I'm a Little Husker Puppy, Short and Stout

Sammy got to go to his first Husker Football party of the season! He might have been distracted by his new doggie friends!
Labor Day brought family into town at my grandparents house. They have a great big house and a great big yard. The big yard extends down into a wooded, kinda forest-y type area, and behind their yard is more of that type of setting. My grandparents built in some walkways and a firepit in their portion of that wooded area. Sammy had more space than he was able to deal with. He never found the fence!
My dad was there giving Sammy lots of yummy treats. My aunt and uncle from Minnesota were there with their two basset hounds, Lola and Ralphie. My other uncle was there with his friend and mom, also with his and my aunt's retriever, Sabre. More than enough dogs to entertain Sammy to his heart's content!
From the moment we walked in the door, Sammy was right at home. Ralphie had a rough beginning to his life, and becomes very nervous when travelling or around new people or places. He was given some medicine from the vet for this, so after meeting Sammy, he just chilled by himself where he could zone out. Lola is a fairly new addition to the family, and was given up by a family who kept her in the house a LOT! She was unsocialized and even didn't go on many walks. She found Sammy irritating because he just kept coming around trying to get her to play. She was full of energy, just didn't want to play with Sammy. So everytime he would come around, she would growl and show her teeth. That only stopped him the first couple times, but eventually, she had to bark and jump towards him to get him to back off. Of which would only last a couple minutes. We tried to keep him away from Lola since she seemed annoyed, but what do ya know, she followed him to see where he was going. From then on we just let them do their thing. Mostly Sammy followed her and she seemed to enjoy seeing him run when she lunged at him. She tried to do that to him while he was on my lap getting attention from me, and that was the one time he wouldn't take it. He snarled back at her and she ran for her parents!! Too bad they couldn't spend more time together.
Sammy also got mad at Ralphie for getting attention from me. While Sammy was off playing with Lola, Ralphie came over to get some petting from me, I used to just sit for longs periods of time with him on my lap and I would pet him and pet him trying to keep him calm, and maybe he remembered. Sammy saw this interaction, left Lola and came behind me, through my legs and snarled at Ralphie! What a stinker.
Ralphie and Sammy got along just swimmingly when it was pregame, dinner time! They used each other's strengths in begging to win themselves some treats! Sammy's little puppy-ness, and great big smile, Ralphie's big droopy basset eyes...they were a power team! They both got too much. Sammy does get people treats alot, probably more than he should, but this was probably hitting his limit. He was able to try a little bit of BBQ ribs, I let him try my grilled pineapple, which he loved (weirdo!!) and who knows what else was given to him! He was quite lathargic the next day, but that also could have been from all the activity while we were there.
Preparing for gametime, Sammy had to put on his husker jersey!!

(older picture, day we got it...sammy was not cooperative with getting pictures taken)
About gametime, my other uncle came with his entourage, including pup, Sabre. Sabre has done many competions with my aunt who is very active in that kind of stuff. Sabre is getting older, now about 12, so he was happy to meet Sammy, but not run around like a crazy puppy (like Sammy!). Sammy took an instant liking to Sabre. Sabre got a scratch on his face, which became infected and the vet had to shave his face and clean it out, and Sammy kept trying to lick it and take care of it, just as he does everytime I scratch or cut myself (or my recent spider bite!!). Sabre did, however, just want some attention from people. And food. Sammy learned to follow Sabre, and Sabre's nose, to find extra treats. Then Sammy would snarl and grab the snacks out of Sabre's mouth. It was not a fun thing to try to correct and stop! Nearing the end of the game, all dogs ended up inside all seeking comfy cozy spots, with lots of petting! First, Sammy and Ralphie found a common goal, taking most of the couch, just the two of them!

"Overs here, Ralphs!"


Ralphie got uncomfortable with all the commotion (Nebraska fans aren't quite or calm!) and took his leave. Sammy followed, then tried to intice Lola.


"Sammy, I'm with MY momma now."

Since he was running out of options, his exhaustion was catching up with him. So he came over and put his body on my lap and his head on Erik's lap. Getting pet by both of us!! Until....Sabre saw this and wanted to get some attention, too! Sammy had to be a stinker face, again! As Sabre came closer to get petting, Sammy snarled and showed his teeth. Sammy became quite dissatisfied when I pulled him over to one leg and held him by the collar and smacked him on the nose (not hard, just to get his attention and put away his teeth) every time he started up when one of us gave Sabre attention. He calmed down, but didn't become comfortable with it. Darn stinkerpants!
Eventually they both got tired of it and Sammy jumped down and gave Sabre lots of kisses and was very sweet to him to say, "no hard feelings. I really like you, it's just that those are MY parents. And I don't wanna share them, ok? Are we cool again?"


"Hmmm....are you hungry Sabs? Let's go ands find some mores foodies!"

All in all, Sammy had a fantastic time. He loved playing in the woods and with other dogs. Sammy loved getting treats and lots of people attention, too! Nebraska won, and the new quarterback definately has lots of potential, so that was exciting! Sammy will make a great husker puppy this season! I'm just waiting for the call from Coach Pelini or Osbourne that he is needed at Memorial Stadium to pump up the crowd!
Like I said, the next day, he was very lathargic. Pretty much out like a light. He found comfort in crazy positions.