Our First Samoyed

Our First Samoyed - Summer
Ch Summer Symphony At Polarspirit Sh.CM
13/06/1996 - 13/05/2007

Phil and I had both wanted a Samoyed for a number of years but as we both worked full time we were not in a position to have one. Then finally in 1996 we decided that I would give up work and we would get our first Samoyed, ‘Summer’, this probably makes her one of the most expensive Samoyeds ever!

But, having said that, she is worth every penny and has enriched our lives far more than the money ever could have.

When we got Summer, we already had a 'house rabbit' called Genie and these two soon became life long best of friends. It was like the nursery rhyme about Mary and her little lamb only this time it was, everywhere that Summer went Genie was sure to go.

Their photo even appeared in the local newspaper where Genie was voted 'Pet of the Week' for being such a good friend to Summer. As you can see Summer would even use Genie as her personal foot stool and Genie didn't mind one jot.

When Summer was old enough I tried her at a Beginners Agility course as I thought she would really enjoy this. The course was about ten weeks long and we had the benefit of finding an instructor who’s wife also had Sams. This meant that he already had excellent experience at teaching this breed. Whilst being very trainable they can suffer with the ‘been there, done that, I don’t want to do it again so teach me something new’ type of attitude. There were only four of us on this course and each week we would learn a couple more of the obstacles gradually progressing to the harder ones.

Doing this really boosted Summers confidence as at the start of the course she was quite scared of some of the obstacles, such as the Dog Walk where she was quite high up, but then she realised that the height was actually the ideal height for kisses with both her Mummy and the instructor to the other side of her!
Unfortunately, as her confidence grew so too did her cheeky side and my well behaved little girl suddenly turned into a little horror. After only doing one or two obstacles she would race off to either sit with her Dad and the other spectators and just watch the other dogs do the course with her just woofing at them. Or, she would race off across the field trying her hardest to entice the other dogs to join in with her and all play chase instead. We did keep going for a few months after the course ended but eventually we gave up as trying to do an agility course with your dog on the lead is just not practical and we decided that it might be better to just concentrate on the obedience side of things for a while.

The obedience club that we used to go to when we lived in Wiltshire, held a Christmas Party every year. This was great because it really was a party that was for the dogs to enjoy themselves, not just the humans! We would have various games for the dogs and their owners to take part in through out the entire evening but our absolute favorite always had to be the fancy dress competition. All our Sammies love to be dressed up. I guess, for them, it's yet another reason why everybody should look at them and admire them some more!

This was Summer's Angel Fancy Dress for Christmas 1998.

Summers really big passion in life these days, (other than woofing of course), is the show ring. She absolutely adores all the attention and shows her little socks off. You can see some of her wonderful wins by selecting 'View Summers Show Achievements' from the menu to the left.

Summer has gained her Champion title and her Show Certificate of Merit award, had multiplie Best In Show awards at Open shows and also 3 All Breed Championship show Group Placings!


This photo was taken the day that Summer became a Champion	This photo was taken at the 2004 East Anglian Super Match. A prestigious event that encompasses a black tie dinner dance and special competition where all the areas open show Best In Show winners compete against each other

In the last 3 years we have started all the dogs doing agility again and Summer is now much, much better at it and really enjoys doing it again. As we already have an agility page on this website, I've put the photos of her on there rather than on this page. So if you'd like to see recent photos of Summer doing agility, select 'Agility Page' from the menu to the left and then click on the button for Summers photos.

Summer also loves...


playing with the other dogs	chomping on a nice juicy bone

unwrapping presents They don't even have to be her presents, she is quite happy to help you unwrap yours too!	Being groomed

walks in the country	especially in the snow

& being cheeky	Summer doesn't usually get muddy or dirty. But, the smell of pungent fox pooh is just too lovely for her to resist and she just has to dive right in and have a good ol' slide and roll in it! Just look at how pleased with herself she is and be glad, very glad, that you can not smell it too!

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to our beloved Summer on the 13th May 2007, due to cancer. We are heartbroken by the loss of such sweet, sweet girl who truly enriched the lives of all that knew her. She alway had such a happy, heart-warming spirit and that spirit will always live on in our hearts and cherished memories of her.
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Our First Samoyed - Summer Ch Summer Symphony At Polarspirit Sh.CM 13/06/1996 - 13/05/2007

Our First Samoyed - Summer
Ch Summer Symphony At Polarspirit Sh.CM
13/06/1996 - 13/05/2007