Samantha (Sam)

She's called Sam, presumably short for Samantha. She was born in March, 2020, so she's about 8 months old. Apparently an improvident purchase by a young man, she was passed on to another family member, and today was surrendered to Green Dogs Unleashed. I saw her picture Thursday evening and agreed to take her before even asking her age, sex, or anything about her history. That's not smart, but you can't call yourself a shepherd rescuer and not jump at a dog that looks like this pretty little girl. 

She probably hasn't had a lot of experiences that she should have had at this point, but she has had vet care and she's even been spayed. She was nervous meeting me initially, but that didn't last more than a minute after I held her leash. She's timid and unsure of herself with other dogs, but we are ideally situated to help with that problem. 

I took Theo along when I picked her up so they got acquainted on the drive home. Rather than bring her inside to meet the pack, I put harnesses on both Theo and Sam and we went up to Pleasant Grove for a two mile walk. She enjoyed that and she seemed comfortable with Theo. I've sort of tasked him with taking on Trooper's role as official greeter and big brother to nervous new fosters. 

After the Theo walk we went home and dropped off Theo and picked up Maya for another two miler. Maya modeled good walking behavior as usual but otherwise wasn't particularly interested in engaging with Sam. 

When we got home from that walk, we had a quick meeting with the Danish girls and Arby. At that point I figured Sam would be happy to have a little crate time on her familiar bed up in my office. She chilled in her crate for a while, watching Della and Serena do the same from across the room. 

Clay came home and we decided to go out for a beer. Maya and Theo had already had outings today, so we took Sam. She was immediately friendly to anyone who came over to meet her, but she was content to hang out next to me or under our table, already beginning to bond to, look to, and rely on me for her security. So very shepherdy. 

She was nervous meeting Theo nose-to-nose, but he's not at all pushy.

She started "checking in" with Theo pretty early on our walk and continued to do so.

In case anyone forgot why he's called "Theo the Great."

She's got a very nice "sit" and she will do it quite readily.

I keep saying I'm not going to foster so many shepherds anymore, but then one like this comes along.

Della is a lot of dog to meet and she is pushy. Sam just hunkered down and got through it.

One peculiar thing about Sam is that she has double dew claws on her right rear foot, 

and a single but pretty wicked looking one on her left as well. 

She was the only dog in the brewery, which was good.

I think she would have been more vocal if other dogs were around.

She sat with us but was very alert to the surroundings, particularly watching people outside.

She ended up sitting up against me, and then laying over my feet.