A CAUTIONARY TAIL...SAM

Hi Dog Lovers,

I was going to write about Tazer and Brownie today, but instead, I am going to tell you a whale of a tale. I went to DP today and ran into the dog walker, Melissa Bershire. She told me about the Springer Spaniel Sam who usually hangs around dog park in the late morning or early afternoon with Melissa a several other canine wonders.

About two weeks ago on a Saturday night, Sweet Sam, a black and white Springer with a pleasant and observant and quiet personality for a 14 month old pup, met with tragedy.

Sam and his humans were on the third floor condo's balcony. Everyone was having a really good time and enjoying Saturday night. While we humans know what a railing or balcony wall are for, dogs have the intelligence of a 2-4 year old. Sam, I believe may have been momentarily unattended on the balcony. Sadly, that was long enough for Sam to jump over the edge to his death. At least it was an immediate death and hopefully he did not suffer. His humans were very distraught and shortly after the tragedy, they called Sam's dog walker, Melissa to deal with the remains of Sam. At midnight on a Saturday night she called Forever Pets Funeral Home
773-318-4983. I usually do not mention a business, but this service was so responsive to this sad event that it deserves mention. They returned the call within 5 minutes. Shortly this service was on the scene to collect the remains of Sam and to comfort people. They said this is called Balcony syndrom. During summer months, many cats and dogs go over the balcony and or roof decks and that the funeral service is kept busy with this and says it is far more common than you would think.

So, please do think about your dog on the balcony. Do not leave them unattended on the balcony or roof. You would not leave a 2-4 year old child unattendedd. I liked Sweet Sam and feel badly for his humans and dog walker. I think just hearing about it was traumatizing for me.

We anthropomorphize our dogs as humans, but they are not. We love them like children, but they are not. We must protect them... yes we can.

On a lighter note, Tazer, a black German Sheperd pup nof 4 months is a recent addition to dp. His humans went out to Marengo to see a new litter of German Sheperd pups. The pups were not ready for homes, but they saw a Black Beauty who had just come through customs after having arrived from Germany. The humans fell in love and so Tazer is a new packie at parkie.

So that is all she wrote. Roe