I Wanna Dog Like That

Tippy

This is a dog story.But this dog story is true.It did not happen to me, it happened to some friends of mine and I knew the dog involved.For the moment, we’ll call him Tippy.The family name was Turner.The father was Bill, and we actually knew his brother much better then we did him.But Bob and his wife never had any children of their own.So when we met Bill and discovered that he did have children, we kids had a great time playing with their daughter Stephanie.She was just between me and my older brother Steve.

Now I have to tell you about the house they lived in. Since we were always playing out in the yeard when we visited we always came in through the kitchen, so I’ll describe it from that point of view. They had a screened in back porch. In the summer Tippy’s bed was out there because it was cooler. When you went in through the back door you could see the door that led to the back stairs. This was an old farm house. The back stairs went only up to the attic, no stops in-between. In one corner of that kitchen was Tippy’s bed during the cold months. Form time to time we would see it there.

The house was electrified some time ago. There was an electric refrigerator in the kitchen and an electric stove. Opposite the back door was the swinging door that went into the dining room. That was where the family ate when they had company. To the right of the dining room was the living room. In the dining room, along the front wall, was the stairs that led up to the bedrooms. Upstairs were the master bedroom and three smaller bedrooms which eventually all belonged to the girls. Stephanie had her own room.

We visited them and played with them as they eventually welcomed three more daughters into the family. Unfortunately, I don’t remember their names. Stephanie was the one I played with and the one I knew. All the babies were singletons and all were just as pretty as their mother.

It was November when this happened. In November in northern Illinois there was snow on the ground, so Tippy was sleeping in the kitchen. One of the appliances developed a short in it and began to spark. Soon a fire started. Now to get from Tippy’s bed to the swinging door, he had to go right by that fire. And that is exactly what he did. How do I know, because of where he was found.

He got through that swinging door, across the dining room, and raced up those front stairs. He barked almost every step of the way and raced up and down that hall way, still barking. His barking woke Mrs. Turner first. She thought she’d get up and get Tippy back down and into the kitchen or maybe outside, so they could sleep. When she sat up in the bed she smelled smoke. She woke Bill fast then ran to the nursery where the youngest girl, 6 mos. old was sleeping. She got herself and the baby out of the house. Bill ran across to the other room that two of the older girls shared. He got one under each arm and got them out of the house. Tippy’s barking woke Stephanie too. She grabbed him and also got out of the house.

The nearest phone belonged to a neighbor. When he smelled smoke, he called the fire department. By the time the fire department got there the house was a total loss. But imagine their joy when they found the whole family and the dog sitting under a big tree in the yard. In that day and age, they gave out Lassie Awards donated by the TV show. 4 were given out each year to particularly brave animals that had saved humans. Tippy got one.

By the way, Tippy was a border collie.