Aloha!

Yesterday was Yappy Hour at The Landing. Essentially, dogs and their owners gather at The Landing once a month for a themed party, live music, giveaways, costume contests, and (of course) drink specials. Yesterday's theme was Luau, so Sam and I dressed in island style.

Now, a friend of mine pointed out to me that despite my professed distaste for owners that dress their dogs up in frilly costumes, I tend to dress Sam up, as well. And yes, I do have a lot of bandannas for him to wear, and yes, he did wear an Uncle Sam hat for Independence Day, but that's better than fuzzy booties and bows, right? ...Let's just pretend it is.

While most owners were encouraged to dress their dogs in grass skirts for Yappy Hour, I didn't want to give Sam a hula skirt to wear (he's already been emasculated enough with the whole neutering business). So Sam's costume went through a couple of phases, phase one being a Hawaiian shirt I picked up from Goodwill for $4:

Sam kept biting at his shirttails and carrying them around with him, so that the shirt was flipped in half inside-out. I cut off the bottom six inches of the shirt to make it short enough where he couldn't grab it, but ultimately decided it would be too hot for Sam to wear a full shirt. After all, if he passes out from heat exhaustion, I'm going to have to be the one to carry his big ol' butt back to the car.

Sam and his Hawaiian shirt

Stylish, but a little too hot for July

Phase two came courtesy of Mom, who pulled out a jungle-themed hat that used to belong to our old Lab, Thor. Sam wore this quite well, and I cracked up when he came prancing into the kitchen with it on, but he quickly grew tired of it and batted it off. So, no hat for Sammy.

Not a fan of the hat

Phase three ended up being a simple blue-green lei we picked up for free once we got to The Landing. It was a little big so we doubled it up, and he wore it like a collar. It also happened to match my dress, so that worked out well.

Sam with his lei and various other headgear

Sam had a great time meeting all the other dogs. There were some beautiful Aussie shepherds, a couple huge Great Danes, a pair of Neapolitan mastiffs, a trio of dachshunds, and a menagerie of other mutts and pups. Once Sam was tired out, we sat down on the patio of one of the restaurants, ordered some drinks, and chilled out in the shade while listening to the live band.

I fished some ice from my drink with my fork and gave it to Sam while we sat in the shade, and he ate it up greedily. I kept giving him more ice absent-mindedly, until I looked down and saw he'd just been licking the rum off the ice and spitting the cubes out on the ground. Dad's habit of slipping Sam beer seems to have given the dog an irreversible taste for alcohol. For shame, Dad!

Giving Sam some ice

All in all we had a good time. We walked along the river and Sam chased the pigeons and seagulls he saw. The women at the Animal Care & Control booth complimented me on how well-behaved Sam was and gave him treats for sitting and speaking. Sam even got to play under the misters they had set up to cool off visitors, only he got a little too excited and knocked the hose off, which started spurting water everywhere until I managed to hook it back up.

Tired out!

Sam and I will definitely be attending the next Yappy Hour in August, which is celebrity-themed. Any ideas for what celebrity Sammy could be? Leave your suggestions in the comments!