![\"\"](\"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Samson3.jpg\" "\\"Samson\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nHis name was Samson, but I affectionately called him “Big Brown Dog.” \u00a0Even from the time he was a puppy he was a big, awkward, lumbering, ball of \u00a0brown fur. \u00a0They say that a dog is man’s best friend, and in some ways that is true. \u00a0 I never remember him being ashamed of me, mad at me, or unwilling to come over and let me love on him. \u00a0In fact, every time I visited Catherine’s and Clint’s house, which is often, he would rush over and lay his head in my lap as if to say, your late, get to work rubbing my ears! \u00a0Big Brown Dog was a faithful friend, never wavering in his devotion to his family. \u00a0When they adopted a small hyper-active Boston Bull Terrier named Charlie, Samson took it in stride, and shared his home with the the new comer, even though one of her favorite games was pestering him in every conceivable manner, he stayed the calm loving old boy he had always been! \u00a0He knew no other way.<\/p>\n
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You can know everything there is to know about someone when you look into their eyes, and if they look back,\u00a0 you can sense their soul. \u00a0Big Brown Dog was and open book to read and you knew he loved you, when you looked into those big brown eyes! \u00a0Samson would love to get up on the couch and lay his head in your lap, and would never move as long as you would hold him there. \u00a0If he got to warm he would get up and move to the floor, but never go very far from your feet.<\/p>\n
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Several years ago, Samson ran off and got lost, he was gone for days and we frantically searched for him, it seemed he was gone and we were all torn up, but then he reappeared, thinner, and oh so very glad to see his family!<\/p>\n
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After that\u00a0he rarely went very far from home, I think in fear he would be lost again. \u00a0Yesterday he took his last trip. \u00a0At almost 11 he\u00a0<\/span>succumbed\u00a0to what we\u00a0<\/span><\/span>believe\u00a0was a heart attack in the kitchen\u00a0<\/span>floor\u00a0next to his beloved\u00a0<\/span>family,\u00a0as they had lunch. \u00a0I joined them in the\u00a0<\/span>kitchen\u00a0and after\u00a0<\/span>consoling\u00a0my\u00a0<\/span>grandchildren, and Catherine, and Clint I ran into town to run errands. \u00a0As I drove alone my mind was filled with all those wonderful moments loving on my Big Brown Dog. \u00a0He\u00a0<\/span>wasn’t really my dog, of course he belonged to the Catherine, Clint, Cassidy and Cade, \u00a0but then again he was my dog too, in fact anyone’s he\u00a0allowed into his big warm heart, was truly his friend.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’ll miss you my friend, \u00a0it was great to have you to love, and to be loved by you, I’ll see you before too long, on the other side. \u00a0 Be at peace Samson, and don’t worry, I’ll watch over your family until we meet again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blessings,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n the pilgrim<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I allowed myself to really let loose and cry after writing this dedication to Big Brown Dog this morning, it feels good to let it go\u2026\u2026 \u00a0It would be an honor and a privilege to be remembered as warmly as he will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" His name was Samson, but I affectionately called him “Big Brown Dog.” \u00a0Even from the time he was a puppy he was a big, awkward, lumbering, ball of \u00a0brown fur. \u00a0They say that a dog is man’s best friend, and in some ways that is true. \u00a0 I never remember him being ashamed of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9760"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9769,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9760\/revisions\/9769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}