From: mjones@fenway.aix.kingston.ibm.com (Mike Jones)
Subject: Re: samoyeds
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 03:49:49 GMT
Organization: IBM Corp. Kingston NY

In article <scarcell.4@cs-acad-lan.Lakeheadu.Ca> scarcell@cs-acad-lan.Lakeheadu.Ca (Lorraine Scarcello) writes:
>Well I am glad to hear that someone else out there is the proud owner of a 
>samoyed.  I was beginning to think I was the only one.  My boyfriend and I 
>have a 6.5 month old female samoyed named Jasper.  We got her when she was 7 
>weeks old and she has brought us nothing but joy and happiness since the day 
>we brought her home.  We even had to travel 11 hours by car to get her 
>because no one around here breeds them anymore.  Actually its kind of nice 
>having a not so popular breed because she is so beautiful that when we are 
>out for walks she turns people's heads, even people in cars.

Hey, that happens even where they're relatively more common! Sammys aren't a
rare breed, but they're still not as common as, say, Cockers or GSD's.
Whenever I take mine anywhere he draws attention (7 year old male named
Hercules - it's not my fault! I adopted him with that name!).

>We have been fortunate, so far, and not had too many problems with her.  We 
>crate trained her from the beginning and that seemed to work great.  We no 
>longer crate her at night but we do crate her during the day when we are at 
>work or when we are out together.  She does tend to dig and she also likes 
>to nip or bite a bit, but not in an aggressive manner.  She is very friendly 
>with everyone.  There have only been about two people that she has kind of 
>barked at.  Other than that she rarely barks which is kind of nice.  In 
>other words she only barks when she has reason to.  However, she does not 
>let us know verbally anyway, when she needs out.  She just sort of sits in 
>front of you or trys to get your attention by pawing you.  Then we ask if 
>she wants "outside" and she heads for the door.

My guy is pretty much the same. He doesn't dig randomly, but he will
occasionally pick out a spot in the yard to dig a "den", especially in the
summer. Herkie doesn't bite, even in play. He only barks occasionally, when
he really has a reason, but he will "speak" in a woo-ing noise like a
Siberian or Malamute sometimes. He will sneeze on command, though! :-)
 
>We just started obedience training two weeks ago and she seems to be 
>progressing at a normal rate.  We had her sitting, lying down and rolling 
>over by the time she was twelve weeks old or so.  The roll over took a lot 
>longer.  The obedience trainer said she has a very good disposition.  She 
>said that she had encountered a sammy that was so aggressive and unfriendly 
>that she recommended that they put it down.  Another friend told me they had 
>one as a child that protective of the family that no one could come near the 
>house.  Jasper has not shown any of these characteristics.  In fact I can't 
>beleive how well behaved she is, especially with all of the bad publicity I 
>have seen and heard regarding this breed.

Sammys are smart. In some ways, too smart. Like other Northern breeds, it's
not teaching them that's difficult, it's convincing them that they really
want to work for you. They definitely have "a mind of their own". My guy has
a very good disposition. Perhaps because of age, he's downright placid
except when he's been outside in the cold. Then he gets very playful. There
do seem to be a lot of bad-tempered Sammys around, though. My vet says that
Herkie is the only Samoyed she sees that she likes.

>I can't beleive some of the destruction stories people have to tell about 
>there dogs in general.  I guess I have been very fortunate so far because 
>Jasper has destroyed absolutely nothing but then we keep her under constant 
>supervision and she is crated when one of us cannot be there to supervise 
>her.  We do make every effort to include her in all of our activities 
>because I get the feeling that she does not like being left alone.  Leaving 
>her while we are at work is bad enough, so we take her with us wherever we 
>can.  This has really helped in socializing her with other people as well as 
>other dogs.  However, she does tend to show a bit dominance with other dogs 
>and sticks up for herself very well.

Oh ho, you've been lucky. I got Herkie because his previous owner got tired
of replacing door frames. He's not randomly destructive, but he is afraid of
loud noises (thunder, gunshots, etc.). His previous owner lived in a rural
area where there were often hunters within hearing. When frightened, Herkie
will go hide in the bathtub. If he can't get there or the noise doesn't
stop, he becomes destructive. I've been pretty lucky about dealing with it,
but there was one night when we were all out and a bad storm came...I had to
replace the bottom three feet of sheetrock around the shower stall including
metal corner bracings, which looked like pretzels. After that we decided to
try crating the guy; he'd never been crate trained, so we set up the crate
(a Vari-Kennel) in our bedroom and started by having him sleep in it. He
didn't mind going into the crate, and only a little sleeping in it for the
first two nights. The third night, though, we got a thunderstorm. He was
making anxious noises, and we made reassuring noises. Suddenly, there was a
"pop" and he came over to the bed. I got up and switched on the light and
discovered that he had apparenly grabbed the door with his teeth and pulled
it into the crate. I was amazed. Samoyeds, more than the other northern
breeds, do like being with their people. They're the general purpose dogs of
that group. They were originally used for pulling, pets, and even herding!
They're stronger than Siberians and faster than Malamutes.

   Mike Jones  |  AIX/ESA Development  |  mjones@donald.aix.kingston.ibm.com

Eat, drink, and be merry; for tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in
this petty pace from day to day.
	- Erle Stanley Gardner