Max and Remington... let the boxing begin!

[Kendra K. Rhoton]

Well last evening Dan brought Remington to the University so he could run around at Smith Mall. This is a big open area where students can play Frisbee and things such as that. He really liked it. He was very curious and sniffing around like crazy greeting everyone that walked by :) While we were there some friends of Dan's (Tim and Stephanie) called and we told them we were close by so they invited us over to meet their 1 year old Labradoodle, Max!

I really was not worried in the least about the situation because Remington had done so well at the lakes the weekend before, but I also did not think about the difference in energy level that Buster had compared to Max. Buster is 8 years old so he is much more calm than Max was.

Right when we walked up Max was all over Remington as if to say... "Come on... let's play!" Remington did not have the slightest idea what to do with the 60 - 70 lb dog! He was scared to death to say the least. We put them in the backyard together so they could run around free and play. At first Remington rolled over on his back and let Max sniff him... a complete sign of submission. Max was definitely the dominate dog. But soon after awhile they were both playing with each other. Max was knocking Remington all over the place and Stephanie and Tim had to tell him several times to be nice. Max just didn't understand that Remington is still a puppy. Remington held his own though throughout their playtime. It made me laugh when they were playing as they would wrap their paws around each other... they looked like they were boxing! Also, it was so funny as they would both stop playing to go get a drink of water together... and then back to playing!

We left after probably 45 minutes. When we got home Remington was dead tired. I don't think I have ever seen him so tired. He wasn't even interested in eating right away he just laid down for a while. After he finally did eat he came upstairs with us and slept through the night. What a tired boy! At around 3:30 in the morning, I woke up with Remington staring at me. He had his front paws on the bed looking at me with those brown soulful eyes saying... "Mom, can we play!"

This morning he is back to his regular self. I have to admit Max and Remington playing together did scared me a little bit, just because Max is sooooo much bigger than Remington, but I know all these things are good experiences that he needs to have in his life to grow into a well socialized dog. I guess its just the Mom in me worrying about him. Hopefully in a few months Remington will be a much better match for Max after he grows a bit :)

[Debbie and Thomas]

This is the best socialization for your dog!! What fun he must have had. I am sure that Max even though larger, sensed that your guy was just little and took it easy on him. Play dates like this are wonderful! What I love about it is how tired they are at night....tired puppies are good puppies.