Goodbye, Mr. Sam Cookie

December 1, 2001 —This morning, a noble heart ceased to beat. Mr. Sam Cookie, dear friend and companion for more than fifteen years to our friend Don Large, is gone from this world. Our sympathy goes to Don and his wife Pat.

Reprinted below is an item that first appeared here in April of 2000. If you've never met Mr. Sam Cookie, it's a good introduction. And even if you've read it before, it bears reading again.

We never met Mr. Sam Cookie in person, but he's been featured on our Web site over the years more than any dog who is not a member of the Dachshund Delights Board of Directors. He lived vividly in Don's words, as he will continue to live in those words while he takes his ease at the Rainbow Bridge, free from this world's pain. Rest well, Mr. Sam Cookie. We hope to meet you one day.

One Last Hurrah For Sam Cookie

We had another exciting game of WienerChase at our home this weekend, which I thought worthy of report. For those of you who never saw my past writings about WienerChase, the game is played this way: the human (me) sits at one end of our family room, with a squeaky barbell to be thrown. When the wieners are ready, the human throws the barbell through the family room and kitchen, to near the door to the dining room. This is about 40-45 feet. All wieners in the game chase the barbell, usually barking furiously all the way. The wiener who makes a clean catch gets 2 points. If another wiener steals the barbell before it gets returned to the human in the family room, the steal is worth one point. Game is traditionally played to 21, must win by 2 points. The winner gets extra cookies.

This rainy weekend our Visiting Foster Wiener Daughter, Courtney Love, was staying over, so it seemed (to me, anyway) to be a perfect day for a game of WienerChase. Despite the pleas of my long suffering wife Pat, who has never learned that the game is supposed to be noisy, I lined up the three contestants, Defending Champion Sadie Mae, age 4, Up and Coming Challenger Courtney Love, age 1, and Old But Game Sam Cookie, pushing age 14. In deference to Sam's age, however, we decided the game would be played to 11 points, not 21.

The first game was fast and furiously barked, much to the dismay of our unwilling spectators (Pat and two intimidated cats, Princess and Teddy, who never goes near a bouncing squeaky any more). To my surprise, Sam made a couple of lucky grabs despite his advanced age, and scored 5 points, although Sadie Mae won a comfortable 11-7-5 victory, her 11th win in a row. Or maybe her 12th — she's won so many times that I have begun to lose count.

It was still raining outside when we finished, and the wieners seemed eager to play another game, so we started in again, despite the protests of the spectators. This was a fiercely fought game. Sadie Mae and Courtney challenged each other constantly, making great catches and steals of the squeaky. Sam was, of course, older and slower down the court than the other two. Imagine Patrick Ewing trying to keep up with the rest of the Knicks going down court, and you've got a pretty good picture of Sam playing WienerChase. Nonetheless, Sam managed to pick off a couple of wiener throws — once the squeaky bounced straight up in the air and Courtney and Sadie flew past, unable to reverse field fast enough, as Sam nailed it coming from behind. Another time the squeaky ricocheted off Courtney's head, to Sadie's back, and Sam made a circus grab of it on the rebound. And a couple of times Sam used his extra weight (22 lbs. vs 11 for Sadie and 10 for Courtney) to steal the squeaky on the way back and grab a point.

So amazingly, we were all tied at 10-10-10, with game to 11, as the crucial throw was about to go off around 2 p.m. Even the spectators began to get a little interested. In front of me were two young female wieners, dancing around and chanting (in dachsie speak) "c'mon Dad, give it a good throw." In between them was a very tired Sam Cookie, tongue out, panting, waiting and watching.

I was tempted to fake long and give Sam an easy, short throw, but decided that was not fair. So I fired the squeaky long and high, all the way through the kitchen, to bounce somewhere near the dining room door. All three dachsies were off with the throw. Amazingly, Sam was streaking down the middle, his years almost forgotten. He could not quite keep up with the young two, but was less than a length behind and was keeping them separated. This was crucial, because the squeaky leaned slightly to the right, and Sadie Mae, over on the left, could not veer over to catch it. Sam ran her into the refrigerator. Sadie Mae exited from the immediate competition, as she rolled off to the left and out of sight.

Meanwhile, the squeaky bounced right at the end of the wood kitchen floor, and high into the air, end over end. Courtney jumped, and almost had one of the barbells in her teeth, when she was hit from the side with a roar by a rejuvenated Sam Cookie. Courtney hit the ground and promptly took seven or eight rolls into the living room, as Sam made a clean snatch of the squeaky before it touched down. Quickly he turned back into the kitchen. Sadie had recovered and dove for the other end of the squeaky as he came through the door, going for the steal and a point to keep the game going. But with an aggressive voice I have not heard in years, Sam snarled and swung his head left just as Sadie grabbed one of the barbells. Sadie again went bouncing and rolling away, this time under the dining room table.

If I only had a camera ready for what I saw next. Peeking around the door into the kitchen were two little female dachsie heads, each one wondering, "what was that train that hit me?" They were not sure it was safe to enter the kitchen. Meanwhile, proudly trotting through the kitchen, limping a little but with his head held high and the squeaky grasped in the barbell middle, was Sam Cookie. No winner at Westminster could have walked more proudly to his victory ribbon. I could hear Chariots of Fire playing in the background, as my old warrior trotted home to his first WienerChase victory in over three years.

What happened next was even more surprising. Sam brought me back the squeaky, placed it down in front of me, said "woof," and walked over to the cookie jar on the counter. My wife, who has never before been interested in a game of WienerChase, watched all this and said, wonder in her voice, "I think he really knows that he won!"

Of course he knew. Sam Cookie prevailed by a 12-10-10 score, and got not one, not two, but three precious cookies as his reward. Then later, as he went off to bed to sleep off his victory, dreaming no doubt of days past when he was a young WienerChase player, his noble competitors Sadie Mae and Courtney got a couple of cookies each.

Sadie Mae and Courtney will have, God willing, many more games of WienerChase. But I hope my dear Sam Cookie loved what may be his last WienerChase Hurrah as much as I did.