Sam
aka: Spineless Bionic hip/knee dog
(1 July 2001 - 15 February 2016)
This is Sam (aka: Sammy, Sammywinks, Sam-a-roony, Sam-Sam, Sammymeister, oh for the love of god enough).Sam was born, then given to some guy. The guy didn't have enough time for him, so he dumped Sam off at his mother's house. The poor mother couldn't keep up with him, so she'd just open up the front door and let Sam run across a busy highway where he'd "do his business" and then run back. Its a wonder he wasn't squished.
The mother finally had enough and sent him packing to a rescue. The humans happened to be looking for a plaything for me and saw Sam posted on the rescue's site and asked him to come visit. He was chewable, and gimpy, and I approved of him, so he got to stay.
A few months later, Sam had to go in and get his bionic hip. Sam is a mess, you see. He was born with really horrible hips, and one of his front legs is shorter than the other. He kinda rolls when he walks, but we don't say anything to him about it (just laugh behind his back).
For WEEKS after the surgery, I wasn't allowed to torture him at all. He had to stay in his crate with his funny poodle cut back leg, or he had to be on a leash in the house or yard because he was "healing". That's no fun at all for me. They get me a plaything and I can't play with it.
After he got better, he was flaunting his "bionic hip" to me all the time, saying how much faster he was and how he could jump higher (who cares). He's a funny husky. He's always worried about inconveniencing someone. He doesn't ask to go out, he'll stare at the door. Won't say a word, just stare, like he's trying to open the door with his mind. Then when someone finally opens the door, he gets all excited, like he actually opened it with his mind. Dork.
He's a good plaything though, especially after the mutant pawed suck up came to the house. Instead of the mutatoe bugging me, he bugs Sam, so I guess I'll keep him around for a while.
Then Christmas Day in 2007, Sam jumped up, twisted, and broke his back. Off to special surgery for him to repair everything.
He also contracted a tick borne disease during recovery, so he's officially a total mess.
We were separated from him for a long time, months actually, so he could recuperate. He regained the use of his back legs, but he's not too stable, kinda loose in the back end actually, but he can still get around. He can't jump on anything, but has to be lifted.
To help him regain strength, the humans took him to swim. Yeah, he was NOT into that at all. He would only swim in a little circle, and try to escape if he could. He loved the end of swim rinse off and blow dry though. When he was taken to swim, he would try to make a bee line to the rinse and blow dry area.
You can probably see why his nickname is Spineless Bionic Hip/knee dog.
He's running out of spare parts.
Sam spends most of his days on the Sleep Number bed watching Fox News and napping.
He has to wear a purse when he goes up or down the stairs to make sure he doesn't fall.
Sam's mobility continued to decline and he started developing nose bleeds from high blood pressure issues. He began to show signs of DM and slowly degenerated to a point where he could no longer even sit by himself.
On 15 February 2016 Sam passed peacefully in our arms.