in Acadia National Park in Maine

Walking on the lakeshore in West Virginia

Merrier times!

Sam with Piper and Sara on Saturday, his last day at home with us.

I’m putting together an ad for craigslist and I will be getting a hold of the Springer Rescue to see if they can help.  This decision was one of the heaviest I have had to deal with in my adult life and I find myself struck with sadness at random times.  If you know of anyone who needs a companion and likes semi-grumpy older male springer spaniels, let me know!  He really is a sweet dog and I sincerely doubt he would ever actually get to the biting point, but you can never really know that for sure.  What would you do if you found yourself in this position?