Tug-O-Shasta
4/1/01Copyright © 2001 Ray Hebert
Shaq loves to play tug of war. Next to swimming and retrieving it is probably his favoritist thing to do.
Shasta's favorite thing to do is sleep on the bed, or cuddle up with you on the chair.
With all the rain that Austin has been having recently (except the 3 days that friends from Montana were visiting last week) we have been playing a lot of Tug-O-War.
The kids have a rope with a rubber handle on it (for my benefit) that they play with.
The game is very different depending on who is on the other end of the rope with Shaq.
If I am the one on the end, then the game is to see if Shaq can rip my arm out of it's socket. He get the tugging going then all of a sudden he starts shaking his head and putting all of his weight behind the shakes. If you don't know it is coming your arm can get very sore. After a couple of times you learn how to go limp and let the shakes come. When he stops you then take your shot at dislodging the rope from the jaws of death. No human known can get the rope out of Shaq's mouth once the clench is in place. He would go on for hours if anyone could withstand his onslaught.
Getting Shaq and Shasta to play against each other takes a little finessing. Shasta does not always want to play Tug-O-War, so you have to get her interested. First you play a little bit with Shaq, after a few minutes you stop and give the rope to Shasta and give a couple of tugs to get it seated well in her mouth. Of course you are doing this with one hand and holding Shaq with the other hand. All this time Shaq is trying to jump out of his skin to get to the rope to play.
Once Shasta is engaged then you give Shaq the other end and sit down and enjoy the action. Shasta has one strategy, keep Shaq moving. If she stops then the death shake starts and she has to hang on for dear life. Now moving means backing up, and Shasta can now backup all thorough the house without hitting a thing. While she is tugging Shaq around the room he is growling the entire time. It is a real hoot to watch them go at it. Shasta can hang on for about 15 minutes on a good day.
Regardless who is the opponent when the inevitable happens (Shaq gets the rope) Shaq will parade around the room with the rope. If you sit down to take a rest he will bring the rope over and try to press it into your hand, or into Shasta's mouth. He can never get enough.
Well that is the story of Tug-O-Shasta.
Ray & Shaq & Shasta (formerly Stichy and Stinky)
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