Skamper 1996-2002
All Dressed up!
Skamper was a birthday gift to me in 1996. Since the loss of my first dog, Dominoe, I had mentioned a desire for a Frisbee chasing labrador. This cute puppy, rescued from the pound, was a fantastic birthday surprise. He had all the makings of a big romping, fun loving dog.
However, little did we know, was that Skamper was a lab mix, and the mixture turned out to be... Chow. ("Honey! I shrunk the dog!") So he ended up being a little frisky dog, a wee fat, with funny ears. He took a lot of ribbing. But he was always cheerful, easy to walk, listened well, and was a great ball fetcher. He was a good buddy with our bigger, older dog, Fudge. We called them "Mutt and Jeff"
Skamper sure enjoyed sleeping on the couch. We did not train him all that well, and we seemed to have white hairs on everything, furniture, clothes, car, it even followed me to my office.
Skamper made sure to bark at anyone that came to the door, annoying, but more or less a watch dog. When he had a choice, he would always sleep curled up next to our bed.
He did have some trouble adjusting when we brought home the 2 new lab pups, Mickey and Cadu in 2002, but the three of them sure played and romped all over the house. They joined in the mass destruction of the plants in our back yard.
It was the Chow mix in Skamper that showed as an agressive bent that caused behavior problems with visitors and other dogs. He had bitten three special people this year, and several times we had to break up fights with the puppies. Worse, Mickey was beginning to learn some of the same bad behaviors towards other dogs.
Skamper, we hope you have met up with Fudge and Dominoe, and are waiting for us at the Rainbow Bridge.
Skamper
Saying farewell to Skamper, March 27, 2002
Empty bowl, empty collar. Take care, Skamper