Canine Weekend: Day Two

Shadow's Canine Weekend continued early Saturday morning with the customary 6:30 wake-up call (bark) and a dewy walk around the neighborhood to expend some excess energy, which must have been running on credit at this point.

It had been my hope that Artie, being in my opinion one of the world's best trained dogs, would rub off a bit on our little rascal. And while that did happen to some extent by the end of the weekend, all it took Saturday morning to reel in Shadow was the discovery of a huge stick (more accurately a tree branch) significantly larger than him.

Trotting along, tail in the air like a flag and head proudly raised, he carried it all the way home like a trophy, leaving him no opportunity for misbehavior or wandering. (Hey, at least he's got priorities.) What happened next, I do not know, but a few minutes after reaching the house he and Artie each had their own half of the aforementioned stick.

While killing time waiting for the other guests, Shadow somehow managed to get Artie to wrestle with him a bit in the backyard.

I would say they even got a game of 'fetch' going, but what really happened was Artie stood on the flying disc chuckling (in silent dog laughter, of course) while his little silver nephew struggled in vain to pull it from under his uncle's massive paws.

Finally, around 11 a.m., the game changed and it was two crazy little rascals against one wise -- though still young -- dog.

Enter Moose, Shadow's 8-month-old light cream Lab cousin.

Initially quiet and curious, Moose explored his weekend home, hosts, and for -- a brief second -- the neighbor's yard, with a happy face and sweet demeanor.

Then, almost without warning, he flung off the shroud of propriety and let Shadow have it, yelling "Let's Play!" (Again, in doggie language).

Shadow was beside himself with joy as he and Moose tumbled and pawed and pounced and panted -- with tails wagging all the while, of course. The pair played almost the exact same way, and even their barks and whines sounded remarkably alike.

Three days later, I think Shadow still misses his cream-colored buddy, poking his head up with excitement whenever he hears another dog bark. Sure, we play with him too... but there's a slight difference between puppy tussling and human-to-puppy play. I mean, for one, my teeth aren't as sharp.

All this delinquent tussling brought out the paternal peace keeper side of Artie, who often stepped between the two pups and gave a low "break it up, kids" growl. The rest of the time he retreated to the stoop and stared at the front door, telepathically trying to tell us he wanted to get away from all this racket.

This dynamic pretty much continued through Sunday morning, which gave Chris and I a very calm (i.e. GOOD) puppy to show off to my extended family Saturday night.

More about that later, but for now enjoy these last couple photos, which prove that once they run out of energy, anyone can be buddies.

Rights to all original photos appearing on this blog (excluding links to outside vendors and products) are the property of the creator of "Me and My Shadow" and may not be used elsewhere without said creator's permission.

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Hit and Run (don't worry - he's fine, just clumsy)

Singin' in Shadow's Room 

Silver Lab Puppy Meets Kong

Shadow the Silver Lab Comes Home