Feb 5, 2003 - Mar 28, 2008

THE LIFE OF MAJOR SAMPSON

Our beautiful boy, a bullmastiff named Major Sampson, passed away today. This was the dog that I had wanted since I was a child. Brent had never had a dog that lived as part of the family, so he was not keen on the idea. However, after moving to Germany and making friends with so many people with large dogs, he started to soften. Once the war in Iraq began, Brent decided that I should have this dog to keep me company and help make me feel more secure in this foreign country by myself. The search was on!! We had no idea how difficult it would be to find this precious puppy. I spoke with breeders from England, to Portugal, to the Netherlands, and Italy only to be told that even the unborn pups were already spoken for. At last, I spoke with a breeder in Germany who did not have any welpen of her own but knew of a breeder in Hungary who had a couple of pups. The breeder traveled to Hungary and brought back a boy and a girl.

The boy would be named Major. My dear friends, Donna and Alli, made the trip to Stuttgart with me to meet him. It was April 4, 2003. We met the breeder at a McDonald's. She was the quintessential German woman. She drove us out to a deserted road next to a field and was giving us orders where to park and to get out. We were a little bit freaked out and were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. She opened the back door of her station wagon and out jump 3 full grown bullmastiffs and 2 little puppies. They were precious!!! I took to Major immediately. We took lots of pics with my giddy grin and drove home. Brent opened the door when I got home and thought Major was so cool! The breeder had us feeding him some strange all-natural food, adding raw carrots and seaweed. Needless to say, that didn't last.

This little puppy taught me and Brent how to be a family. He was our pride and joy. We were so in love with him. He made immediate friends with Alli's rottweiler, Ruger, otherwise known as the godfather, and Donna's labrador puppy, Lucy. That was a love affair!! Major was the little one but would eventually outgrow them both. Brent was gone much of the time, and Major was the best companion. Brent and I, the introverts, had to get out in our German village and walk the dog. We would meet German people on the street who would yell "hallo, Major Sampson!" We would have never laid eyes on them. That was a wonderful thing about Germany....they love dogs!! We had this amazing steep hill behind our house with a trail wound around it, and we would let Major off of his leash, and he would go straight up and down it. That was the most fun to watch!

We were quickly convinced that Major had no idea he was a dog. He loved to watch tv and tried to protect me from many real looking dogs and some cartoon dogs, as well. He would cock his head to either side along with you while you talked to him. He loved to walk between your legs which was not as tall as him, and he loved to rub his head and face on your legs as if he were a cat. Many people would see him walking from behind and have fear that they were looking at a lion. Our house in Germany had beautiful windows resembling french doors on the second story overlooking our neighborhood. Major would watch over it like a sentry, especially if he spotted the neighbor's chow. That would make him huff and puff. Major got in trouble twice as a puppy. The first time was when his rope toy got caught under our dresser while we were at Church. It was his favorite, so he attempted to chew through the dresser to get to it. The other was after we returned from the States, and Brent caught him sitting on the couch watching tv. He was disciplined and did not get on it, again. However, when Brent returned to the room, Major was sitting on the loveseat watching tv. After that, he never got on a piece of furniture again. We really tried to get Major to swim, but nothing would persuade him to step foot in the water. We also tried to make him an athlete, but he had at least a 2 second delay when we would try to get him to catch things. He often tripped over himself walking across a flat surface. He was just a lover. He was best at loving us and being a calm and sensitive dog.

We had our first baby girl, Ava, and Major was wonderful with her from day 1. He always wanted to lick her, so we allowed it on bath nights. He became her best friend when he realized she would feed him from her high chair. Around that time in Major's life, we realized he could sing. We learned this when Alli would sing the tune of Edelweiss extremely out of tune. From then on, if you sang or Ava played a musical instrument, he would sing along. He also enjoyed imitating animal sounds when we would read books about them with the girls, particularly the rooster.

Donna and Alli, along with a couple of other friends, Steph and Linsy, were so kind to keep Major for us many times so that we could take trips in Europe and even back to the States. In Feb. of 05, after an extended stay in the States, we came back to a very sick dog. We noticed his breathing was labored. While Brent walked him one evening in the snow, and Major made his lunge for the chow, Major collapsed into the snow. After being misdiagnosed by a couple of different vets, we ended up at the Birkenfeld Animal Hospital where he was diagnosed with Chylothorax disease, a terminal and rare illness. Fatty fluid had filled up his chest cavity pressing against his lungs and heart. We would drive 45 min. ever 3 days to have his chest drained. They would extract 1-2 liters of fluid at a time. In the meantime, Brent deployed. I had contact with a vet. professor in Wisconsin who was doing a study on some surgical procedures to try and correct the disease. After many more trips to the vet, 2 surgeries were performed, and one day Major was cleared with a clean bill of health. A miracle!!! We were devastated but prepared to lose him. It was such a relief.

I found out I was pregnant again, we enjoyed 6 more months in Germany and managed to get Major here on a plane back to the States. We were so excited to have him home. All of our extended family learned what all the fuss was about. Of course, another baby came with special needs of her own. We had moved back to the States where people did not appreciate these large breed dogs like they did in Germany, and we didn't have all of these friends with large dogs, anymore. Life got overwhelming, but Major was a sport through all of it. He was loving to anyone who wanted it. He never got into any trouble, he loved our girls, and continued to love us. He continued to sing when prompted, he had a glass door to peer through, and at any chance, he continued to play his silly games like watching you come up behind while looking at his reflection in the windows, and then act as if he were to pounce. He loved to attempt to catch the water from the high pressure water hose. He loved to take his walks with Brent. There was the incident when Lily was born and he pulled my dad down while Dad was basically being walked by Major and my dad dislocated his shoulder. That was not pleasant, but Major would have never intended to hurt anyone. He remained a constant member of our family. He had problems with his ears, skin, and eyes, but was mostly a healthy dog. About 2 months ago, we noticed his breathing didn't seem quite right. Pregnant again, our lives really got turned upside down with a scare with preterm labor and bedrest. Over the past week, Major went downhill fast. He was breathing rapidly, not eating, and over the past few nights, would not even take a walk. He was giving us these desperate looks of needing help. We knew the signs that his illness had returned, and we knew there would be nothing they could do. We took him to the vet this morning. With a sedative to do the x-rays, it was too much for Major's body to handle. They called and before we could get there, his heart had stopped. He is being cremated, so that one day, his ashes can be spread over that hill behind our old house in Germany where he really enjoyed life.

For those whose lives have not been touched by a pet, this all seems silly. But, this has been a most devastating day for me and Brent. It marks the end of an era, the end of a life that taught us that we wanted to be parents, the end of a life that made us take care of something other than ourselves. He also represented a life that we had together when things seemed simpler. Major gave us unconditional love, and even as inconvenient as it sometimes seemed to own a pet with our lives being so busy, he was a constant. He had a million facial expressions and was so emotional. He could not have been a better dog and he will be gravely missed. It is hard to imagine our household without him. He will forever remain in our hearts. He will probably be the only dog that Brent and I could have ever loved like that.