M/V MAERIN

Sammy came to us as a rescue by our daughter, Karen. She was stationed at Tinker AFB during her time in the Navy, and in ’99 when nasty tornadoes swept through the area, the base deployed personnel to assist with rescue and first responder efforts. Karen found a puppy trapped under a house, rescued the puppy and left it with a shelter facility. She later returned and adopted the pup. Her situation there changed and she was transferred to PAX River. Living on base, she could not have a pet so Sammie came to live with us. We already had two dogs, Cody, a chocolate lab pup, and Sadie, our adult curly coat, but Sammy needed family, so he was warmly welcomed.  He and Cody, both pups, became fast friends, and all three spent days at work at the plumbing shop where they had great fun chasing squirrels and feral cats.

Sadie became ill a year later and never recovered, we sat with her and told her what a wonderful dog she was as she sighed her last and slipped from this life. Sammy and Cody remained steadfast friends for Cody’s eight years as he, too succumbed to a heart condition and we said tearful goodbyes to him. Sammy carried on, and soon became best  friends with Molly, our chocolate pup who joined us as we began full time cruising in 2008. Molly and Sammie cruised with us all over the east coast and the Bahamas, enjoying hundreds of dinghy rides and miles and miles of walks in exciting places with wonderful strange smells!

Sammy was Barb’s walking pal, he would happily walk as long as his pal wanted, trotting along the beach or sidewalk, he was always up for a dinghy ride or a walk. His usual spot was perched on one of the tubes of the dink as we zipped along, watching the water and hopping down onto the floor when he’d see a wake approaching!

As time passed, Sammy began slowing down, his hearing began to fail, arthritis slowed his usually agile movement, and eyesight became progressively worse. Cruising became less fun for him, and although he was always ready for a dinghy ride and a walk, his pace became slower. Although rarely spoken, we knew his cruising time was coming to a close. He began to show some chronic pain, and his list of activities that were typically happy times were incrementally all becoming hard. It was time. We made the awful trip to the vet, and he passed from this life peacefully cradled in our arms on Monday, August 10. Sammy was 16- 1/2 years old, he was the best of dogs! He will be missed and will always be cruising with us!