THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 19, 1994 TAG: 9411190048
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
This is Larry Maddry's Wednesday column, which was inadvertently omitted from The Daily Break. We apologize to Larry's fans, who missed it.
THEY WERE shaking, rattling and squeaking down at the Virginia Beach SPCA last Sunday afternoon, with animals squirming on Santa's lap as the strains ``I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas'' echoed down the halls.
Yep, it was the time of year when Santa appears for photos with Oscar the hamster or Tweetie the bird. Shelter volunteers make strange noises, shake boxes of rocks, baby rattles - anything to get the animals to look at the camera.
Santa sat beside a large Christmas tree, gift boxes spread around his chair.
And there at Santa's feet, looking up toward a squeaking ball was a 70-pound boxer with a forehead as wrinkled as an accordion. The dog's name was - wouldn't you know it - St. Nick.
Click . . . click . . . click.
Photographer Marcie Laumann of Beach Images snapped the photos just as St. Nick directed his attention toward an SPCA volunteer holding a squeaking toy.
``That's great,'' said the dog's owner, Sandy Tye of Virginia Beach.
The dog's name? Sandy said St. Nick was given to her on Christmas Eve last year. ``Nick chews up about a half dozen stuffed animals a week!'' she shouted, as the dog, owner in tow, bounded toward the door.
This is the sixth year the Laumanns - that's Marcie's hubby Doc wearing the red suit and white beard - have donated their time for the pet photos. All proceeds go to the SPCA.
At times the line of pet owners with their meowing and barking friends stretched past the refreshment table - cookies and apple cider - and out the door, where it was nearly 70 degrees on the sun-warmed concrete walkway.
A large gray cat named Wikhitut wanted no part of Santa, kicking as the jolly old elf held her close. The cat had a horrified expression, as though caught in the grip of a dreaded space alien.
``Wikhitut doesn't do tricks,'' said her owner, Rosemary Doud of Portmouth. ``Once in a while, she lets you pat her nose. But with a cat, that's sometimes as good as you can do.''
Sometimes the owners want to be in the photo with Santa, sometimes not. Marcie, the photographer, said most of the dog owners want their pets looking at the camera with ears up when the photo's taken. ``Either whistling, meowing or saying `Wanna take a ride?' usually does it,'' she said.
Many of the pet owners had adopted their friends at the Virginia Beach SPCA. Doc Laumann said he likes animals. The Laumanns have adopted three dogs and two cats from the shelter. He thinks his easy manner makes the pets comfortable in his lap.
``They can tell when you're afraid of them or nervous,'' he said. But even Santa has to draw the line somewhere, I guess. ``The only photo request we've turned down was from someone who wanted to bring down a boa constrictor,'' Doc explained.
Three ferrets found their way onto Santa's lap Sunday. As he handled the ferrets, Doc looked like a third-base coach in a red suit giving signs to the batter, pawing at the critters and struggling to keep them still and in place for the photo.
``I guess the smallest animal I've had my photo taken with was a hamster that weighed only a few ounces,'' Doc said. And the largest? ``I once held two Great Danes on my lap at the same time. All you could see in the photo was the top of my cap and my hands.''
He said that one year a lady brought in a trained blue jay for a Santa photo. ``No problem with that bird. It sat on my shoulder like a pro,'' Doc said.
The monkey photograph probably caused the most commotion, he claimed.
``It was a young monkey and a little scared,'' he remembered.``Marcie finally got a good shot of it with its owner and a dog. Then the monkey leaped off my shoulder onto Marcie's head.''
If you'd like your pet's photo taken with Santa, today is the last day. The hours are 9 till 4. You get two 5-by-7 photos and four 3-by-5s for $16.
But be prepared to wait in line. The procedure takes time.
Before I left, I watched Weesie Ness of Virginia Beach get behind her seated Doberman named Rufus, which had refused to budge, toenails dug into the floor. She inhaled and pushed the dog like a sliding statue about 15 feet to where Santa sat.
``He thinks he's going to the vet,'' she told Santa. ILLUSTRATION: MARCIE LAUMANN photo
Doc Laumann as Santa Claus at the Virginia Beach SPCA.
by CNB