---

Our "Duchess", or more properly, Polobar's Peppermint Patty, was acquired very soon after Tanya's passing. We went out "to look at puppies", but we were smart enough to know the pitfalls and had the chequebook along as well. Duchess was a 10-pound (4.5Kg) ball of fluff and she rode home with us that night. She had a sweet personality and even as a small pup she captured people's hearts. She visited Malcolm's school and was quite happy to be surrounded by little children. Duchess was the only Sam we have had who developed a weight problem; the house we moved to near Toronto had central air conditioning and she was always eating as though winter was coming on! She really liked her Milk Bones as well, and she taught us her word for "dog biscuit" (since she could not say ours). Even today, we jokingly say "eraggum-mummmm", which was Duchess' way of demanding a biscuit.

Alas, Duchess died suddenly when she was only five years old. An autopsy revealed that she had contracted Hepatitis; all her canine shots were up to date, but this was the human variety. The veterinarian noted that this was quite common with cats in our area, which were carriers of the disease. We have never liked to have cats on or near our property since. We discussed with the boys what we would do next. All agreed that we would forego a pup and try to adopt a more mature Samoyed (is there any other breed of dog?) that needed a home. That way, the dog would last until the boys left home and we would be free thereafter! Ha! That was in February 1986 - the boys have indeed left, but we are still surrounded by Sams. We did get a slightly more mature dog, but that is the next story - 'Scoobie' became Duchess' replacement.

---

Back to home page

Back to our Samoyed page