When I was about 4 years old, my Father was working away from home. He rode a horse to work, and being cold weather, he wore a heavy wool coat. I would go out on the porch and greet him when he came home, usually after dark.

One evening he rode his horse right up to the side of the porch where I was standing, and with a twinkle in his eye, pulled a puppy from under his coat and handed it to me. You cannot imagine how delighted I was.

The puppy was brown with light colored stripes, so I said he looked like the pictures of a tiger in one of my books. The name stuck, and he became known as Tiger, soon shortened to Tig. Old Tig was one of the smartest dogs I have ever met. He was one fourth bull, one forth collie, and half German Police. When fully grown he weighed about eighty pounds. He was very protective of our family, and no one, or nothing dared threaten us when Tig was near.

Tig would go drive in the cows every evening by himself, and if they were not in the pasture, he would track them and bring them home. He hearded the chickens the same way, but, as far as I know, he never hurt an animal.

One summer day Mom took my sister, brother, and I down to the creek for a swim. As kids will, we went running into the water yelling and screaming. Old Tig came into the water, grabbed me by the shoulder and took me out to the shore, looked at my mother and whined, then went back and grabbed my brother by the pants and dragged him out. We were all so amazed that we became very quiet. Old Tig looked around and knew that everything was ok, and did not drag Sister out. My shoulder hurt where he held on to me, but we all loved him for his actions.

When my younger brother was about four years old, he took up with a pig. I don't know who's pig it was, but Brother and Pig became good friends. Both were watched over by Old Tig.

Once Mom suddenly realized that things were too quiet, and went looking for Brother. Not finding him, she called Tig. He came to the edge of a wood lot, let out a couple of loud wolfs, and went back among the trees. Mom went to where he was, and found Brother and Pig asleep in a shallow ditch, no doubt rooted out by Pig, with Tig standing watch over them.

When Old Tig died, it was as if one of the family had died. It was a sad day, for Old Tiger was the best of friends.