* Samo the male *

* 'Duh' ...or not?
September 8th 2005 *


“So who shall I say is calling?” came the yappy question in doggy Ville.
“I am... Samo.” was the stiff reply. In ¾ time, the beat of long nails clicking on the floor, the female walked as steadily as she could muster to the other seated at the end of the porch.

Lifting her head up as the female approached, she gave a shy smile as she looked past to see the tan strong male standing quietly and straight. He too sensed her curiosity and looked steadily in her direction, letting her know he was ready when she allowed.

Haha…yes my friends, that was a teaser of the romance between Samo and Sayang; Guzz’s parents! A brief history of Samo will be today’s blog. The tall, handsome tan male among the two sweet ladies…Sayang and Sheba.

Samo actually grew up in the house across from us. He was brought there with his sister when they were so tiny. He was quite the destroyer while he was growing up. He chewed thru anything he could sink his teeth in, from shoes to papers to wires…anything. The final straw was when he began chewing on parts of the cars in the house. Bits of bumpers and wiring cables were not safe from his itching jaws. His owner, became so irate and frustrated; would hit him at first with a cane and when that didn’t stop him, he used sticks and eventually anything he could get his hands on including steel pipes.

Honestly, I don’t know how to explain Samo’s self destructive manner. You would think after all that beating, he would not do it again yet he became worse and worse each time. I was on my way out to work one day when I overheard his owner ask my parents if anyone would take Samo off his hands. I didn’t stay around to hear the rest of it as I was late.

Few days later, I came home and there he was, standing in my garden. Joining in Sayang’s and Sheba’s chorus of welcome for me, I smiled to myself thinking, ‘Well, better here than there.’ I asked mum as I got into the hallway and she said my brother took pity on him. When he came over, he was known as ‘Brown’ which I thought was a stupid name. So I got my two young nephews to name him and Samo he became.

Funnily enough, he never bit anything in our house, not even a piece of paper. He was happy to be the thorn among the roses and actually turned out to be a really sweet fella. He had a quiet nature and was sometimes plain…’duh?’ Sometimes he would give this low or high pitched curdling sound from his throat when he sees me and all I needed to do was call his name and he would go on and on till I tell him to stop. It is his affectionate call and till today, I can still set him off once in awhile.

He is blessed with a nice lean cut and medium shade of tan. Overall, he is a handsome dog and eventually, the ‘dog’ who never gave Sayang a chance to overcome her first period! We caught him trying and we did our best to keep them apart during this time, but I must tell you….when a female is in heat; there’s no stopping the crazy male. They will somehow jump or climb the highest wall to get to the other side. Even if they are afraid of heights, sorry….it’s still do or die. I think it’s a male ego thing. Oh dear, I am sure I am gonna be sorry for saying that. *wink*

Sure enough, he got her…twice! And so came a litter of five. Three males and two females, which we all heaved huge sighs of relieve. Why? Because most people prefer male puppies to females and if you had more females in a litter, the stress of finding good homes is more stress!

Of the five, Guzz was the only odd one. He was a dirty black while the rest were white or tan, like their parents! Everyone would look at him and say, “Hey, why is that fella different from the rest?” and then turn their attention to the cute whites and tans forgetting him.

Me, lover of the underdogs; liked him the most and I told my parents that I was keeping him. I don’t know where I pulled his name out from but he didn’t complain…haha. He was quite the rascal amongst the rest and as he grew in the coming months, I noticed his coat was changing to tan! I was upset as I liked his original colour and every day I would warn him, ‘If you lose all your black, I will give you away.’ He must have prayed very hard cos till today, he still has some leftovers on the tips of his ears and tail!

Guzz has his mother’s shape and coat while he has his father’s colour. Thankfully he did not inherit his father’s ‘dumb sense’. However, Samo isn’t always as dumb as he appears to be. He did get Sayang twice-haha!! No, he can be smart sometimes. He cries out loud before you can smack him for doing something wrong. I tell you, he can yelp louder than any dog I’ve known and sounds as if he was being brutally abused (well, he had training...) but we had hardly touched him! Yep, that is his best performance every time.

The other time when he performs is when his dinner is late. He would let out a loud sigh every two minutes. The first five minutes, you’ll ask him what’s wrong and he’ll look at you sadly before letting out another. He starts again after you go away, the next ten minutes, you’ll be yelling at him to shut up! And the next victim will be the maid, who will be yelled at to feed the goddamn dog so to keep him quiet!!!

His timing was flawless, he’d start softly just before four in the evening and he goes on and on until food comes. Then he began fifteen minutes earlier and so it went on for a number of years. Today I learnt, he has stopped this for some time now. Nobody knows why but that’s Samo.

He is a fantastic rat catcher. He’d be fixated by the drain, patiently watching the entry way where he last saw it. Whichever rat that crossed his way, never survived. He caught them, shook them in one fluid motion and they were gone. My mum had been many times caught by surprise mingled with horror, disgust and some glee when she opens the door and almost stands on some of them.

Now tell me, how can you call this brilliant rat catcher a dumbo? He knows she’d go straight to the market that morning itself and buy him some liver and goodies to feed him and protect him from whatever he may have caught from biting them! Yummy! Duh or not…..he knows what he wants.

Well that’s all I can think of now about Samo, the father of my Guzz; brilliant rat catcher; used to sing annoyingly for his dinner and selectively ‘duh’s when he wishes. What a male. Sounds familiar? *wink wink*

With a Samo sigh and a duh…..later.