Click on any picture on this
page for a larger version!
All of the
pictures on this page were taken in 2001,
Sampson's last year of life. Even though he
fully recovered from the scare on September 2000
(see the last page
for details) he definitely was beginning to slow
down, and we realized our time with our dear
friend was nearing it's close. Therefore, we
took a lot of pictures of him. Some of our
favorites are on this page.
Sampson
loved to curl up outside on the deck, where he
could enjoy the outdoors, while still being close
to us in the house.
Inside, he
loved to hang out on the couch. He was big
enough to pretty well fill it up, although as some
of the shots show, he'd share it with Tim.
The head shot below is one of our favorite
pictures of him.
During fall
cleanup, just weeks before he died, he snoozed
near a big pile of vegetation from the garden.
Sampson loved to accompany us during all types of
yard work. He'd only get in the way if we
didn't stop once in awhile to give him some love.
As we've
mentioned before, Sampson always had to have
something in his mouth, usually a ball (and
usually a ball stolen from the neighbor kids).
The following pictures show him is with one of his
favorite "stolen" balls, playing with
the two of us.
In
this extremely cute picture, Sampson and Cathy
take a snooze together on the living room floor.
Sampson
had an outdoor kennel space, which he collected
lots of balls, toys, and other items he'd somehow
gain just by being out in the yard. Since he
was hard of hearing toward the end of his life, we
could take this picture without him realizing we
were there.
These final two pictures are
emotional for us to look at, as they were taken
just an hour or so before Sampson left us forever.
His kidney disease had worsened greatly, to the
point where he hadn't eaten for several days, and
could barely stand up. We had made
arrangements with the vet to put him to sleep the
following morning, but Sampson left us naturally
the evening October 16, 2001. He is still
sorely missed.
We hope you
have enjoyed our tribute to our longtime canine
friend.
Back
to Sampson's Page Previous
Sampson Pictures
This page was last
updated on Wednesday, August 24, 2005