My name is Tippi. When I was very little I lived
with my mom
and my 5 brothers and sisters and my first "human family." It
was very cold when I was born, so we all lived in a sort of wire
house under warm red lights. Sometimes my human mom would
take us outside our wire house and we got to explore the outside
world.This was fun and exciting because now our eyes were open
and we were very curious. Sometimes my "human mom" would
pick us up and put us on the laps of the "little humans." This was
fun 'cause they had squeaky little laughs, especially when I licked
their little hands and faces. My "real mom" kept checking on
us and touching us with her nose while we were out. My
"human mom" said she was "counting" us. I guess that meant
giving us kisses each in turn. But it was very cold, and when we
started shivering we would all get picked up and put back on
our blanket under the warm lights.
Well we thought the outside world was only the cold place
outside our bed. Boy were we wrong!! There was a huge
freezing place way outside that room! Our human mom put us
all in a box one day and took us OUTSIDE!! She put our box
inside a noisy metal building on wheels. At least it was warm in
there. My real mom rode next to our box. Then we were taken
into another noisy place with very strange smells. The "vet"
my human mom called him, took us each out of our box and
placed us on a really slippery shiny thing. He petted us and told
my human mom we were "well socialized." (I guess that was a
compliment; maybe he meant we were pretty or smart or
something.) He carried these sharp pointy things and stabbed
me with them and it HURT! But I guessed it was an accident
because afterwards he was sorry and rubbed the spot with a
piece of white fur.
The next really interesting thing in my life was my "new
human
mom" came to visit! My "first" human mom took me and my
brother out of our wire house and said "These are the two that
are left!" She handed my brother to my "new" human mom
saying "This is the little tri-color you were interested in." I
didn't think it was fair that my dumb brother get all the
attention, so I started crawling across the slippery floor towards
them. I was very little and it was slow going, but I was
determined. When I got part way to them, my new human mom
picked me up. She seemed really neat so I licked her hand and
she liked it! My dumb brother didn't think to do that...so I got
PICKED!!
A few weeks later my new mom came to pick me up. My first
mom handed me to her, along with a bunch of papers in
an envelope, and they talked for a few minutes. My new mom
held me very timidly. She said I was so little she was afraid I'd
break! It was a long drive and it was late when we got to my new
home. Another dog met us at the door. He looked like my real
"doggie"mom, only much BIGGER! He told me he was a "collie"
and his name was Thissy. I figured since I now had a new "human
mom" that Thissy must be my new "real (dog) mom." There
were cats in my new home too, but they kept their distance from
me at first. There were dishes with good smelling food and dishes
with fresh water but I was too tired from the long trip to eat or
drink. Mom said that because it was the weekend, she didn't have
to work and could stay home with me. She folded out an old
couch into a bed on the livingroom floor next to Thissy's bed and
I snuggled up with her on that bed and fell fast asleep.
The next day was so much fun! We had a good breakfast. (Now
I was hungry!) Thissy brought me all his toys to play with. My
new mom had bought me a pink fleecy piggie that squeeks, and
she had bought Thissy one just like it. She laughed when she gave
them to us because my toy piggie was bigger than I was! Every
so often mom would pick me up and take me out the back door
into the yard (a huge place with a tall fence all around it) Thiss
would go with us through the little doorway that is cut into the
door for us pets. And in a few minutes mom would tell me I was
a good girl to go potty outside! (whatever that meant) and pick
me up and hug me and we'd all go back inside.
That night something terrible happened! Mom put on a pair of
work boots. (I still hate those boots and when I see her getting
ready to put them on I try to bite them and pull them right off her
feet! Because I know it means she is going away for a long time.)
She said "I have to go to work now Tippi, to earn your dogfood!
You're in charge Thissy! You guard the house, and when she
gets older, little Tippi will help you! See you guys in the morning."
And she locked me in the laundry room, all by myself, behind the
baby gates!
I cried! I tried to chew my way out of the gates! Thissy ran out
into the yard to say good-by to mom. The older grey cat jumped
over the gate onto the washing machine and stared at me. I put
my little front feet up on the sides of the machine and tried to
reach her. She sniffed and backed up. Then the younger all-
colored cat jumped the gate too. She said "we must be patient
with her. she's just a dog-kitten." And the older grey cat replied
"I've seen dog-kittens arrive here before you were even thought
of, you little upstart!" Then they got into a snarly fight. Cats are
so tempermental! Thissy came back inside the house and he
poked his nose through the gate. I told him "I want to go to work
too, with mom!" He said "they'll never take you to work with
them, but when you get bigger and are "potty-trained" they'll
let you stay out here with me.
Well he was right of course. Now I'm all grown up and I have
the run of the house and big back yard. When mom's not too
tired or busy she takes us to the park or hiking in the woods.
And during those *wonderful* weeks that she and my dad call
"vacation" we all go "camping" in the little house on wheels
to wonderful places by a lake or ocean beach! I'm only two
years old, so I have many more camping trips and happy years
ahead to look forward to with my family!
Mom read that poem "I Am Famous Now," and it made her so
sad
that she wanted a *happy* story about a more fortunate dog for our
web site - and to cheer her up! And because I am such a cheerful
little thing, it should be about me! And I should be the one to
tell it! So this is my story! The end. love, Tippi
