Hello, my name is Sam.  I think I was supposed to be Sammi, but after I arrived my mom and dad really saw me more as a Sam. Now the name doesn't come because I'm a boy, I'm not! I was named after Maggie's mom Sam. She was a really pretty girl from what I'm told and she had a sweet charming personality. Well that also describes me perfectly, so I'm pretty much ok with my name.

My real name is Sovereign's Frozen Rock Solid.  This also isn't really the name of a pretty girl, however it is a pretty special name. You see, I'm a frozen semen puppy.  Yup, my real dad passed away over 15 years ago.   In fact I think I'm Charles' great aunt or some such thing even though he's ten years older than I am.

I have also have a couple of nicknames. Dad calls me Woof or Woofie, which is strange since I've only barked twice in my entire life. They also call me Sam-wah-Fare (you know kinda like the cartoon character) because my legs go everywhere when I run and my rap name is Woof-dog-ee-dog but I don't use that one much as everyone knows that orange dogs can't rap.

When my new parents bought me they did so thinking I was going to be a showdog, actually the next generation of show dogs in the household. Little did they know that I'd grow up so big and strong, actually about a half inch too big and strong, especially for a girl. You see up here in Minnesota the girls are pretty small so I look like a giant. However dad says to think of me as sturdy.

We did a couple of shows and I don't think it was really my gig anyway. An old lady with cold hands pets you and looks at your teeth. Occasionally you get treats, but not nearly often enough to make it really worthwhile. Also, there's no grass or birds anywhere to be found.

After it was discovered that a show career was just not in my future, we started looking for other things for me to do. We called a trainer about doing some hunting training with me. I think I was about six months old when we started.

Going to the farm where we trained was great fun. However, riding in the car to get there wasn't much fun. Early in life I had a pretty weak stomach. Every time we drove the twenty minutes to the trainer's, I would throw up. It took more than a month to get over this and boy was dad glad when I finally stopped!

Anyway training started slow, we did some running and there would be some birds out there. However the birds were in these mesh bags or in these things that shot them into the air, neither of which I'm much interested in. Why should I be, the bird is already captured, what do you need me for??

Then one day dad just put out some birds without any restrictive devices on them. So I'm running along in the field, minding my own business when it hits me, bird smell!! All of a sudden my entire body stopped working and I just stood there. Oh and I forgot, my leg was locked up in the air. It was just weird. Dad and the trainer thought it was cool, but they're weird anyway.

After that I got to start running more with other dogs. I started learning about not pointing at birds that they are already pointing at. I learned that 'rasslin is not allowed in the field and I learned that the older dogs need to be respected. It was quite a summer and fall.

After we trained for a while, dad decided that I was ready for my Junior Hunter test. We ended up going to Wisconsin for all four of my tests and I passed with flying colors. One judge didn't like me much because my dad didn't have to yell at me all the time like the other dog that I ran with. Man, his owner never shut up.

Anyway we had to pass four tests and we passed four out of four that we ran in. It was really pretty easy. I even impressed one judge with a stop to flush, which apparently they don't see much at Junior tests.

Since finishing, we've been back training at the farm. Eventually we'll do out Senior test, but for now we have been working on training for shoot to retrieves.

These are pretty fun events because you get to find and retrieve real shot birds. That is if dad can actually hit anything. He has his days when he's awesome, and others when I'm not sure he could hit a building if he was standing next to it.

We haven't won anything at any of the shoot to retrieves, but we have placed as high as seventh out of 32 dogs, but never lower than twentieth. Our trainer says that I keep the other dog honest. My problem is that I get too tired too quick, no matter how much running I do before the event. Apparently I don't run quite right and I just wear myself down. Well, all I can say is that I always try my best and have never gone bird-less, unlike some other dogs I know!

During one event two years ago it was over 95 degrees out when we ran. I still go three birds that day and then spent the afternoon relaxing in the pool (it's really a horse trough but a girl can dream, can't she?).

One of the dogs that we train with ended up in the top 20 in the National Shoot to Retrieve a couple years ago and three of the dogs at training were in the top ten in the region last year (2003-2004), so there are some pretty good dogs to learn from down there.

I'm going to be retiring from Shoot to Retrieves this year (unless they are short a dog or something) and I'm going to be moving into the training realm. You see I now have a new little sister named Abby who needs to be trained in my image. Abby will be a lot faster and might even have a slightly better nose than me, but I take work direction far better than she ever will. I think dad might even let me work the training collar on her (dance little dog!!), but we'll see. I'm still bigger and smarter than her, which is nice.

In my off hours I hand around the house and I'm the official greeting committee for the Pluth household. I love to climb up on visitors when they are sitting on the couch and give them a big Sam hug. Sara, one of the regular visitors even said "how could you not love Sam", so I'm quite good at my new job.

Another part of my duties are nap duties. When dad watches the Vikings game (before he gets mad and shuts off the television) he takes a nap from the middle of the second quarter to the middle of the third quarter. It is during this time that I must climb up on the recliner with him and crash. It's a tough job, but I think I'm up for the challenge!

I think that's about it for now. If you are looking for me and its summer, I'll be down at the farm running after the four-wheeler with Charles, Jessie and Abby. During the winter I'll be finding the warmest spot in the house and taking a nap. After all, I need my beauty sleep and I sure don't get it during the summer!

Keep stopping back to plot my progress. There's always something interesting going on here!

Update 7/6/2006

Hi all, I'm back for my mid-year 2006 update.

It's been quite a year. I had a bit of a scare this last winter when they found cancer on me. It really wasn't very fun. I spent a few days with my friends over at the University of Minnesota. Don't get me wrong they were very nice to me, but they keep poking me with things and I was none to fond of that. I also got some special treatment as they let me roam the office during the day and everyone came out to say goodbye when I went home.

The bad news was that it was a really bad tumor. The good news is that I've been cancer free for almost eight months!!!

Otherwise, I got to run in a couple of shoot to retrieves. Once again we did okay and always got birds. Oh and the dogs we ran with never placed! I'm pretty proud of that!