Sam I Am

Hi There

I want to say hello to all my new friends and to tell you a little more about myself.

My name is Sam, aka Sammy, aka Sammy Bear, aka Sammy Sofa. I am 5 years old and I will be 6 in September.

I was born on one of the Gulf Islands off the coast of British Columbia and was one of 6 puppies of Toby, my dog mom, who was rescued from a shelter in the United States, just in the knick of time. She was about to be euthanized when some kind folks in British Columbia went into action to save her. ( To see her story and picture of me with Toby when I was really little, click on Toby's story)

Once Toby was in her new home for a while, her adopted parents discovered she was going to have puppies! Surprise : 0} That's where I come in. If Toby had not been rescued from the shelter, I wouldn't be here today.

In November 2004, my mom found out about us from one of her friends. My mom and dad were still really sad because their two other fur kids had just gone to heaven (Wupper in October 2004, aged 18 and Max in July 2004, aged 15) so they weren't sure about taking on a new puppy just yet.

Fortunately they came to see us and decided to take both me and my brother Owen home with them. Owen and I look like spaniels but our other litter mates all looked a little different. They believe our dad was an American Cocker Spaniel and our mom Toby is part Affenpinscher (a That's me and Owen in the picture. of terrier) and part Schnauzer. So our first human parents have said that our breed is "Affenschnocker" Hee Hee.

That's me and Owen in the picture. It doesn't matter what they label us. We 're just a couple of fun loving guys. Good looking, too : )

Toby's story

Acupuncture for Dogs

One of Sam's other rehab therapies is acupuncture. He gets weekly treatments with his vet Dr. Janice Crook at Mosquito Creek Veterinary Clinic.

We first discovered the effectiveness of acupuncture with our Sheltie Max. Max had developed arthritis that got so bad by the time he was about 7 years old that he could barely get himself up. Our vet at the time putting him on anti-inflammatory drugs but because he had already been showing abnormal liver readings for , we were reluctant to put him on it because of the potential for liver and kidney damage.

We went to Dr. Crook and began acupuncture treatments to see if it would help. Hopeful, but not entirely convinced that we would see any improvement we arranged for a series of 6 treatments as a trial. We knew that at least there wouldn't be any adverse side effects.

To our great relief and amazement, after 3 or 4 sessions, Max exhibited much greater mobility and decrease in discomfort. Needless to say, we continued the treatments, weekly at first and then less frequently once his condition had stabilized. He regained mobility and could walk and run and chase our other dog around the yard again. Even after sustaining a knee injury a few years later, Max remained healthy and mobile well into his 13th year and passed away at age 15.

Sam has great heart and surprises us daily with what he can do even with his current limitation. Along with nutritional support, passive physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and his regular visits to his chiropractic vet, Dr. Jewell, acupuncture is also giving his body the best chance to heal.

For information about acupuncture for dogs:

http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/07/09/acupuncture-and-the-pain-of-long-backed-dogs/
http://www.alternativevet.org/acupuncture.htm
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/11/1125_021125_vetacupuncture.html

Out and About

At an agility fun match on July 11, 2010.










Sam was so happy to be out and about, visiting friends, getting lots of attention in his snazzy wheels.










He misses going to his regular training classes. His favourite was Train and Play.













We thought it would be a good idea to have a special agility event for dogs in wheelchairs, dogs that can't jump or with other physical challenges -- like the Paralympics for dogs!! What do you think?