"Lucky" is a 4-6 year old male in Texas. He came in to a shelter as a stray with some other dogs. The other dogs were claimed by an owner, but she said "Lucky" wasn't one of her dogs. Lucky was saved by Lynn Sluder of Dallas Rescue, and unfortunately, he had heartworm, which is of course fatal if not treated. Thanks to the generous donations to the SamUrgency Fund, we were able to pay for Lucky's heartworm treatment.

Click the pictures below for a bigger picture and to read Lynn's captions.

Lynn's Lucky Update - April 5, 2001

Lucky is taking to crating very well. He hasn't barked or anything. His appetite is good. He ate 2 1/2 cups of dog food, 3 Lamb and Rice bones, a peice of chesse and a peice of jerky tonight so I think that weight will be added just fine. He does have a light case of kennel cough so he is on medication for that as well. The vet shaved a small place on his head where the vet thinks he was bitten by a dog. He has several scars on his nose, probably from dog fights. He is a real sweet heart. He loves someone to sit and rub his head.

Lynn's Lucky Update - April 14, 2001

Lucky seems to be doing great. He got to take a little trip to Petsmart to pick out a new bone and toy today. He is eating well but hasn't been putting on any weight. He loves to give kisses. I want to thank everyone who has stood behind this little boy.

April 18

SamUrgency has reached its first milestone! Thanks to the generous donations of Samoyed lovers across the U.S., we are able to pay for Lucky's heartworm treatment.

Lynn's Lucky Update - April 19, 2001

There are definitely some wonderful people out there including all of you people who made their wonderful donations. I told Lucky tonight that he was blessed to have such wonderful people to care about him. I want to thank each and everyone of you for assisting in Lucky's recovery. He is a very special boy and I wish he could shake hands with each and everyone one of you. He is 1/3 of the way through treatment, 2 weeks down and 4 to go.

Lynn's Lucky Update - April 26, 2001

I wanted to report that Lucky is half way through his heartworm treatment today and is doing very well. The kennel cough is gone and the hair is starting to grow back on his forehead. He is such a sweet boy. I think he is starting to get bored but I keep telling him just 3 more weeks to go.

Lynn's Lucky Update - May 17, 2001

Lucky went back to the vet today and I am happy to report that all 73 lbs. of him is heartworm free. He is off his restricted activity and is scheduled to be neutered and microchipped on May 30th. He has gained 13 lbs. since coming into rescue and can easily gain another 5 or so before he is a good weight. I want to personally thank SamUrgency and all of you who donated toward Lucky's treatment. I just counted the number of toys in Lucky's crate and it stands at 13. He has very little room left for himself. The vet called him a "wuss" today. He said he was checking his ears and Lucky was crying. He is as stong as a moose. Its time for a little leash training. I think he is just so tired of being crated and that a lot of it will correct itself.

Again, thanks to all of you.

Lynn's Lucky Update - May 20, 2001

I had an older gentlemen come visit Lucky today from almost 300 miles away. He had been in touch with me for several months. He had a Sam back in the 70's and wants another one. As the story unraveled, Don lost his wife of 60 some years back in January after dealing with her illness for 10 years. His wife had severe allergic reactions to dogs and couldn't tolerate a dog for the last several years of her life. His desire is for a true companion. He lives by himself (his son lives only a couple of miles away). He has a fulltime housekeeper (that has been looking at the pictures of Lucky on the SamUrgency page). He told me that he does his running around during the day when the housekeeper is there so Lucky will never have to be alone. He has a swimming pool and the son assures me that he will teach Lucky where the steps are. Lucky will have a nice new Cadillac to ride around in. He was going to buy Lucky a new crate, food bowls, food, etc. and all the toys Lucky wants. Lucky is not quite ready to go to his new home ( his neuter and microchip is scheduled for May 30th) but about 10 days from that date, it sounds like Lucky will have a wonderful home to go to. He wanted to pay the adoption fee today so no one else could get him. If you could have seen the look in this man's eyes when he saw Lucky, it was enough to break your heart. Lucky would lay his head in his lap and Don would just rub and rub his head. I think Lucky has been truly blessed by SamUrgency and he is about to give some of that back to a someone who really needs that Sammy touch.

A Lucky Update from Don

Everything is going along just fine. Lucky thinks he has three people to meet his request with my housekeeper, her son and myself all spoiling him too much. The real problem I have with him is that he is too friendly with everyone he meets expecially women. He has gone crazy over my next door neighbor's wife. When he sees her he starts his talking by semi barking etc as you have seen with him, I'm sure. He is eating regularly and dong very well all around. He is beginning to want to stay inside most of the time since it is getting so hot. He has chosen my front bedroom to sleep in since it has a large window looking out to the front and another looking out to the back yard. He spends his nights watching everyting happening in the yard.

Don's Lucky Update - July 17, 2001

Lucky was a hit on his first day at school today. Instead of getting her own dog out for the demonstration the instructor picked Lucky to show how to sit and stay with the steps away from the dog etc. He did perfectly. Then later on she was talking about being careful and keeping an eye on your dog and the other dogs around you. She said that Lucky was the sweetest dog she had ever trained in 15 years and told about him being abandoned and the rescue placing him with me. She told them that she didn't know how anyone could abandon a dog as sweet as lucky. She told them that Lucky would not hurt any of the dogs there, but that you must be careful of other dogs if you don't know them. I just about broke down crying at that point, but managed to keep my composure.

Lucky did a good job all the way through although he did become a little irritated that some of the dogs were taking such a long time to learn the commands. I'm anxious to see what he does next week when he is more familiar with the other dogs. He talked to just about all of them one way or another today, but was glad to get back home too. Just thought I would let you know what a great companion he is.

Lynn's Lucky Update - Aug 21, 2001

Lucky is the star of his obedience class. Don and Lucky are up to three walks a day and everything is going wonderful. Only problem is that Lucky has been placed on a diet. He has gained 10 lbs. in 2 months, even with all the walks and training.

Lynn's Lucky Update - March 18, 2002

Lucky, SamUrgency's first dog in need, now lives in San Antonio and is doing wonderfully. He is attending class working on his CGC with his new dad Don. Lucky takes 3 walks a day in the neighborhood with 2 of them being dad in an electric wheelchair so he can keep up with Lucky. I think Lucky and Don are the celebrities of the neighborhood. Don tells me he is stopped two of three times a day for someone one to pet Lucky.

Don's Lucky Update - March 26, 2002

Lucky is doing more than good. He just received his certificate for completing the Good Citizen Course. He was in a class of 6 dogs. All except Lucky have been in training there at the training center since they were puppies. Lucky did as well or better than all of them. He has gotten used to his diet food and is eating it real well now. He still misses having his treats whenever he wants one, but when he gets real anxious for something extra to eat I fix him a helping of green beans or broccoli and he is happy. He is still eating grass every time I take him out, but that may be from something that he was eating when he was out on his own and searching for food.

Don's Lucky Update - April 9, 2002

Last Sunday Lucky and I tried out the Fly Ball class and he really seemed to like it. We are just beginning to learn about it, but there are just 3 dogs in the class and he gets along with both of the other dogs so that is good too. I also got my application in with the Delta Society and have an interview with them to see if I qualify to take Lucky into the Hospitals or Nursing homes. If I pass we will see how he does on their test and on from there. We're keeping pretty busy now so he seems to be happy with life now. Will let you know how the Fly Ball and the Delta Society works out.

Don's Lucky Update - May 24, 2002

I completed the first part of the Delta preliminaries to get qualified to call on the nursing homes and hospitals. Now all I have to do is to develop my own skills in handling Lucky so that I can keep him from barking when he gets in for the test. I have scheduled our test for September hoping we can get so we can calm down when we meet new people. He is getting a lot better about that now, so maybe by September we will be ready.

I think I told you that I have signed him up for Rally classes. I never heard of them before, but Nancy, his fly ball teacher said that they are trying to get AKC to include the Rally into their schedule. As you probably know this is to train them to obey hand signals rather than voice commands. Evidently they include a lot more than sit, down and stay comands. We'll see on June 8th. Thought you would like to know how Lucky is doing.

Don's Lucky Update - July 2002

Lucky is getting more and more spoiled, but he deserves it. He enjoys having his own door now, but makes it a point to let us know that we should open the door for him if he happens to be near the sliding glass door when we are there to open it for him. We are completing another class in about 2 weeks -- the Rally class. I thought it had something to do with signal commands, but it turns out to be just an extended Good Citizen class. We are supposed to have our evaluation test for the Delta Assc. in October. Main problem is to get Lucky to ignore strangers when they come up to talk to you. He is just too friendly and likes to talk. I think this would be good for calling on patients in the hospital, but they seem to think that if you can't keep your dog from barking you don't have enough control for the job. If I can get him to be quite for that one period of about an hour we'll be o.k. I've had pneumonia this past week, but that didn't stop me from keeping Lucky combed every day (dedicated owner, don't you think?)

Incidentally when you told me that Lucky liked his food moistened, but did not tell me that it had to be with milk. He wouldn't touch the food with water, but put milk on it and it won't last 2 minutes.

From Lynn: I told him that Lucky didn't get milk on his food here and that he doesn't need the milk. In other words, I think Lucky is spoiled rotten.

Don's Lucky Update - September 2002

We started on the last part of the Delta designation yesterday. We had our practice run for the Delta Evaluation coming up on 9/21/02. Lucky, Celia and Matthew and I headed out to the exam destination in pouring rain, but it turned out to be a good omen I guess. There were 10 partner sets there for the practice session with 10 different breeds of dogs. (I was surprised to see that 3 of the dogs had been in rescue before their owners found and adopted them). Minature poodles to Large Poodles, large german shepards and of course Lucky.

All 5 of the judges seemed to be unusually fond of Lucky and after he finished telling everyone there hello he settled down and didn't bark at all through all of the various exercises we went through (sit, down turn, about turn, stay and come were just some of the exercises.) All 5 judges said Lucky was ready for the final evaluation so long as he got out to the evaluation early enough to meet every one before the tests began.

He loves to be around other dogs so much I am tempted to find a playmate for him, but I am afraid he would have a hard time adjusting to that as a permanent arrangement. (not to mention that I don't know whether I could stand up to taking care of 2 dogs care and grooming.). Will let you know how we do on the final exam on the 21st of this month.

Don's Lucky Update - September 21, 2002

Just got back from the Delta Asc evaluation and Lucky and I passed the exam and will start visiting the various shutins as soon as they get the papers back from National headquarters. At first I was afraid Lucky was going to be talking too much because it is a cool day and he was full of energy when we first got to the examination facility. We walked around for about 20 minutes and I tried to tell him he had to stop talking until we got through all of the tests. He must have understood because he only talked 2 times and didn't bark at all during the tests. Anyway thought you would like to know that Lucky will be wearing one of the blue Delta bandanas as soon as I can get one for him.

Lucky's treatment has been a big success, but if you whould like to help other Samoyeds like him, see the How You Can Help page. If you have a rescue sammy in need, see the Guidelines and the Application pages.