week 3 – how ’bout them apples?

Samdog had his week 3 ampuversary on Thursday.  We celebrated by sending dad out for In n out for all.  Yup, another flying dutchman!

We also have started having adventures again and I have learned something that I knew in my head,  but it took awhile for my feet to figure out.  After taking Sam to another of our favorite dog-friendly restaurants earlier this week, we went for a little walk…  just a little one.   I was concerned because we would go about 20 yards and then Sam would stop.  Okay, take a little break….   another 20 yards and another break…  Boy, he sure is tired tonight – maybe the chemo is kicking in…  another 20 yards, another break.  And then I noticed that at every break, he was ahead, looking back at me.  Hmmm, I wonder what he would do if I walked faster.  Sure enough, I double timed my pace and we cruised all the way to the car, with flopping ears, tongue flapping out the side of his mouth and his tail was waggin!  I was going too slow and he was waiting for me! (Here is an experiment – in this video you can see how fast? our boy likes to go.  HINT: click on the words “see how fast” to bring up the video in quicktime.)

Okay then, Mr. Full of Beans, let’s go for an adventure this weekend.

There is a touch of fall in the air and I found myself thinking about apples.  So, we loaded up Saturday morning and headed out to meet our friend Anna at an orchard about an hour away.  Anna brought a wagon so we could carry our buckets of apples.  We picked Fuji and Granny Smith apples as wells as some asian pears and some peaches.  We ate burgers in the shade of a peach tree and pie with ice cream.

Best part for Sam is he got to join us for all of it.  It was the furthest he had hopped since his surgery and he was hopping fast!

After a while, I noticed he was hopping a bit slower and seemed tired, so we just happened to have his dog bed in that wagon, just in case he pooped out while we were in the orchard.  Yup – we ended up carrying the apples and Samdog rode in style with a smile on his face over to the rest of the fruit trees.

I have to say, Sam loves adventures and used to run circles around me when we were out working a search problem.  He would have never agreed to ride in a wagon like this if he had all 4 feet.  But today, after we loaded him up the first time between the apple trees and the peach trees, he was ready to jump in the second time to leave the peach trees and head back to the weigh station.  He was one tired pooch who was greatful to be out on an adventure today.

Thanks Anna for the wagon and to Jason for pulling the 80lb dog down the highroad!!!

We are gonna go find us one of those wagons for ourselves (can we borrow Jason?)

Author: samdog

Sam was a 10 yr old Golden. We found a mass on his right arm bone on August 17, 2012. Confirmed Sarcoma on August 22, amputation on August 23, post amp biopsy confirmed osteosarcoma. We found lung mets on November 27 and Spirit Sam earned his wings on December 2, 2012. As a retired SAR dog, we were always up for an adventure... We didn't know where we were headed, and we don't regret a single step along our path. My heart left us too soon, but left a legacy of love that we will always cherish. View all posts by samdog