Samson first came into foster care in 2001 for a very short period of time. The shelter had called us and really wanted to get him into rescue as soon as possible, because he was becoming very depressed at the shelter, and they were concerned for his well-being. When his foster mom went to pick him up, she took a friend along who had just lost her husky. Her friend fell in love with him immediately. After the adoption process was completed, he and Princess went home with her. Princess also came to our rescue at the same time, from the same shelter. Then in 2006, the lady that had adopted him, had to be placed in assisted living due to a progression of Parkinson’s disease. Needless to say, she could no longer take care of him or Princess. So in 2006, both came back into foster care. Princess has since been adopted into a new forever home but Sam, due to his age and medical issues, remains in our care.

      Sam is a very, very sweet boy who has never done anything but love the human he was living with. He bonded very quickly and deeply with his foster mom and then his forever mom. The first night he was in his foster home, his foster mom was taking a nap on the couch, and he crawled up and fell asleep with his head on her chest stretched down the length of her body. To this day he always settles within a few feet of his foster mom.

      His medical issues have surfaced in several ways. When he first returned to foster care, he was over weight and showed signs of arthritis. X-rays have shown issues along his spine. He has lost the excess weight and was put on prescription pain meds for the arthritis for a while. The meds appeared to help. But not wanting to keep him on prescription meds forever, he has been switched to the holistic meds that Juno is on. Sam has also shown tremendous improvement on the holistic treatment. He used to have trouble going up and down the three steps into the backyard and getting up from lying down. But now he shows no signs of having problems with the steps or getting around except that his rear legs still appear to be a little stiff. He has even been seen running a little in the backyard and loves going to a dog friend’s house to play in her huge backyard.

He also showed some very mild issues with resource guarding when he first returned and would immediately destroy any toy he was given and you could forget about taking anything away from him. Now he is much better and will even play with balls and give them up when told to (most of the time).

In addition to the mobility issues, it is suspected that Sam has a mild case of LP (laryngeal paralysis). But, because the only treatment for the condition is a very specialized and expensive surgery, the surgery is only done in very severe cases. LP is when the larynx becomes paralyzed and breathing becomes difficult. A dog with LP sounds like someone who is having an asthma attack or hyperventilating when they try to breath. It is very unsettling to listen to him breathe that way, but the vet says that he is getting enough oxygen, so there is not much else that can be done for him, and it is just a matter of getting used to the sound of his breathing. For now, the best thing to be done for the LP is to keep him calm and cool. Stress and heat cause the symptoms to be worse. The holistic meds for his arthritis have seemed to also help his breathing at times. So we suspect that some of his breathing issues are caused by stress from the arthritis pain. Weather changes seem to also cause him to have breathing difficulty.  But since he has been on the holistic treatment, he does seem to be more comfortable, content, and his mobility has greatly improved.

     It seems as if Sam has had several rough times in his life. First he lost his original home (circumstances are unknown to us) and then he lost his “ mom” both due to no fault of his own. But the transition back into the foster home was not real difficult as he had bonded with his foster mom earlier in his life, and he just settled back in. All he seems to want is to be loved and he will love back. Now that he is back in foster care, he will receive that and any other care he needs for the rest of his life.