Life with Sam Dogger: Squirrel Ridge Park with Rhodie

Sam and I went to Gainesville this morning to--hang on, Sam just ran off with my shoe.

Let's try this again.

Sam and I went to Gainesville this morning to meet up with my friend Karlyn and her dog Rhodie. Karlyn adopted Rhodie around the same time I got Sam, and Rhodie's only about a month older. Although they started out the same size, Sam is definitely winning in the weight department now. Not the smarts department, mind you, but definitely in sheer mass. I like to think Rhodie is the agile, quick panther while Sam is just a rhinoceros.

Sam the Man and the Rhodester

Anyway, the boys had a great time playing together. Initially Sam was scared of Rhodie (since he is afraid of all dogs smaller than him), but he soon remembered him from their Dogwood Park trip together and they got along fine.

The boys' earlier trip to Dogwood Park, where they vanquished a turtle in the rain

The boys also made some new friends, including Winston the adorable Australian Shepherd pup, and Hannah, a pit bull mix. Sam's got a thing for pit bull ladies; he adores them. He was giving Hannah kisses the same way he tries to with Sadie, the pit bull next door. Only Hannah was considerably less curt with him than Sadie usually is (but she's only playing hard-to-get).

Sam, Rhodie, and little Winston

Also: look at Winston's size compared to Sam. What a difference two months makes! Winston is 4 months old and Sam is 6. Talk about David and Goliath.

Sam and Rhodie had some fun excavating under a picnic table (Rhodie in particular loves holes), and took turns occupying their "fort." Mostly their fort activities included eating dirt, lying on the dirt, rolling in dirt, spreading dirt around, digging up more dirt, and generally embracing dirt in its entirety. An honorable task, indeed.

Want to share my fort?

They spent the majority of the time running around and wrestling, being the goofball puppies that they are. Sam was much better about not using his weight to overpower the smaller dogs, since he used to do that a little too much. Oddly, the bigger he is, the fairer he plays. Maybe he thinks it'd just be too easy otherwise?

Once the boys tired out a bit we took them over to the playground to see if they would go down the slide. Rhodie flat out refused to but Sam skidded down twice before his energy gave out. At that point they were so tired they just sort of lolled around in the shade until it was time to go home.