Days in the Life of “Boggy” with Sam
     
    Sam is without doubt the best dog ever, yes he has some bad habits but haven’t we all?, like eating my dinner when I went to answer the ‘phone and finding the most stagnant water and mud to play in and refusing to come out until completely covered.
     
    But for each day that passes things seem to get better than the day before. 
      
    One afternoon we decided to take a trip to Great Torrington and join the Tarka Trail and walk awhile but we hadn’t been walking long when Sam discovered the drainage channels on either side of the path.

     

    These were filled with black stinking water and mud, but without hesitation Sam dived in, charging up and down, “wow this is great fun” cried Sam and at the same time going totally deaf to my cries of “please Sam come out …..” or something like that.

     
    Sam had changed colour and instead of being black and tan, was now head to foot black and smelled so bad that it would make your toes curl; of course Sam thought it was as good as any Chanel perfume! The journey home was somewhat airy with all the windows down to stop the smell from building up.  

     

    Last summer Boggy’s garden in front of the living room window hadn’t been doing very well, nothing seemed to grow, so Boggy bought some bone meal and blood fertilizer and a couple of packs of bedding plants. As Boggy dug and worked the fertilizer into the soil, Sam watched with interest, often moving to see more clearly. As the new plants were dug in, Sam moved to inspect each one.
     
    Later that day, as Boggy sat down to eat his evening meal, Boggy suddenly realised that he was alone, where was Sam? As Boggy stepped out, there before him lay a scene from world war one. Soil was scattered all over the tarmac, all the plants lay scattered in every direction and a very large, surprisingly deep hole had been dug. Sam stood back with his tail wagging with a sense of pride over his face. A strangled cry came from Boggy “what the **** hell have you b**** you b**** I will **** and ****??”
     
    Boggy went for a walk on his own that night. When Boggy returned later having walked off his irritation, there was Sam tail wagging, “Oh well” said Boggy “let’s start again”.  
     

     

    Well it’s January and how do you like this weather? Sam and I are like a couple of kids playing in the snow. It's really beautiful up here with the pine trees laden with snow and hedge rows bending over so far that there is only room for a person to walk down the road.

     

    Sam is doing his best to eat it all, he runs down the road, turns and runs full pelt at me and swerving at the last moment but, in the end, it had to happen – he didn't quite make the swerve and I went down like a skittle pin. I think it was an accident, but Sam did have a sort of smirk on his face!!

     

    Sam has always liked to carry a stick whenever we go for our walks, he's always rushing along the hedge ways looking and comparing sticks of different size and when he can't decide he tries to carry two.
     
    Just of late though his ambitions have risen and now he isn't content with something small, he goes into the wood and pulls out large branches, some so long that he has trouble getting them down the footpaths.
     
    One of the worst things that happens is that he comes up behind and catches the backs of your legs with sticks, or else turns suddenly with this eight foot branch in his mouth and smacks you across the shins. It’s at times like this when your love is really put to the test!!!

     

    Then there was the time when we were walking the country lane and Sam had found a particularly long stick – around eight or nine feet long – he could only just run with it down the road. Everything was fine until a car approached, Boggy shouted, “Sam drop the stick”. Sam considered this for a moment, he was so proud of his new stick – he turned and looked at Boggy "you must be joking, I'm not giving this up for no-one". Meanwhile the car driver looked on, unable to pass by while Sam blocked the road. Boggy ran up and got hold of the stick, Sam refused to let go, they both struggled with the stick back and forth until Boggy was able to twist the stick alongside of the hedge while Sam still hung on. Meanwhile the motorist along with his wife cried with laughter and a rather red faced Boggy tried to hide his embarrassment.

     

    A few days later Sam and Boggy had been to town to do some shopping, amongst the items they had bought was a bunch of carrots. Boggy had noticed a rather forlorn looking horse in a field close to where he lived, and thought perhaps a carrot may go a long way to help cheer it up. Later the same day Boggy and Sam set off down the lane to where the horse was kept. There the horse was with a field full of sheep grazing. Boggy peered over the top of the Devon bank and called to the horse, waving the carrot above his head.
     
    The horse of course ignored Boggy and turned to show his back side, showing his utter contempt for him and carried on grazing. Boggy called and called waving his carrot all the time. By this time Boggy had become very frustrated and threw the carrot across the field towards the horse.

    Boggy had forgotten about Sam, at the same time as Boggy threw the carrot, Sam jumped the Devon bank including a barbed wire stock fence and into the field. Sam was thinking "that carrot's mine, it’s mine, it’s mine". Sam got his carrot, but Boggy was horrified at what he had done, if a farmer were to see Sam in a field full of sheep!! Boggy called to Sam who returned to Boggy straight away, but instead of jumping over the stock fence back to Boggy, Sam just stood there.

     
    “You B*****, if you can jump it one way why can't you jump back” Boggy cried. Boggy calling up on his athletic prowess and without the aid of a zimmer frame climbed the Devon bank ignoring the brambles that scratched his arms and making a leap from the top of the bank over the barbed wire fence, eventually landing ankle deep in mud, reminding Boggy that he still had his town shoes on. Boggy quickly put Sam's lead on and made his way across the field to where the gate was. There before Boggy was a lake of liquid mud. Each step that Boggy took it seemed to get deeper and deeper.

     

     
     
    Sam and Boggy looked a sorry sight, walking back home along the lane, Sam covered from head to tail in mud, Boggy with the squelch, squelch of mud oozing out of his shoes. Boggy could be heard mumbling “I love my Sam, I do, I do”.