SAMSON is a beautiful 3.5 yrs old golden retriever. He is vaccinated, neutered and microchipped. He has always been very well loved by his family who are totally distraught at being forced to give him up. He was reared with young children from a tiny puppy and is normally extremely gentle and tolerant. His owner looked after children during the day and, 3 weeks before having to give him up for adoption, he was the centre of attention at a birthday party with 18 children. Sadly, an 11 year old boy, who wanted his ball tried to choke him with both hands, physically shaking his head. Having dropped the ball, the choking continued and Samson naturally retaliated and nipped the child and, as a result, his distraught owners were forced into immediately taking him to a rescue centre who then passed him on to us to give him the best chance.

According to his owners, he loves his toys, is a very laid back, wonderful dog and even lived happily with 4 cats. He has mostly lived outside on an acre of land so isn't really housetrained or socialised with other dogs.

Samson spent some time at Sandie's, when he was neutered, and appeared to be very depressed without his family. He showed no particular interest in her dogs and they pretty much ignored him too.

He spent a couple of days with Jan after his arrival in England and then moved to Pauline in Somerset as his prospective new home was in that area. Pauline said "He walks reasonably well on the lead, despite not ever having been taken for walks before, and was fine with my other dogs, even in the really close proximity of my van, although, again, he was not particularly interested in them. It was upsetting to see how sad he was in comparison to the happy pics his owners had provided for us. He doesn't seem to eat conventional dog food but absolutely loves anything in a sandwich. I guess that comes of living with, and no doubt cleaning up after, so many little children. He is incredibly gentle when taking food from your hand and absolutely loves having a brush. It will be great to see the smile return to his lovely face."

Because of the blot on his copy book, we have been looking for a home for him without resident children, which was particularly sad for him as he was clearly missing the company of children.

THE SMILE IS RETURNING

The smile is now returning to Samson's face. His narrowed eyes are now big and sparkling again and he is taking a lot more interest in anything and everything. He is learning to enjoy life again, without the family he adored, thanks to the love and devotion being shown to him by his forever mum and dad, Pauline and Chris in Frome. Archie, their rescue cat, still needs a little convincing that their new boy is a welcome addition but everybody else loves him to bits.

FEELING BETTER

Sam has been quite a poorly boy but he seems to have now turned a corner. His mum, Pauline, says
"This is Sam this morning. A different dog than we have seen to date."

"He is more interested in food now as well. He definitely likes tripe especially when it comes with shin beef, garlic and a few corn flakes. His swelling has improved even though its the size of a golf ball but it looks slightly more healthier than it did."

"He's very sociable with other dogs and people but his stamina needs some time to improve."

©2008 Irish Retriever Rescue UK