Samantha - gentle friend with
a special love for all children

SAMANTHA arrived at my home, at that time a flat in Noble Park near Melbourne, as a three-month-old pup. She was of unidentified breed, black with a fleck of white on her chest, floppy ears and wearing a soft green collar.

I was in a very mixed flat at the time, and working for Syme Newspapers. There were two guys in the flat - Polish and Chinese and the females were myself (a Kiwi), a Scot, an Italian and a Mauritian. I had mentioned that I would like to get a little dog, and a friend of the Mauritian woman, hoping to impress her we all thought, brought the pup to our door saying he had found it wandering down the road.

I knew the pup had been well cared for from its appearance and said it would have to go back as I did not want a pup, only a small breed of dog. Then he said he would just have to put her back on the road where he found her, so of course she stayed. We advertised in a few of the local papers, but never received an answer - so Samantha, or Sammy for short, became mine.

It was obvious from the beginning that she had been in a family with children - she loved children and always wanted to join in if she heard or saw children playing. A couple of weeks after she arrived I let myself accept her fully and took her to the local vet for a checkup. She had her inocculations and was one of the first dogs in Victoria to go on to the then new monthly, rather than daily, heartworm tablets.

I made an appointment for her to be spayed at six months and the vet decided that she was very healthy and most likely a border collie-blue heeler cross, although later when she was running around in the sunshine and her black fur glowed with auburn lights, we decided that the cross must be red heeler or kelpie. A huge intelligence always showed through in her light brown eyes, and everyone was her friend.

She loved to play ball, and would keep the flatmates playing for hours - a later flatmate who was fixing his car's engine observed that when Sammy insisted on playing ball you had to comply - he had told her 'no - enough games', and she had put her front paws on the front bumper and flicked the ball into the centre of the car's engine. 'No' was not a word she recognised when it came to games!

Then I left Melbourne and shifted to Brisbane. Sammy stayed with the flatmates until I found a flat, and I sent for her. I had travelled by bus myself to save money ... Sammy came up by plane, and was delivered to my door by her 'travel nanny'! We lived at Wynnam, and she had a large yard to play in, but was alone for much of the day. She decided to dig out one day and she was just coming back home as I arrived off the bus from work. I thought that was the end of that, but the next time I was at the supermarket with Sammy on the lead I was approached by a woman who said she wondered whose dog it was that had jumped into her car (she had left the door open and engine running while she ran inside to get something she forgot) and sat down on the passenger seat, obviously waiting to be taken for a drive.

She said Sammy had not been at all concerned that the woman who got in the car was a stranger. A few months later I got six months' work on the Bundaberg News-Mail, and this time we both travelled by train as I had a house ready to go to. I soon had a flatmate who ran a pilot training school, and he also took an instant liking to Sammy - she was the kind of dog that nobody could dislike!

She continued her aggressive campaign to make sure that everyone around her knew how to play ball, and understood that the rules were hers and hers alone! After the six months I went back to Brisbane - Sammy stayed in Bundaberg until I found a place to live, at Strathpine, then I went back to get her. Again we both travelled on the train. On my arrival at the station in Brisbane I went to the taxi stand and approached the 'controller'.

I said "I have a dog - will I have to order a taxi that allows dogs, or will I just stand in line?"

He asked me where I was going, and after I said Strathpine, he said "Madam, if you're going that far they'll take a bloody giraffe!" So I grinned and joined the queue.

It was in Strathpine that I came to realise there was a savagely territorial side to my Sammy. When she was young in Melbourne there was a blue heeler belonging to one of the other flatmates on the same property. The blue heeler was top dog. When I went back to Brisbane I was sharing a flat with the same woman (the Scot) and this time on the first day there was a commotion - the heeler had tried to take Sammy's bone - this was never to happen again. She became the alpha dog that day, and has maintained her alpha status ever since.

In 1992 I was offered a job back in NZ, so accepted. I made the arrangements and we left Australia, my own fare an economy costing me about $350 ... Sammy's fare almost $450!

Since coming to NZ we have lived in Ohope, Tauranga, Hamilton and Te Kauwhata (in the heart of wine country). Sammy is almost 14 now and a little slower and greyer than she used to be, but she is still active, still loves a game of ball, and still can have the neighbourhood rottie submitting under her alpha stare. I hope she will be around for a few years yet - her quiet tolerance mixed with the fierce defence of her territory has made her unique in my life.

I have started the ball rolling here with the story of one of my own dogs who is very precious to me. Have you a dog story that is out of the ordinary and true? We invite you to send in your dog's story, with a photo if possible, and if it is unusual and interesting we will print it in a future issue. - Ed