Sammy's Story
 

In late September of '98 a call came out for an urgent need for foster homes for 8 Chin who were in danger of being put down. Several others from this same home had already been destroyed. I agreed to take two-Sammy and Geisha. Following is Sammy's story.

Authorities became aware of a group of Chin when the woman who owned them went into a severe depression. These dogs had been badly ignored and were living in considerable filth. For lack of fresh water they drank urine. For lack of food, those that were not caged killed and ate some Persian kittens. When rescue was approached to take in the remaining 8 dogs (several were put down) I agreed to take two in.

Sammy was the saddest of the lot. He was too thin, appeared to have cataracts and appeared old. Well, two out of three wasn't bad. He was not old but rather badly malnourished resulting in heavy premature graying. We don't know if, like Geisha, he had congenital cataracts because the scarring on his cornea was so bad the eye specialist couldn't see the lens. He, along with Geisha, are visually inpaired. There are other genetic problems, but the saddest thing about Sammy was his total lack of emotion. My mother commented that if a dog could be autistic, then certainly that was Sammy's problem. Mind you, he was a good, dutiful dog. If you took him out, he went to the bathroom. If you fed him, he ate. But he paced slow little circles, an indication of the size of the cage he was kept in and he flatly refused to acknowledge any additional stimulus. If you touched him, he pointedly looked away from you, and he didn't understand the concept of play whether it be with other dogs, people or toys.

The milestones were small things: the first time he wagged his tail, interacted hesitantly with either a person or another Chin, did one slow Chin spin, played with a toy. Over the course of several months he began playing enthusiastically with other Chin, people, kissed happily, did Chin spins while in the air, played with toys, etc., though it was slow in coming to see acceptance of strangers. The story does have a happy ending. Sammy has turned into a dog that I feel because of his early lack of proper care and attention has developed a zest for life that far exceeds that of many other dogs. He is now a happy, well adjusted dog who, because of JCCARE, has found out what life is really about.