{"id":684,"date":"2017-02-10T12:12:49","date_gmt":"2017-02-10T18:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/?p=684"},"modified":"2017-02-10T12:12:49","modified_gmt":"2017-02-10T18:12:49","slug":"saying-goodbye-to-sam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/?p=684","title":{"rendered":"Saying Goodbye to Sam"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a tough day for the MH Turf department as we had to say goodbye to our Border Collie, Sam.<\/p>\n

At the age of 14, his health had slowly been slipping away from him, with neurological deterioration of his back legs and subsequent seizures that finally took him. Those that own dogs, know how difficult it is to say goodbye. Today is harder than I thought it would ever be. \"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Midland purchased Sam in 2004 from North Carolina to fix a serious goose problem. At the time, we were battling up to 400 geese during the migratory times of the year and most years there were up 100 geese that stayed on property the entire golf season. The golf course was riddled with goose droppings, and the annoyance of the geese took away from enjoying the serenity of the property. I’ve been told that Sam quickly changed all of that, he was highly trained, did his job well and loved every second of it. More importantly, he became a part of the experience of playing golf at Midland, and became our mascot. \"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

When I started in 2010, Sam was still chasing geese each spring and fall. He\u00a0refused to get in\u00a0my cart, instead would demand that he run along side of me until he was exhausted. Not long after that, the endless miles he’d ran on property, being out in the elements, started to show. He would often look at me, look at the geese, then decide if he was motivated enough to chase. As time went on, he lost interest in chasing all together. I couldn’t blame him. \"\"However, the one thing he never lost was his excitement for coming to work. My alarm would go off at 4:30 am and he’d be sitting there waiting with his tail wagging and ears perked. If I took days off, he’d give me that look of disappointment and boredom. I realized no one loved coming to Midland more than he did. How could he not, his entire life was spent running freely on a golf course, it was a dog’s dream.\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Over the past few years, Sam’s role was more mascot than goose dog. His calm demeanor and love of seeing members at the club, laying in the golf shop entryway,\u00a0getting spoiled by the\u00a0office staff became his role.\u00a0He loved naps. I could never figure out if he had a favorite spot on the course to take a quick snooze, but he loved every corner of the property to nap on. I was always\u00a0jealous!\u00a0Each morning during our staff meetings, Sam would make his way around the room\u00a0to greet everyone.\u00a0Although they might not have noticed, I saw\u00a0Sam’s morning greeting\u00a0help start their day off on a calm and positive note.\u00a0For myself, being with him literally 24 hours a day, it was a unique experience. \"\"He was my sounding board, my shadow, my buddy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He became a big part of my family, especially with my two daughters, who loved to dress him up in ridiculous outfits, take him for walks, throw his frisbee\u00a0and nap with him on the floor. \"\"\u00a0He became very attached to my oldest daughter, often “herding” her at bedtime, laying at the foot of her bed until she fell asleep.\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sam was a companion for our\u00a0family dog, Emma who is almost 14. My family always joked that Sam and Emma were the old couple that grew old together. We gave him nicknames; Samboy, Sambookie, Mr. Oreo, Mr. Roboto,\u00a0Old Man, Buddy. \"\"<\/p>\n

Sam will be greatly missed, all dogs are unique and he was no exception. He was exceptionally intelligent, funny, affectionate and kind.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We’ll miss you Samboy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a tough day for the MH Turf department as we had to say goodbye to our Border Collie, Sam. At the age of 14, his health had slowly been slipping away from him, with neurological deterioration of his back legs and subsequent seizures that finally took him. Those that own dogs, know how difficult […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001003,"featured_media":690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mhccturf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Sam-13.jpg?fit=1032%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4FBNE-b2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fimg_url":"https:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Sam-13.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001003"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=684"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":717,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684\/revisions\/717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mhccturf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}