I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about this month, but the events of the past three days have given me a topic.
Growing up, we lived right out the lane from my paternal grandparents. Gramma Anderson was my babysitter, and her house was my second home. I’m sure some of today’s young adults will find it hard to believe but we didn’t have a phone, or a tv or an indoor bathroom or running water at either house. Now that is important to today’s story, because Gramma and Grandpap got both a tv and a telephone before we did. We were original organic farmers but didn’t know anything about being organic. Now every day at 1:00 my grandfather would come to the house to watch his show, “Let’s Make A Deal” and then at 7:00 on Thursday, I believe, “Let’s Make a Deal” came on again. He never missed it.
On this Thursday, two gentlemen wanted my daddy to sell them his two hunting dogs, Blackie and Brown, two of the best black and tan coon hunting dogs that ever lived. These “city guys” offered my daddy big bucks for them. But just like me, my daddy was an animal lover and couldn’t part with any of his “best friends”, so he turned down all of their offers.
My gramma had an indoors dog, a little black and tan chihuahua named Penny. Penny was a sweetheart and loved my gramma dearly. She was only about four pounds soaking wet.
On this particular night, my grandparent’s chimney caught on fire, and they discovered it during
“Let’s Make a Deal”. The chimney fire caused the planks and boards built into the house beside the chimney to smolder and smoke and eventually flame. The newly organized Orkney Springs Fire Department responded to the call. As you can imagine, there was chaos that comes with putting out a chimney fire, finding and killing all the embers and putting out all hot spots. I was there along with Gramma and Grandpap because we had been watching Monty Hall make deals, but the fire kinda stopped all that. The fire trucks were in front of the house with hoses going inside and up on the roof. Gramma, Grandpap, Mommy and I were standing outside the house watching the fire fighters work. Daddy was a member of the Orkney Springs Fire Department.
As the fire company worked, we watched. Suddenly, my gramma shouts, “Penny! Where’s Penny!”
What happened was that Gramma thought Grandpap had her, and Grandpap thought Gramma had her. When I realized Penny was still in the house I went running, trying to get into the house to find her. The firefighters would not let me in. It was safe. I kept yelling, “I’ve got to find Penny!” They thought Penny was a person. When Daddy explained that she was a little dog, there was a sigh of relief, but they went in search of her and found her hiding in the bedroom closet. Penny was safe. Not so for Blackie and Brownie. They disappeared that night. My daddy was always sure that in all the turmoil and excitement of the fire, the two city guys helped themselves to the best two coon dogs ever!
The moral of this story, as Molly taught us in class, teach your dog to come to you when the house smoke alarm sounds. Practice with your smoke alarm and the come command. Reward your pup when he comes to you. In a real emergency, this could save your best friend’s life and maybe yours too, if you spend time searching for him instead of getting out to safety.
As always
Enjoy your time with your Best Friend and
Stay Pawsitive!
