Samson did a lot of things that amazed us. He loved meat "no surprise". On day we were eating cubed steak. Samson was setting there watching us eat and we would give him a small bit every so often. Beverly said "look" Samson was standing up on his hind legs in the beg position wanting more steak.

Some other traits he had were, he loved riding in the car, he would play hiding go seek with Randall. Randall would go hide in the house and say Samson come get me, Samson would go to each room looking for Randall until he found him. Samson would play with a sock, once he had it, there was no getting it from him. He would guard it with his life. Samson would never use the bathroom in the house. Once we were gone off. As we returned, I was walking through the house I smelled something. Samson had a little diarrhea. He had pushed the shower door open and used the bathroom in the shower. Samson was well behaved for a Pekingese "if you know what I mean". At night I would say Samson it's bedtime and he would get up after much protest and head toward his bed like a 100 year old man moving as slow as a snail. He would do all the normal commands stay, sit, ect. The strangest thing he did was to sleep on his back.

Some time around May 2001, Samson got sick. He had an attack of some kind. Beverly was upstairs and she screamed come quickly, something was wrong with Samson. I ran upstairs Samson was laying on the floor. He was pass out and he had lost control of his bladder. His tongue was pail pink, very little color in his gums. He started to come around as I talked to him, something was bad wrong. I rushed him to the Vet. Dr Chris checked him out. He had not had a heart attack as I thought, but he did have a skip in his heart beat. Samson had a defective valve in his heart. Prognosis, he may live a year. Dr Chris put him on several medications. He had his ups and downs for the next several months.

Around February he started getting real sick. He had a another bad attack. I carried him to Dr Chris. He checked him out and said one of two things was wrong. Either he had been bitten by a tick which could mean Rockey Mountain Spotted Fever "RMSF" or he had autoimmune hemolytic anemia "AIHA". We hoped for the latter as it was treatable. Dr Chris said Samson needed to see a specialist. So we took him to an internist. They did some blood work and put him on an antibiotic just in case. Good news his heart was not as bad as we thought. So we took him off some of his heart medicines. Dr Chris called the next day and told us to put him on prednisone as a percaution later the blood work was back. Results were he could have AIHA or RMSF. So we treated for both. In about 7 days he was improving, 14 days more improvement 30 days blood work was almost back to normal. We left him on prednisone for 15 more days and then started to wing him off. He started to get sick again. So Back on prednisone for 60 days. He had AIHA, his chances of making it were now very low. Dr Chris said maybe a year.

This was around first of April 2002. Samson took his prednisone for the next 60 days. He did pretty well no more attacks, although he no longer was able to go up the basement stairs. We could tell he was weaker. Then around the first of June he was doing better. His tongue was bright red and gums a deep purple. He was running around and playing some. We started to wing him off the prednisone and he started to get sick again. I carried him to get his blood checked and it was down to around 28, 35 to 40 is normal. We started him back on the full doseage of prednisone. He did a little better for a few days his tongue was getting a little red.

On June 8, 2002 he started to cough some. He did this off and on for a few days. On June 11, Samson went outside and got dirty. The next morning June 12, 2002 I gave him a bath, he ran out of the bathroom and rubbing his head on the carpet as he always did. I dried him off some with the dryer. He was just laying around. I could tell he didn't feel good. I carried him down stairs to the basement to my office, that's where he stayed during the day, with me as I worked.

He started breathing hard and he tried to get behind my desk. I knew something was wrong. I called Dr Chris and told them I was bringing Samson in. He was bad sick. We arrive at 10:30 AM. They checked Sampson. His blood count was 22, temperature was a little low. They put him on a heating pad and gave him a prednisone shot. Dr Chris said he needed a transfusion. He went to called the internist. She said to bring Samson right over. I was talking to Samson telling him I loved him. I was looking in his eyes rubbing his head, he kept trying to get up. He was becoming restless and was having trouble breathing. I picked him up and held him in my arms, telling him that I loved him. He acted like he wanted down. So I put him back on the table. He could no longer control his back legs. Dr Chris said he's not going to make it. I guess I knew it, but to hear, it really hurt. I turned Samson over on his back and looked in his into eyes. They were fixed. Dr Chris was listening to his heart, he said his heart has stopped. Samson drew his last breath. Samson died at 11:15 AM June 12, 2002.

I cried like a baby. I had lost a true friend. He was always there and now he was gone. You don't realize how close you get to an animal until they die. When someone or an animal dies you question a lot of things, could I have done more? We loved Samson and gave him the best home we could. Samson was a one of a kind, a true friend. This is his story as we know it. If we find out where he came from we will post it here. If you know anything about Samson please let us know.