Thank you to everyone who entered their furry pals in this week's edition of our Show Us Your Happy Dog Contest. We enjoyed meeting your precious pooches through their photos. All of the dogs are so cute and, of course, very, very happy! Their stories are heartwarming and amazing too. Fortunately for us, we choose the contest winner randomly, otherwise, we'd have a tie all around!
Remember to enter again for the Week 3 and Week 4 drawings. And now, here's this week's winner:
We are pleased to introduce Samuel, a 22 month old Golden Retriever from Florida. Sam had a rough start in life as his first residence was not a happy place -- he was kept in a closet before he was rescued.
After her prior Golden Retriever died of cancer, Sam's mom Josie found him available for adoption on Petfinder.com, a national clearinghouse for hundreds of thousands of adoptable pets. Josie requested photos of Sam and it was love at first sight. "There was something special about Sam even then and I connected with him from the pictures. A few days later I went to pick Sam up, he was ten weeks old then, " Josie remembers. Sam quickly overcame his rough start and "settled right in and make himself at home."
Sam is a born lover. According to Jose, Sam, "has always been a sweet gentle spirit who makes friends and fans every where he goes." Sam loves kids and is happiest when he's surrounded by children who are petting him. Of course, he loves doling out squishy puppy kisses too.
Sam shares his home with three kittens and they rule the roost. He doesn't mind and happily shares his bed with his feline siblings.
Sam and Smokie
In addition to being a handsome, friendly and loving friend, Sam is a therapy dog. Sam's calm nature and openness is perfect for his work with special needs children. Josie observes, "Sam has never noticed that [the children] have special needs, [he knows] only that they are children and he loves them all." She adds, "His heart is really in his work. It's a real honor to have Sam in my life and to be able to share him with these children."
Sam at work.
The llama is also a therapy pet and really took a liking to Sam. "Sam always knows what a child needs to be comforted," Josie notes. "He has even been known to comfort other animals." Perhaps that's why he hit it off with the llama.
Josie and Sam and the kitties are clearly a match made in heaven. Sam is just one example of the many wonderful dogs you can find when you adopt. In fact, Sam asked us to remind everyone in Happy Dog Land to, "please adopt, adopt, adopt, woof. Don't forget the cats, woof!"
