Happy, Happy, Happy

My final installment in my dog series is all about Sammy, our American Cocker Spaniel. Sammy is also known around our house as Sam, Sam-a-lam-a-ding-dong, Sam-I-Am and Samilicious. Originially, these dogs were used to hunt birds. Today's dog (unless otherwise trained) doesn't really have those interests anymore, but they still have curiosity and a good sniffer.

This breed is called the merry cocker, and the name could not be more fitting. Sammy is such a happy dog. He's so happy, that sometimes we wonder if he doesn't have a screw loose somewhere. True to his breeding, he is playful (extremely so), nice, sweet and smart. It's been hard for us to teach him manners, though, because he is so energetic. He won't take two breaths to listen to you. Also, he's our canine baby and just like the baby in your own family we pretty much let him do whatever he wants. He's not a bad dog, just very undisciplined.

Sammy is always excited to see us outside. He absolutely loves to play catch and our backyard is big enough to give him plenty of room to run after the ball. He and Olivia often fight over who gets to play with the ball. Sammy is a jumper and jumps on everybody, even Olivia. That is why Sparky is so attentive to her when we're outside. He's trying to give her a break from Sam.

Sammy loves the water, especially in the summer when it's so hot down here. He'll go into the lake in our neighborhood, but he won't go into the baby pool we got him last year. Very curious. Cockers have thick, long coats that require a lot of care. I have a small confession to make. I don't take very good care of Sammy's coat. We just let it grow nice and thick in the winter and then we shave him bald in the summer.
Cockers are very social animals and don't usually make good outside dogs. That being said, Sammy is entirely an outside dog. But it's OK with him, because he has Sparky. Sammy and Sparky are really great together. When we first come outside, Sammy greets us and then runs off to wake up Sparky (who is deaf) to let him know we're there. He alerts Sparky to anything unusual in the yard and even wakes him up at meal time. This last one is particularly interesting because Sparky, being the Alpha dog, makes Sammy wait to eat whatever he doesn't. If I were Sammy, I'd wake Sparky up after I'd eaten. Besides being attentive, he is all over Sparky all the time. Jumping, climbing, biting, pushing. They're an interesting pair and I think of them as The Odd Couple. Sammy is everything Sparky is not. He also tries to play with Peanut (see above). When you see the two of them together like that, you can bet that Sammy is playing and Peanut is fighting.
Sammy has a really low, deep bark that sounds about four times his size, but he rarely uses it. As far as a watchdog goes, he's pretty good. But when it comes to guarding or protection of anykind, he's horrible. He's just too friendly with people and squirrels alike.

All in all, Sammy is the most playful and fun dog that we have and you never leave him without a big dopy grin on your face. He makes a wonderful pet and, out of all my dogs, he is hands-down the most reccommendable (I think I just made that word up) family dog. He's a lot of fun, doesn't bite (he isn't even ill-tempered) and--as with most cockers--he is EXTREMELY loyal. Give him a little and you'll be rewarded 100 times over and more.