Life can be mysterious and unpredictable. Sometimes even the smallest
events can lead to life changing moments. We recently had a close
call and could have lost all of our dogs and our own lives in a terrible
fire were it not for the bravery of a little sheltie puppy who had
come to live with us a week earlier. We were very fortunate to have
this little puppy. I hadn't really been looking for another sheltie.
Then I saw an ad placed by our breeder/mentor Locklyn Guzman for a
lovely sable male puppy. While the sheltie in the add was very beautiful,
it was the smaller litter mate I wanted if Locklyn would part ewith
him, After several emails and phone calls Locklyn agreed to let Doug and I co-own the puppy now named Apple
Acres Game Boy (Tetris).
Tetris was as feisty as he was beautiful and we lost our hearts the
moment we saw him. Since he was a new arrival and only 6 months old,
we let Tetris sleep in our bedroom with us. He was very well behaved
and slept through the night for the first few days. However, on his
seventh night he woke us up at 1 am with a pitiful howl. My first
response was to put him out to potty. He didn't want to go but after
a couple of "go potty" commands he obliged me. Then instead of running
to the farthest part of the yard (we have 13 acres) brave little Tetris
came back into what he knew was a burning house and with great determination
herded us around barking, nipping at our rears and heels. We recognized
sheltie herding behavior and knew something was wrong, but did not
have a clue. I am sure Tetris must have wondered why his dumb charges
could not smell the fire. We began searching for what the problem
was and finally noticed a little smoke coming from a light fixture
in the hall. With no idea how serious the situation was, we called
911 and evacuated all the dogs from the kennel. We turned around as
we left the kennel and were shocked to see the roof and back of our
house ablaze!! By the time the fire alarms went off our bedroom was
engulfed in floor to ceiling flames, the fire department was on the
scene, and all of our shelties were in the side exercise yard lined
up at the fence watching the show. The first firemen on the scene
said we would not have made it out if we had been asleep when the
alarms went off. All would have perished in that fire except for the
courage of Tetris. We feel he is a great example of what a sheltie
should be: brave, smart, resourceful, determined, able to size up
the situation and act on his own to safeguard his family. I do not
like to think about the tragedy this could have been had it not been
for the bravery and courageous heart of one little sheltie puppy.
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