Sam's Favourite Thing

Two of Sam's favorite things are water. Yes, I said TWO. He loves to drink water, splash water, swim in water, play in the sprinkler, even attack the stream of water from the garden hose.

He also likes ice, which of course is also water. Give him an ice cube and he'll bat it around like he's playing hockey, he'll toss it in the air and try to catch it like a ball, but will eventually crunch it up for a snack.

Sam is an 8-year old Border Collie.

Sam's most favorite thing in the world, however, has very little to do with water. His favorite thing is the Timbit. For those of you who are not Canadian and have not come in contact with the franchise, Tim Horton's is a chain of coffee and donut shops which originated in Canada and has recently moved into the United States. One of their products is the Timbit. This is a small ball of dough (the hole from the donut?) which is cooked in the same manner as the donut.

When Sam was a very small puppy, my wife and I stop at one of these shops for a coffee. As we approached the drive-through window, the young lady who was about to serve us the brown nectar laced with sugar and cream, spotted the puppy in the back seat looking at her through the window. She made a fuss over the puppy who was "Oh, so cute!" and as was the policy at this particular outlet, asked if he could have a plain Timbit. Of course, with the utmost innocence, we said that he could.

From that day on, he expects that every time he goes in the car, he will get a Timbit. And he usually does. However, not always knowing if the particular outlet that we are visiting or if the server at the window endorse this tradition, we always order and pay for his timbits, which frequently results in his getting extras once they see him in the car with his head stuck out the window, drooling down the driver's shoulder and sleeve. At one local store he is known as "Drippy Bob", so named by the manager.