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My daughter and I took Zeus and my new girl, 'Lady Lilly' (5 y/o basset hound I found at the local shelter) to an off leash park, last weekend. Zeus is 1.5 y/o and, other than the dog he occasionally meets on his walks, has never been around a group of dogs. Lilly, OTOH, was surrounded by lots of dogs during her stay at the shelter and enjoys their company. The park experience proved to be quite interesting.

When we arrived, there were two dogs romping through the fenced in field. Lilly, in typical hound fashion, began by sniffing each and every blade of grass, making her way around the periphery of the area. Zeus eyed the other two dogs but was immediately caught up in running after his favorite handle ball. The other dogs approached Zeus to sniff him out and Lilly, catching sight, came rollicking over, tail going at 100 mph, to greet the other humans and then their dogs.

Zeus continued his play and enjoyed the freedom of movement. Not long afterwards, a woman arrived with a Great Pyrenees. "Zook" made his way over to Zeus. They circled each other, sniffing and checking each other out. Meanwhile another car pulled up, then another, and another and before long, it looked like Caesar Milan's pack.

Yes ... that's a pair of greyhounds in the pack!

Lilly was in her glory taking on the role of official greeter. Zeus, on the other hand, stood at a distance, taking it all in. When another new arrival began to challenge some of the other dogs, Zeus made a beeline for me, wedging his head between me and the gazebo erected in the field.

This hulking 150lb dog had no sense of his own size. It was comical to watch him recede while our low rider, Lilly, was out there mixing it up with the visitors. We all had a great time and plan to return tomorrow, weather permitting.

No Boston Terriers but there was a pug and a Labradoodle.

That is an immense dog! And the basset is a real cutie.

Ash is very cautious around other dogs, especially small ones. They might be cats, and she’s afraid of cats, except for ours. On the other hand, they might be a fun prey animal that she can chase. Sometimes she wants to frisk around them to see if they’ll run, and sometimes she stands on the sidewalk and sobs.

Larger dogs are okay as long as they don’t bark or sniff her.

Here's my wife with "Frankie" at a local lake last April. He was 7 mos old then, being born Sep 7, 2010. He's a little bigger now, and at his normal range of 25 lbs.

This is our first small breed. We've always had sporting breed dogs before, the last being a German Shorthair (Hans). Frankie is ready to go most any time and keeps us going for sure. But, he's beginning to settle down now and is turning out to be a fine pet.