We got Samantha (Sammy) when she was 2 months old. We named her after Major Samantha Carter, a character from the TV show "Stargate SG-1".

From the moment she walked through the door of our house, she became a centre of our lives, the purpose of our existence. Before Sammy, we never realized that we were missing out on not just an emotion or feeling but rather a whole new world - the world of loving a dog and being loved by a dog.

Sammy brought so much joy and happiness into our lives, so much laughter. She was the sunshine of our lives. Every morning when we woke up, there was Sammy - our "little clown" with her comical face, and there was a reason to smile. She loved sleeping in bed with us and like us, humans. We would take her into our bed early in the morning. First, she would crawl under the blanket and, then gradually would make her way toward the pillows. Half hour later, she would be sleeping with her head on the pillow, just like a human. We are pretty sure, that Sammy was convinced that she was a human.

Sometimes, when I was being late from work, she would be sitting on the stairs in front of the door and waiting for me. And, as soon as I come in, she would start "talking" at me and "giving me a hard time" because I made her wait for too long.

Sammy was happy to see every single stranger that walked by, every single dog that we met on the street, every single person that entered our house. She was Ms. Hospitality herself in a dog's body.

On June 18, 2011, Sammy was diagnosed with pug dog encephalitis (PDE). We were devastated. Sammy spent three nights at the intensive care unit at the vet clinic in Oakville. The vet said that with help of medications, she could live as long as a couple of years, and have a good quality of life. But the doctor's prognosis was wrong. On July 5, 2011, five days before her third birthday, Sammy started having continuous seizures, she could hardly breath. To ease our girl's sufferings, we had to take her to the clinic, and put her to sleep.

It's been almost a month since our beloved Sammy left us but it still hurts like it happened just yesterday. We miss our girl sorely. If we could, my wife and I would exchange 10-15 years of our own lives for 10-15 more years for our beloved Sammy... ... and, we wouldn't even think twice.

Sammy, you are our sweetheart, we all love you endlessly and miss you so much. You will always have a special place in our hearts.

Your dad, mom and sister Natalie