So here's the short of it, 
Sophie loves her play dates.

And here's the long.

Sophie always has a better night if she has an opportunity to have a play date with one of the circle dogs.
She doesn't see Charlie much these days.  Charlie, a golden retriever girl dog, had a new baby come to live in her house last August and she is much too busy these days to spend time playing with Sophie.  When she does come out, she's very preoccupied with needing to go back in and check on her little girl.

Cutie Pie our neighborhood Labradoodle is often outside - she loves to chase a ball and bring it back to have you throw it again.  And Sophie loves to steal the ball from her and play keep-away!  But in spite of that they are fast friends.

A new dog, a big German shepherd named Weaver, has come to live with Ms. Martin two doors down.  He's not out very much, but the two of them have met and it looks like a nice friendship could happen if he gets to be outside much while Sophie is out in the evenings.

And then Winston. Winston is a cute mix across the circle. He's got some German Shepherd for sure but I don't know what else. He's already a year old and not nearly as big as a Shepherd would get.  He's behind a wireless fence, and he knows better than  to come across that line, so he waits patiently for Sophie to get around the circle and then they have such a good time.  I can see the untrained herding instinct in both of them when they play.

Here's a clip of their usual play.