LabFest 99 7/18/99

LabFest 99

7/18/99
Copyright © 2001 Ray Hebert

Ok, it was 4 labs and a Beagle, but I'm not sure that the Beagle knew she was not a Labrador.
Shaq and Shasta had Tim Derochies Kids over for a slumber party.

The players: Shaq and Shasta (you know them), Pixie (large yellow Lab, sort of a lovable moose), Goldie (the grand Dam of Labs, a bit smaller than Shasta) and Rascal (the Beagle who thinks she's a Lab). Pixie, Goldie and Rascal are part of Tim Derochies family. Shaq and Shasta invited them over for a slumber party for the weekend while Tim was working on his new house.

All of Tim's kids are females, so Shaq was in heaven with 4 females at his disposal. He was a drooling and slobbering machine right from the start. He went over and sniffed everyone, and decided that he was particularly fond of Goldie, unfortunately Goldie was not as fond of him, so after a few quick growls Shaq gave up.

Over the weekend the dogs seemed to pair up, with Shaq and Pixie hanging out together and Goldie and Shasta hanging out together. Rascal and I teamed up and had a great time.

Pixie: The name depicts visions of a small petit dog. Those visions are far from the truth. She is about as tall as Shaq is. She loves retrieving just as much as Shaq does and they were a great pair for playing with the ball. Both would run out as fast as they can to get the ball. Shaq got it about 60% of the time, but that did not seem to faze Pixie in the least bit. When they came back she would immediately demand that it be thrown again.

Goldie: The old girl of the bunch, a savvy huntress who knows when to expend energy and when to conserve. She and Shasta had a great time together. Shasta would go over and whack her with a paw until she got up and started chasing her. After a while she would find Shasta sound asleep and come over and pounce on her. Shasta would then jump up and chase her around the yard. She and Shasta were evenly matched in the retrieving category. Both would run out as fast as possible, but neither could keep up with the speed of Shaq. So I would hold Shaq and Pixie and throw the ball so that they could get it.

Rascal: A Beagle with the heart of a Labrador. I am not sure that Rascal knows that she is Beagle. Most Beagles that I know don't like to retrieve, they tend to like to investigate and chase things (like Rabbits). Unfortunately being the small one of the bunch she could not compete with the speed of the Labs when it came to retrieving balls. I could see her getting very frustrated about not being able to partake in the fun so a couple times I put the big dogs in the house and she and I played together in the yard. She is quite the retrieving Beagle. Everytime she came back she had an incredibly proud look on her face. Needless to say the others did not like to be left out of the fun so our playtimes were kept short.

The daily routine is: Wake up in the morning and play, then Pixie, Goldie and Rascal get to eat while I take Shaq and Shasta inside and do obedience work with them. After breakfast it is time to rest until the afternoon play session where I try to let the Big Labs and the Medium sized Labs get the ball an equal number of times, or until they are so tired that they just don't go out anymore. Then it is time for the afternoon nap. In the evening Shaq and Shasta eat while I do some obedience work with Pixie, Goldie and Rascal. Pixie and Goldie are very good stayers, Rascal is very good at sitting. But she is just so darn excited to stay for a long length of time.

Just before bed time I give out treats. It is interesting to see all 5 dogs sitting perfectly still waiting. Rascal always got hers first as I did not trust the big dogs to be generous. Then came Goldie and Pixie, both took there bones very nicely and retreated to neutral corners and devoured them. Shaq and Shasta did their usual gently take the bones and immediately scarf them down.

Sleeping with 5 dogs is quite a chore. When it came time to go to bed Pixie, Goldie and Rascal took the left side of the bed while Shaq and Shasta took the right side. Pixie curled up at the foot, Goldie stretched out with her head on my chest and Rascal curled up by my head. Shaq took his customary spot at the end of the bed and Shasta stretched out along side. So in effect I was the meat of a lab sandwich, with a topping of Beagle. Saturday night Rascal decided that the best spot on the bed was on my back. So she curled up on top of my back for about 15 minutes. I could do nothing about it as I was hemmed in by four Labs and thus prevented from rolling over.

Well that is the recap of the weekend. Attached are a couple of pictures of the kids. Shaq is the Black Lab, Shasta is the Chocolate Lab, Pixie is the Yellow Lab on the far Right closest to the camera and the other Yellow Lab is Goldie. Rascal got her own shot.

We hope each of you had as much fun as we had this weekend. Shaq and Shasta can't wait to have their friends over again.

Cheers
Ray & Shaq & Shasta & Pixie & Goldie & Rascal