This Is A Wonderful Story About Sammy, A Dear Dog Who Died And A Family Who Loved Him

First, about me: I am a mother of two, the wife of a physician, a former corporate professional who worked in an executive positon, and a life-long pet owner and animal right’s advocate. That’s the ‘surface’ me. But, the ‘me’ inside, which is usually only shared with a couple of family members and one trusted life-long friend, is a different story. Ever since I have been a child– literally– I have possessed what the Scot’s refer to as second sight. Also, for as long as I can remember, I have been able to see things in my mind’s eye that happen on the other side– or rather get glimpses and flash impressions. I have also had extremely detailed past life recollections from the time I was 4-years-old. (I am now 40). I have seen what happened to my grandmother when she passed over. What I saw was confirmed by my father since I reported images and descriptions that he knew about but that I never had exposure to. But, the most poignant thing happened recently and that seemed to open a spiritual floodgate. (And since it has opened, I welcome it daily). My grandmother’s brother passed away in January. But, here is the thing. None of us in my immediate family found out until a week after his passing. However, the very instant he was passing, I was asleep, and I observed his passing in my dream. My grandmother was one of his escorts to the other side and I heard an audible conversation between them that confirmed she had visited us after her death. When I woke up from that dream, I wrote it all down not knowing he (my great uncle) had died and thinking there was a deeper psychic meaning that I would find out about later. Well, yes, there was a deeper meaning– I had actually observed his passing over. When I “see” these things, I don’t see detailed images of landscapes but rather I literally “feel” the extreme joy and love contained in the other side. Well, I shouldn’t even call it joy and love, because what I feel is so much MORE than that and joy and love are the closest approximations. Okay, after that happened in January and I could no longer find rational explanations for what I was seeing and decided to accept that I actually was seeing the spiritual world, I welcomed it. Now, to cut to the chase, since this is directly related to animals and their incarnations.

On February 1st, our beloved cocker spaniel, Sammy, was deteriorating very quickly after a short illness. I took him to the vet and they found that something inexplicable had happened. His esophagus had become closed and was completely paralyzed. He was therefore regurgitating all food and water and had become septic. (This all happened quickly with no warning). The vet wanted to put him to sleep that night, but I decided to take him home so that he could spend one last night with one of our sons, who Sammy had ‘guarded’ since our son was a baby. (Sammy was like my son’s guardian angel). So, my son slept on the floor with Sammy all night (by choice), tending Sammy, telling him he loved him, and making him comfortable. The next morning, my husband and I took Sammy back to the vet so that Sammy could leave peacefully. He was suffering GREATLY by that time and was in profound pain. But, what was interesting, is each time I looked in Sammy’s eyes, the look in his eye’s would say, “I have been in pain a long time. I have been hiding it. The boy needs me. He needs me more than anything and I have to stand guard at my post until the very end.” Well, while my husband and I were at the vet, I told the vet that I just wanted something to relax Sammy but that wouldn’t send him to sleep right away. Sammy and I needed to talk. Sammy had a lot of valium in his system and he kept trying to stand up– he kept trying to rally– even through the pain and heavy sedation– even at death’s door. I sat on the floor and I laid my hands on Sammy while my husband sobbed. I looked at Sammy and said, “Sammy you know you were our ‘first son’ and you have given us tremendous joy and tremendous love. I don’t have words to thank you for all that you have given us unselfishly. We love you now and we will love you always. You are the best dog we have ever had. I don’t have words or even acts to repay the debt that I owe to you for giving all the love you had to the boys when they were going through hard times. Sammy you are an angel. But now you are tired and in pain. I see fear in your eyes. I see that you are afraid to leave our sons. I see that you think you are letting us down. You are not letting us down. You are a good dog…a good boy…and we love you. Please don’t be afraid. Take all the time you need and I will sit here, hold you, and talk to you. But please let go of the guilt that is holding you here. You are not letting us down…” Even through those words, Sammy kept trying to rally. I kept comforting him and telling him how much I loved him. It came to me to grab my iphone and to play a song called “10,000 Reasons” by Matt Redman and to sing the words to Sammy and pet him. And so I sang along…

“Bless the Lord O my soul, O my soul, Worship His holy name, Sing like never before O my soul, I’ll worship Your holy name. The sun comes up and It’s a new day dawning– It’s time to sing Your song again, whatever may pass and whatever lies before me Let me be singing when the evening comes. Bless the Lord O my soul O my soul Worship His holy name Sing like never before, O my soul I’ll worship Your holy name. You’re rich in love and You’re slow to anger– Your name is great and Your heart is kind; For all Your goodness I will keep on singing, 10,000 reasons for my heart to find. And on that day when my strength is failing, the end draws near and my time has come, still my soul will sing Your praise unending 10,000 years and then forever more.”

Finally, Sammy relaxed. So, I petted him some more and I told him that he was going to drift into a peaceful sleep. But that at that very moment, he was surrounded by loving angels that filled the room. I told him that when he woke up, he would be with God and that loving people (including my deceased grandfather) would come and escort him and that he would never be alone. I reassured him that we would meet again one day, but that most of all the gift of love and unselfishness that he gave the boys was so far and above any call of duty that any dog should ever have to take. I told him to relax and to go with the angels. When he was sleeping peacefully, the vet readied the medication that would send hin along. I told Sammy I would need to physically leave the room for that but that I would be in the next room communing with his spirit so that he could make an easier transition. I reassured Sammy my husband (his daddy) would hold him but that in order for me to get into a deep meditation to support him, I could not witness what was going to happen to his body. So, I went into the next room, stilled myself, and contacted his spirit immediately, flooding it with pure love and coaxing him to the light in my mind’s eye. My husband came out almost immediately after that since Sammy literally went instantly as soon as the meds were administered.  As soon as his spirit had left his body, I felt Sammy’s hesitation and his presence. I strongly coaxed him toward the light and flooded him with pure love. Then my husband and I got in the car and I drove us around while my husband literally cried like he has never cried before. Some kind of well of pent up emotion was tapped into in my husband and he was ABLE to cry for once in his life. Prior to that, my husband was the type who literally did not have the ability to cry. After a few minutes, I senses that Sammy had gone over. And I said reflexively and out loud, “God, is he alright?” At that very moment, the song “10,000 Reasons” came on the radio station that I had on in the car. Then, in my mind’s eye, I was immediately flooded with a real-time image of Sammy playing in this electric-green field of grass. The reason I say electric green is because the color I saw in my mind’s eye was green, but unlike any green on Earth. The color itself was pulsating and moving with vibrant life and the hue was so much deeper, bold, and brighter than anything seen here. Then, in my mind’s eye, I took a closer look at Sammy. He was restored to a ‘perfect’ version of himself and appeared like he did when he was about 2 years old. Only, he appeared much better and completely perfect. He was leaping and bounding and he was chasing all of these beautiful, little white butterflies that were all around. He wasn’t biting them but literally ‘leaping for joy’ in the air, over and over again, realizing he had been freed from pain and all material constraints.  So, there he was, a perfect version of Sammy, leaping through these beautiful, vibrating electric green hills, chasing these gorgeous white butterflies. Finally, and briefly, in the distance, I saw my grandfather smiling at Sammy and watching as he lept through the air. I was reassured and I said an audible “Thank You” to God and kept driving. My husband, who is agnostic (but who wants to believe) was still sobbing at my side. I told him about the vision I just saw and through tears, my husband said, “I hope you are right. I want to believe you are right.” I knew that I was right because what I saw was not the stuff of a ‘day dream’ or wishful thinking. BUT… that wasn’t the only sign that was to come that day. I drove my husband to our house so that he could pick up his car and then follow me to another house that we were preparing to move into. So, on the way to the new house, I followed closely behind my husband in my own car. At one point, he was about 50 feet ahead of me on a country road. I said silently. “Please God, Pleas send my husband a sign that Sammy is ok.” At that moment, I noticed my husband slam on his brakes to his car and stop in the middle of the road. I figured he had halted for a deer and drove closer to his car. I didn’t see anything in the road and came to a stop behind him. Then, I saw what he was stopping for. I caught a quick glimpse of a beautiful golden tail wagging and bobbing and then a beautiful golden retriever stood in the road, wagging at him, and acting playful. My husband started to get out of the car to coax it out of the road, but as he did, the dog joyfully ran into the woods and was gone in an instant. I immediately called him on my cellphone. I said, “Wow, where did that gorgeous dog come from?” He said, “I don’t know– I was driving and it literally just appeared in the road out of nowhere and so I slammed on my breaks.” I asked, “Did you see where it went?” He said, “No, it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared.” Of course, I said excitedly, “Honey, I was just asking God to send you a sign that Sammy is okay just as that dog came out of nowhere!” (Sammy and the dog from the woods were the exact same color and had a similar temperament). My husband said, “Wow, that is a coincidence…” I could tell he wanted some time in his head so I got off the phone and met him at the house. Fast forward to today… since that day, I have certainly had the knowledge that Sammy is still very much with us, but also very much in a higher realm. Since then, my oldest son, the one that Sammy guarded, has many times heard Sammy scratching at the door in the middle of the night. Normally, my son gets frightened very VERY easily, but he has told em when he ‘hears’ Sammy, it is a confort to him because he knows Sammy is ok. My own parents, who don’t even believe in this stuff, have also experienced similar signs.

But, there is more…. For a couple of years prior, we had been looking for an older cavalier spaniel to adopt to keep Sammy company. We had chosen a cavalier because (years before) one had wandered into our yard and took to our family as if she wanted to be with us. We kept her until we were able to get ahold of her owner later that evening. But, each time I had looked for a cavalier, none were available. Well, my oldest son was grieving hard over Sammy’s loss and so just after Sammy passed, I had this unshakable feeling that I needed to look for a cavalier. I talked to my husband about it and then stated how guilty I felt because I was not trying to replace Sammy. My husband told me to runa  search on line to see if there were any locally. Well, I ran a search and found a perfect cavalier puppy and called the owners. They were thrilled because the puppy had been posted for 2 weeks and no one had called. So, I agreed to come out the next day and purchase it. Well, I called early in the morning the next day to confirm a time. The husband told me not to come since after we had gotten off the phone, they were flooded with calls on the puppy, which led to a biding war, and a buyer who had purchased it very late the night before. He laughed and said I had brought him ‘good luck’ and then gave a feeble ‘sorry’. Well, I was disappointed and told him that we had lost Sammy the day before and that we were a bit let down. (But, I wasn’t angry). Then I thanked him for his time and got off the phone. Five minutes later he called back and I picked up the phone. He told me that his wife had overheard our conversation and that she wanted me to come to the house to meet and possibly purchase the father of the puppies that had all been sold. That interested me and so me, my dad, and my boys headed out to meet the father of the puppy that had been sold. (My husband was working that day). It was kind of an odd situation, but I felt compelled to go. My dad stayed in the minivan with the kids while I went to knock on the door of the house where the cavalier lived. My dad had his passenger door in the minivan open in case I needed anything. Well, the people opened the door, the cavalier ran out (without even looking at me), ran over to our minivan and literally jumped on my dad’s lap, stood there, and wagged. I looked at the cavalier’s owners, they looked at me, and the husband said, “Well, I guess that is settled. He has chosen his new owners.” But, before I bought him, I asked the standard questions so that I could get a sense of the dog’s needs. (The dog’s name was/is Hero). They admitted that they made Hero live in a kennel in the backyard 24/7 since they had only been using him to breed puppies. They said the night before they decided to stop being backyard breeders and to sell Hero. The wife said that when she heard my first phone call, she realized she would need to stop breeding these dogs and give them to loving homes. And so, that is how I acquired Hero, a beautiful cavalier spaniel. Since I have acquired him, I learned that he was sold to me with a broken jaw. (Something I found out from the dog, not from the original owners). Fortunately, my vet wired Hero’s jaw closed and he just got the wire out 2 weeks ago. His jaw is as good as new.  When I first got Hero, he was certainly acting like a dog that had been severely abused. When I realized this, I told him that I was going to redeem his life, no matter what it took. And with the vet’s help, he has been redeemed. But what is even more amazing is now that Hero knows he is safe and loved (and that he will always sleep on our bed with us each night with his own blankets) his personality has emerged. Not only is he an incredibly loving and smart dog, it is almost like he literally has the soul of a black cavalier that we had when I was growing up. That dog’s name was Smokey and he lived until he was 19 years old (yes, literally!!) and he passed on in my dad’s arms. What is uncanny about Hero is that when his owners opened the door that day, he didn’t even stop to look. He literally made a beeline for my car (which he had never seen before) and planted himself on my dad’s lap (exactly where Smokey had died). At the time, that struck me as interesting, but now that his personality is coming out, the correlation between his traits and Smokey’s is 100%. The two dogs have the same identical quirky habits and even the same bark down to the pitch. It literally is like Smokey chose to come back to our family. Though this is probably uncommon, it would make sense because Smokey was there for my dad when my dad was going through a horrible battle for tenure at a university. Smokey was the only thing that kept my dad alive. Now my dad is going through a similar hard time, years later, and a dog who appears to be the most recent incarnation of Smokey appears. (And I wouldn’t have listened to the inner voice that urged me to look for a cavalier if Sammy hadn’t passed on suddenly). I have a lot more to say about this but it’s late and I need some shut eye. If there are other pet lovers out there who are interested in what happens when their beloved pet after they pass over, I sincerely hope this (long) comment offers comfort. I literally felt compelled to write it, so there must be a reason. I pray that it finds whomever is in need of it. With Love, Sarah