SAM and CANDY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS

Sam and Candy are famous because they posed for a photograph, which was shown on the Internet. Not many dogs can say that! It was just as well Sam was wearing his collar, because he looks like a stray when he’s not wearing it.

It’s a pretty blue color, but he doesn’t like wearing it, He tries to lose it as soon as he gets out in the garden. This makes Jeni (his human friend) very cross, but when she shouts at him, he doesn’t listen.

You see, humans understand some things dogs say, but not everything. When he told Jeni he hated wearing collars, she thought he meant he reverse! As for it being blue, so what! Everybody knows dogs can’t see colours, but as it smelled all right and he wanted to please her, he let her put it round his neck. How do you think Sam got his name? It’s all because he’s got red hair. The same colour as the red rock mountains near where he lives, at a place called Sedona. His full name is Sedona Sam, just like a cowboy, so he‘s very proud of that, but he ‘shows off’ a bit as well.

Candy‘s full name is Cactus Candy, because she is the same creme color as a cactus which grows near where they live in Arizona and shaped like a barrel.

Candy can’t understand the fuss. She has a super figure for a miniature poodle. Jeni said Candy’s collar was pink and it suited her. Big deal! All the humans make a fuss of Candy and frequently feed her titbits when nobody’s looking. Sam thinks it will serve her right if she puts on too much weight and gets to look like her full name!

Fortunately, people see him as being much more like his hunting dog ancestors and don’t feed him scraps between meals. As a result, he always keeps fit.

Anyway, this afternoon everybody was watching an old film on the TV. It nearly put Sam off his lunch! Jeni said it was made well before they were born and there was a dog in it. They all watched it almost to the end before the dog appeared, and even then he only had a walk-on part. The film was called E,T. and it had some super bicycle chases in it, which Sam enjoyed, like most dogs.

Funnily enough, everybody was crying before it ended, so Sam thought it must be a sad film, but then they all said how much they enjoyed it. Typical humans! Also Sam was disappointed when the dog didn’t go with E.T. on his fancy spaceship. Sam would have gone, but the dog in the film ‘chickened out’ when he got to the door of the spaceship and turned back! That’s a movie-star dog for you! Sam is braver and he WOULD have gone and become extra famous. This is unlikely to happen in real life, though, because he likes being on the Internet and staying with Jeni too much!
The End

© By John Cheyne Click here to visit John's Page