Dalton General Store Dog Passes Away at age 17

Sam at Dalton’s

Dalton’s General Store has been closed for about a year, and no doubt what most patrons miss most is seeing Sam, the dog who greeted customers for most of the last 17 years.

Sam was born just down the road from Dalton’s Store. One of a litter of coon hounds destined to be hunters, Sam was overlooked and not taken on the early morning training hunts with the other puppies. He’d follow the truck down the road, catching up just as the men and dogs were leaving the store. Who knows what made him decide to stay, but Sam made a career of greeting customers at the little general store.

Sam had a bed at the store and loved the treats people began bringing him. He wanted for nothing as he was so well loved that people donated money for his vet care, brought him food and anything else a he needed.

I met Sam at Dalton’s in the fall of 2011. He intrigued me and I knew he had a story to tell; I just had to find the human who could tell this dog’s story. Don Tessneer of Tessneer Farms knew all about Sam and his life at the Dalton Store. Don’s Dad and his son Donnie also shared a love of Sam and cared for him.

It was from the Tessneer’s I learned of Sam’s career as the Dalton Store Greeter. He’d appear there in the morning, and return to one the Tessneer’s homes at night. He loved getting into his bed on Don’s back porch and being covered with a blanket. I wrote about Sam for AOL’s popular pet website, Paw Nation. The story was hugely popular, getting over two million clicks within the first few weeks it was posted. Over the years the store changed ownership and sometimes was closed, but Sam would always be there for the re-opening and the new owner.

An artist from Michigan read my story and travelled to Lake Lure to meet Sam and see Dalton’s Store. She created a beautiful painting that realistically depicts Sam at the store in his relaxed mode waiting to greet the next customer.

Everyone that visited the store had a kind word or a pat on the head for this friendly dog. He was unique and a good example for people whose life didn’t work out the way they’d hoped. Sam bloomed where he was planted and blossomed in doing so. He had a curious air about him as if to ask you “What are you coming to the store for today?” He was a handsome and approachable dog, well suited for the role he chose. People loved him and as word spread about the Dalton Store dog, so did the number of visitors to meet Sam.
In 2012 when I came back to see Sam at Dalton’s he wasn’t feeling well. Huddled in his bed he seemed ill at ease if not in some pain. I brought him some warm ground sirloin and fed it to him. I didn’t make it to Lark Lure in 2013, but Don reported that Sam was doing well and had recovered. Last year, I returned to find Dalton’s closed and walked around the lot with my own dog Sadie remembering our first meeting with Sam.

When the store closed, Sam retired. He went to live in a lovely kennel at the Tessneers. I met Don there and had a great visit with Sam. We fed him Thanksgiving leftovers and he was wanting more after he quickly ate them. I couldn’t believe he was 16 years old; he moved without hesitation and clearly liked having visitors.

On Monday, June 15, 2015 I learned that Sam had passed away or as we dog lovers like to say, crossed the Rainbow Bridge. I was so sad to hear this, but through my tears I realized that it was time for Sam to move on. Grateful that he didn’t suffer, didn’t spend weeks or months in pain or unable to walk, I knew I had to write my last story about Sam…his obituary.

In his book, Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein writes about Enzo, a beloved Golden Retriever who had keen insight when it came to people. Enzo believed that if a dog was buried high in the Himalayan Mountains, close to God, and he wanted it badly enough…a dog could come back as a man. To me, Sam was a person with four legs and a tail, but if ever a dog wanted to come back as a person, I believe he could do it.

Sam’s resting place however is not in the Himalayas, but in Rutherford County where he was born, lived all his 119 human equivalent years, and whose spirit I believe will always be at the store he loved so much. Sam was buried in his bed, wrapped in his blanket, on the Tessneer Farm, the place he came home to after a day at his job. I think Sam is probably already a greeter at the Rainbow Bridge and was greeted himself with words of welcome and approval. I believe he was told, “Welcome, my good and loyal dog. Well done.”

As I visited with Sam and Don last fall, I got to hold him and sit with him as I listened to stories about him from Don. I have a video from that day and I didn’t remember saying it, but nothing was more true…”Sam is everybody’s dog.” Not a bad accomplishment for a puppy who wasn’t considered good enough to be a hunting dog. He will be missed and he will be remembered.

SAM…Everybody’s Dog

Sam waiting to greet customers at the Store.

Sam, the dog who greeted customers at the Dalton General Store for many years, crossed the Rainbow Bridge on June 15, 2015. Sam was one of a litter of puppies born to a Redbone Coonhound in 1998. Sam was 17 years old, a remarkable age for a large dog, but Sam was a remarkable dog.

Loved by many who met him at the Dalton Store over the years, Sam was a sweet boy who lived out the days of his life at the store and on the Tessneer Farm. He had many loyal friends who over the years brought him gifts, provided money for vet care, and came to the store just to see him. Sam was buried on the Tessneer Farm, in Rutherford County where he lived his entire life.

Donations may be made in remembrance of Sam to an animal charity of your choice or to PAWS of Rutherford County.

PAWS
PO BOX 399
Lake Lure, NC 28746

PAWS is a 501 (3)(c)

LIVING ON DOG TIME

I don’t read newspaper editorials because they’re usually boring political issues. I do though have a habit of buying local newspapers wherever I am, and when Sadie and I were in the Smokey Mountains working on our book, I read an editorial because the title, “Goodbye Old Friend” caught my attention and when I saw that it was about a dog…I read on.

The editor of this rural mountain newspaper had left New Orleans 15 years previously to take a lowly job at a place she’d never heard of. She put everything she owned in her car, and was leaving town when fate stepped in disguised as a lost puppy that ran into the side of her car. She brought her car to an abrupt stop and jumped out to scoop up the tiny dog and began looking around for a possible owner. As the puppy snuggled against her, grateful and safe she looked into his eyes and said…”Oh what the heck,” put him in the car and continued.

Fast forward to the weekend before I read the story…this dog who had been with the editor for 15 years…waited on the porch for her return from the paper each day…hiked the mountains with her…shared her new life…had died. I looked at my dog Sadie in disbelief…as a new dog Mom, I had no idea she would most likely die before me. I saw us growing old together…never could I imagine my life without her now. The editorial said that since one dog year supposedly equals seven people years, the editor’s dog was about 105…a long life for a dog or a person, but it hit me hard…one day Sadie wouldn’t be here. That’s when I decided to live my life on Dog Time.

Dog Time is living in the moment…allowing yourself to savor, enjoy, and appreciate the moments in your life…before they turn into years…dog years or otherwise. I learned to do this from watching Sadie and you can learn this from your dog too. It’s your ticket our of the fast paced, stressed out, human being time world. Sadie lives in the moment…all day long…it doesn’t matter what she’s doing…it’s her moment and she enjoys it. It all starts when she opens her eyes.

I used to silence the morning alarm numerous times attempting to delay the start of my day. Not so after Sadie came to share the king sized bed with me. “Morning Moments” start the minute I open my eyes and see bright brown eyes staring at me and hear her tail thumping on the mattress. She scootches up to my face and with an eagerness I can’t deny, our day begins. Sadie stretches…I stretch…we go downstairs and out the side door. Sadie stops and surveys each aspect of the yard…and her day of mindfulness begins.

Mindfulness is a great way to live…it simply means you give attention to the moment and place you are in. Sadie revels in her surroundings…she sniffs the air…has something bloomed during the night? Is the wind blowing her fur…are the birds at the feeder? After however many seconds it takes her to assess the new day…she goes off the porch for a run around the yard…maybe a squirrel chase…perhaps a sniff at the fence trying to determine if Mr. Raccoon slipped under it last night. I sip my coffee and breathe deeply…thus are our morning mindful moments….the ones I save in my mind and return to during my hectic people time day.

Dogs know how to live in the moment and are attentive to what they are doing because they don’t multitask. Humans like combining tasks…driving…talking on cell phone…eating…listening to radio. Or watching television…reading the newspaper while folding clothes and polishing nails. What’s our hurry?

When Sadie eats…she doesn’t do anything else. She chews her food while she scans her bowl looking for her next bite…when she drinks water she does it with gusto and when she sleeps…she is relaxed and at peace. Well…sometimes even Sadie has dreams…and in those dreams I think she re-lives the moments from her day. When she plays with her toys or runs after the ball…she does it with her whole being…living in the moment…each moment with her is precious…they are ticking by at seven times the speed of the clock.

Mindful moments…magic moments…sitting on the couch…feeling the stress of the day go away as I stroke my sweet dog’s fur…seven seconds to her one…slow down…a magic moment as we watch the sun set over our fence…a magic moment when the rain falls on us with the convertible top down and I laugh as Sadie hunkers on the floor reluctant to get wet…magic moments watching the birds…planting a flower…going through McDonald’s for a hamburger.

Driving back from Pittsburgh this past fall, having just left the bedside of a critically ill sister, it was the comfort of my dog in the silent moments of the dark car that eased my worries. At the hospital I was the person getting things done…making arrangements…assuring everyone that it would be ok. But in the company of only Sadie, I could confess…I was scared…I was tired…I needed the reassurance I was quick to hand out…a split second tragedy had brought my family to this moment…but I was comforted in dog years by Sadie. Our time difference was reversed… one moment of her time was like seven for me…soothing…peaceful…needed.

Seven years to our one…it makes me cherish the time I have with my dog more. One of the Ten Commandments for Dog Owners says: “Please limit your time away from me. You have your friends, your work. I have only you.” It made me see there was a lot of unnecessary time away from my dog who wouldn’t be here forever…seven minutes to our one…it adds up.
She has taught me not to tug on my leash always pulling towards the future when the present moment is more than enough. Live in the moment…follow your dog’s example…adopt her appreciation for the fleeting hours that turn into days and then into what is called your life. Live it in dog time…the best lessons for appreciating life are right before your eyes on four legs with a tail.

DOG HOUSE HUNTING

Sadie and I sold our large house right in the center of Charleston over a year ago now. There really was no pressing reason to do so except that I had a poster with a message that haunted me for months. The poster was a scene of an ocean sunset with the scripted words….”Sometimes it is time to depart even when there is no certain place to go.” So believing this was a sign for us to head to the coast, in a quick process and a down market, we sold the house at a decent profit to a government agency and moved into a friend’s condo temporarily.

Thus the search began to find a place that would be suitable for both Sadie and me while we decided what to do next and that was no easy task. Reading the rentals in the newspaper and checking Craig’s List became a daily obsession. Finding a vacation rental was a lot easier than this ordeal. All the pet friendly properties have a paw print next to the listing, but not so for apartment or house rentals. Overwhelmingly the notation at any decent sounding property was “NO PETS,” which I would sadly relay to Sadie.

We found an apartment complex that actually said “Pets Welcome,” and eagerly drove out to see it one Saturday. That trip was not only a waste of time as the complex was neglected and had the worst “dog park” I have ever seen, it was an eye opening disappointment. Turns out landlords have a preset notion about dog owners that includes lack of responsibility, lack of money, and lack of common sense. These landlords think they can provide substandard, over-priced properties and desperate dog parents will flock to them. Sadly, they are often right.

I have always been very disturbed when I see the reason listed for a pet being abandoned at the animal shelter as “owner moved.” What kind of person would abandon their dog in order to find a place to live? Seems many people are forced to make this very difficult decision, but I knew it would never be me. I’d find a dog house that was big enough for both Sadie and me and would not settle for an unsafe, unclean, or unfriendly abode. As with other major decisions in my life, I prayed about this and began checking the classifieds and Craig’s List in other cities….they might be more dog friendly.

We finally found a place here that was promising. It was a very nice condominium whose owner was a dog parent and immediately liked Sadie. The small condo would be perfect for us while we decided if we would stay in West Virginia or head south. It was in a great area for walking and convenient to everything. However, this building’s condo board had ridiculous rules that made it impossible for a dog to actually live there. Turns out you had to carry your dog in and out of the building and hold them in your arms on the elevator too. Now Paris Hilton and her handbag hound might be able to manage this, but not me. Sadie is a strong, wriggly; face licking, healthy 30 pounder that would never go for this kind of arrangement. Other landlords had rules that I don’t think even the dogs in The Dog Whisperer’s pack could obey.

Thus with no clear direction, we began looking for a house to buy, with the help of the best real estate agent in the world, Nadia Hardy. Yep, I had to buy another house so I could live with my dog. After wearing Nadia out with looking at many overpriced houses that lacked the mandatory basic dog amenities such as a yard, I did the unthinkable and decided to look at a house nine miles out of the city. Mind you, I had walked a block and a half to work for 13 years then operated my own practice out of my home for almost three years. Commuting seemed impossible to me as I barely made it to work on time when all I had to do was walk down the stairs.

It was a rainy November day when we made the trek out to the house that looked interesting in the listing. The open house wasn’t going to be until later hat day, but I wanted to at least see the exterior first and get Sadie’s opinion. As we drove up the long and what seemed a very steep road, my mind kept telling me this too was a waste of time and how desperate was I becoming to even consider such a plan. And then the house appeared.

It was the last house on the street…a circle driveway…looking neglected and lonely…but like a once majestic woodland retreat…it was perfect. Sadie and I bounded out of the Jeep and walked through the carport to the yard on the other side of the house. I immediately noticed it was fenced and it was huge! I let Sadie off her leash and she ran around the yard in obvious delight. I slipped and fell on the wet leaves and she jumped on my and licked my face excitedly as I said…”Mommy doesn’t even care if the house is a rat hole inside…if I can buy it for you just for this yard…I will.”

Lucky for us it was not and now it’s home and part of some plan greater than ours that has fulfilled our every need. We planted a garden, installed bird feeders, cleaned, polished, and put our familiar possessions in a new environment…but more than that….we have put down roots deeper than the large trees that surround us. When we drive up the not-so steep street every evening and open our door…we are content in this big dog house that I share with my dog-daughter and no one sets unreasonable rules or tells us our barks or music is too loud. Oh, and Sadie doesn’t have to share the city squirrels any more…she has plenty of her own to keep her busy.

And so the old poster is in the new house…the message fulfilled….and duly noted with a notation that simply says…”We did.” It was time to depart….we had no certain place to go…but through it all…we are here and we are home.