Tippy

Natalie and Tippy

Mama was laid off her job but she didn't want to disappoint me by not getting the puppy she promised me on my fifth birthday. She used her severance check to buy our dog Tippy. Tippy was soft, cute, and had floppy ears and our first dog ever for all of us. We found that Tippy's main motivation in life was food; Scrounging for food, stealing food, and begging for food. She was quite easy to train as long as you gave her some type of treat. Within a few weeks she was able to shake her paw, do a high five with two paws, sit, roll over, and dance. We quickly realized that people food had to be placed where Tippy could not get to it or she would steal it from right under your nose. One time I was eating my dinner and had to leave to run to the bathroom, when I came back my dinner was gone. I found that silly dog with her paws on the table, standing on the chair and licking the last bit of spaghetti and meat sauce off my plate as if she felt that she was entitled to it. I was totally indignant that my supper was gone. She sat in her box looking quite contented licking her chops as if to taunt me further. I just glared at her waiting for mom to make me something else for dinner. Another time tippy ate three Chinese pork buns mom had left on the dining room table for a few minutes because she had to answer the phone. Tippy wolfed down the three buns and waddled away like a duck because her belly was so full. We could not believe that our nine pound dog was able to eat three huge pork buns. Another time she ate a bunch of my chocolate kisses she found in my purse. We thought that she killed herself for sure that time. She pulled through though even though she was under the weather for a few days and stayed in her box. One day I was eating a sweet roll and pinching off small bits of roll for Tippy and giving it to her as long as she did one of her tricks. After doing her full repertoire of tricks she decided that she deserved more than the few crumbs she was being offered and grabbed the sweet roll out of my hands. She ran like the devil for her box in the kitchen and chomped down the roll to the last crumb. She always seemed to get the better of me when it came to stealing my food. Mom always said "that you can tell how smart a dog is by how clever they are about getting food." I guess that Tippy must be a genius. Our dog Tippy is now going on fourteen and getting frail and senile, but she is still a good food crook whenever the chance is presented.