Sam came to me at three years of age in November 2006. He was turned over to rescue because he was a bit of a wild child. Through no fault of his own, Sam had learned to chase cars, counter surf, chase cats, kill chickens, bull his way through doors and jump on everyone he met. He was also exerting his protective instincts at will and his owner feared that he would eventually bite someone. A few months of positive training, and regular vigorous exercise turned Sam into my reliable off lead hiking partner, obedience demo dog and a very gregarious good will ambassador for the Aussie breed.
A few months ago I decided to go grocery shopping after the last obedience class. As always, Sam was with me. It was late, about 9:30 PM, and I was the only shopper in the store. What bliss! About half way thru the store I realized a man was following me. He didn’t have a cart or basket and whenever I’d turn to look at him he would turn quickly away from me and study some item on the shelf. I was getting paranoid when he finally picked up a loaf of bread. Chastising myself for being overly suspicious I began checking out. The man didn’t show back up until I was nearly done and he was carrying his loaf of bread but again turned away when I turned to look at him. Without giving this man another thought, I headed for my car. As I got close I unlocked the doors with my remote key. Sam was standing in the back watching me so I gave him the hand signal for ‘stay’ and began to open the back hatch.
Breaking his stay, Sam instantly forced his way out of the slowly opening door causing it to fly up out of his way. As Sam came boiling out I realized the man was now right at my shoulder. Sam landed between us as I recoiled away from the man against the car. I was sucking in air in fear as Sam locked eyes with this man, stiffened to his maximum height and showing every tooth, gave the guy a serious warning growl and threat bark. The guy jumped back, whirled around, ran across the lot to his truck and fishtailed out of the parking lot. He didn’t have any bread in his hands.
Sam looked up at me, wagged his little stumpy tail and hopped back into the car.
ARPH # 7474, my dog Sam. A perfect Australian Shepherd and a rescue dog.