I have two dogs, and love them both like they are my children. But sometimes you have a "special" dog that really grabs your heart. This is the case with this fellow. His name is Sa'ma, or Sam in English. He was a rescue from a couple we know who was divorcing and neither wanted him. He is a Burnese Mountain Dog and is a full 104 pounds, according to the vet visit last week. He loves everyone and is one of the kindest souls I have ran across in my life. In China, there are generally few very large dogs (they are essentially illegal), and people are typically afraid of him, but he is smart, and when they are near and curious, I will tell him to sit and instruct them to hold their hand out and let him sniff. Once he does this, I tell him to "shake" and he holds his paw out to greet them. From that point on, he has them hooked. I tell them he is my "52 kilo cupcake" and it always gets a smile. I regularly have people ask if they can take a photo of he and I when we walk because we are such an odd thing to see on the street. Westerner with a BIG dog. Fun though. His name in Chinese means "Three Hairs", which is a reference to his tri-colored coat. Black, white and brown.


The image was made with my old Samsung phone, and the EXIF data is unreadable for some reason. Apologies.


Have an excellent day, one and all!

I have two dogs, and love them both like they are my children. But sometimes you have a "special" dog that really grabs your heart. This is the case with this fellow. His name is Sa'ma, or Sam in English. He was a rescue from a couple we know who was divorcing and neither wanted him. He is a Burnese Mountain Dog and is a full 104 pounds, according to the vet visit last week. He loves everyone and is one of the kindest souls I have ran across in my life. In China, there are generally few very large dogs (they are essentially illegal), and people are typically afraid of him, but he is smart, and when they are near and curious, I will tell him to sit and instruct them to hold their hand out and let him sniff. Once he does this, I tell him to "shake" and he holds his paw out to greet them. From that point on, he has them hooked. I tell them he is my "52 kilo cupcake" and it always gets a smile. I regularly have people ask if they can take a photo of he and I when we walk because we are such an odd thing to see on the street. Westerner with a BIG dog. Fun though. His name in Chinese means "Three Hairs", which is a reference to his tri-colored coat. Black, white and brown.


The image was made with my old Samsung phone, and the EXIF data is unreadable for some reason. Apologies.

I want him, Mark. Wow, what a face.

Have an excellent day, one and all!

Not at all. I love hearing about your experience with them. In Shanghai, it is very similar weather conditions to Alabama or Arizona (except we have humidity in the 80-90%, similar to Alabama) and temperatures of about 100 at the hottest, so he sheds a lot, too. Fortunately, we have an underground parking garage, so when it gets that hot, we can walk him there and it is pretty cool. Am also very sorry to read about your dog passing as well. Unfortunately, they are like many larger dogs and have a shorter life span. Bernies average 7 years, which is pretty short. Ours was in the vet hospital last week for surgery. I found blood in his urine and come to find out that his prostrate was very swollen and he had cysts on his bladder. So bad that it was impacting his bowels. If we had waited much longer he would have had major problems. Surgery fixed it though and he is as good as ever now. Again, very sorry for your loss.