Village Squire, 1979-07, Page 42P.S.
Now that's
a retriever
BY KEITH ROULSTON
It began when Jack disappeared.
Some long-time readers of this column
might remember Jack. He was our Heinz
57 varieties dog, the one who fought fierce
battles with field mice. He was quite a dog,
aggravating at times but a big loveable
Junk most of the time.
Then one morning we woke up and he
was gone. He'd never even gone away
from home before as far as we knew but
this morning he had disappeared and we
never saw him again. Neighbours said
they'd seen no sight of him either. Ads in
the paper failed to turn up any trace.
There were a few tears shed and for a
while we felt we just wouldn't bother
getting another dog. Then mother and the
kids began to soften. We began to think
about the prospect of a new dog and then,
before we were still quite sure, we had one.
A family acquaintance had gotten two
over -age pups from a kennel. He wanted to
keep one and give away the other. Both
were purebred Labrador Retrievers al-
though they weren't registered. Oh, we
were assured by acquaintances, Labs make
great pets, especially with children.
And so Sheba came into our lives. She
was already a big dog when we got her and
she kept on growing. It turned out she was
far from grown up in many other ways too.
She may have looked like a big dog but she
was a puppy at heart (and in the mouth.)
She had exotic tastes: the cord of my
electric jig saw, hammer handles and other
tools, electric wiring from unfinished walls
(we were in the midst of renovations when
she arrived giving her lots of scope for her
adventures.)
Give her a year, people told us. Labs
take a year to grow out of their puppy
stage. A year went by but not the puppy
stage. Then one day a male visitor came
calling and a few months later several
other visitors arrived for a longer stay. The
eight little puppies made Sheba grow up in
a hurry. She was too tired looking after her
offspring to get into much trouble. (I know
exactly how she felt.) The pups would give
her a hard time for a while and she'd look
up with her deep sorrowful sad eyes as if to
ask, how did I ever get into this mess.
Ah, we thought, at last. Peace has come.
She's had the puppy knocked out of her
and now she'll be the nice calm dog Labs
40 Village Squire, July 1979
are supposed to be. But then it came time
to give the pups away. One by one they
went off to new homes, leaving some long
faces behind. Sheba's face wasn't long
though. There were no sad songs from her.
The last pup left and it took her about two
days to get back her old energy. We'd lost
eight little puppies and regained one big
one.
Well, we thought, maybe it takes two
years for Labs to get out of the puppy
stage. Her second birthday came and went
but not her puppyhood. Oh she's slowed
down a little in her old age but she's still
got more energy than anyone else in the
household. She doesn't chew quite as
much as she once did but she still gets so
excited at times that she runs in circles
around the yard at speeds that would make
a Grand Prix racing driver envious.
Mostly now, however. she just lives up
to her name. She's a Labrador retriever
and to date Labrador is about the only
thing she hasn't retrieved.
Her favourite has been ground hogs.
Muddy Lane Manor is located in the
gravelly hills of East Wawanosh, a
marvellous place for ground hogs and thus
a marvellous place for dogs to go hunting.
The local groundhog population has been
reduced at a rate of about two a week. It's
tough enough getting used to fresh
groundhogs on the front lawn but Sheba
seems to like to keep her treasures around.
the longer the better. Outdoor barbecues
can become difficult after one of these
animals has been around for a while. And
there's no sense trying to hurry its
departure by burying it or throwing it
away. Unless you rent a backhoe, she'll dig
the carcass up for sure.
She spent the winter while the
groundhogs slept in nightly excursions to
the next door neighbour's from which she
brought back souvenirs: good china dishes
set outside to feed the family cat. One day
the neighbour set down a heavy cast
roasting pan and the next morning the pan
showed up on our lawn. It got so bad that
whenever something disappeared at the
neighbours, we got a call.
The topper came this spring however
when she decided that the chickens made
marvellous things to retrieve. The chickens
seemed resigned to their fate when this big
bounding black beast chased them and
caught them. Someone in the family would
spot the happening and run screaming
after the dog and the dog would slink away
leaving behind a still body that looked dead
for sure. A nudge with a boot, however;
would usually have the chicken on its feet
again, slightly ruffled of feather and spirit
but otherwise all right.
Ah well, maybe it takes three years for
Labs to grow up.
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