Sam and Nelly

Sam's favorite playmate is Nelly, the two-year-old French mastiff next door. (For those of you keeping track, Sadie the pit bull and Zoe the boxer live on one side; Nelly the French mastiff and Tango the bull mastiff live on the other.) We have a gate connecting our two yards, and either Sam or Nelly will sit and wait at the gate until the other shows up.

We let Nelly into our yard so the two young 'uns can run and wrestle and wear each other out. Nelly lives with Tango, who is over 200 lbs and nine years old, so he doesn't have the patience to play with her as much as she'd like. Solution: Sam! Both dogs know each other's names and run to the gate when asked, "Where's Nelly?" or "Where's Sam?"

There is one downside to playing with Nelly, though--she slobbers. Not usual slobber. Gratuitous, foaming, ridiculous slobber. She's a mastiff, and she's got the chops for it. Sam usually comes back from playing with her looking like he's dunked his head in the pool. Case in point:

Slobber aside, I'm glad Sam has made friends with all the neighbor dogs. Bud and Thor were always very reactive, and Thor tended to be dominant and aggressive around other dogs. Sam just wants to make friends, and since he's been allowed to play with his four neighbor dogs since day one, there isn't any aggression or ill will. They're all just one big happy (slobbery) family!

Drool-head!