Ninja Counter-Surfer

For years I’ve been hearing about my friend’s kitchen counter-surfing Beagle-Jack Russell mix. The story always starts with “I heard nails skittering on cupboards” and usually ends with heirloom china taking a fall.

Tippi on the other hand has the height to be a professional and apparently has been in training for years.

It started about a week ago when our cat Spice decided that perhaps he was in the mood for wet food again. I put it out for him as usual (on top of our washing machine, which is actually in our kitchen) and he actually cleaned up every bit of it. So I gave him some more that evening. Tippi seemed pretty interested in it even though she had just finished her own dinner, but I didn’t pay much mind.

The next morning, the same thing … except … I realized that Tippi wasn’t in the office with me while I was checking my email. I called for her and she came in and lay down on her towel. As I went to pet her I thought “Man, she reeks.” And as a woman’s way of “stringing thoughts together,” I wondered, “Could she smell like a mixture of dog & cat urine?” No, this was the earthy scent that reminds me of Snips that I like when Spice eats his food on my desk. His salmon food… SALMON!

Explanation – yes, the smell of Spice eating his dry food on my computer desk reminds me of Snips. Its key ingredient is salmon, and when he eats it there is an “earthy” scent. Snips always sat under my desk while I worked (or surfed the Internet), and I realized after Snips was gone how much that earthy scent brings his memory to me.

I ran in to the kitchen and sure enough, Spice’s little food dish was on the floor and his placemat was pulled into a funny angle. But that was it, nothing extra on the floor and nothing broken. Ninja Counter-Surfing Dog had struck! After that we started being a little more aware of where Tippi was and what she was up to in the house.

Another day I filled her Kong with treats for the day and set it on my jewelry armoire. Dang if she didn’t pull it down and eat half the treats before I caught her. And just this morning she snatched a cookie from the same place without knocking over my perfume bottles or moving any of the jewelry lying on top of the armoire.

This afternoon had to be her best yet, though. Tippi snagged Spice’s can of salmon food out of the little container on the kitchen counter. If we hadn’t caught her with the half-eaten can of food on the floor in front of her we never would have known from how she left things … it was pristine.

And with that I think she very much deserves a “Black Belt in Ninja Counter-Surfing”.

Tippi's Story

Talking to a friend last night, I realized that some of you may not have seen or heard me use the name Tippi before, so I thought I’d tell you a little story.

Grandson: A book?

Grandpa: That's right. When I was your age, television was called books. And this is a special book. It was the book my father used to read to me when I was sick, and I used to read it to your father. And today I'm gonna read it to you.

Grandson: Has it got any sports in it?

Grandpa: Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...

A free case of beer for whoever can identify the above quote … wait, you people are my friends and some of you have lived with me … ONE free beer for identifying the above quote. Our story has tragedy, mystery, love (of course the true love kind), broken promises, and happy endings.

Long before Snips “joined the choir invisible” I had put together a list of things I wanted to do. Not a Bucket List, but definitely some goals, one of which was to volunteer. I thought about nursing homes, veterans (it’s a Dad thing; he was a WWII & Korean War vet who survived the Bataan Death March), but then I read the article in the N&O about the Wake County Animal Shelter being in desperate need of volunteers. It was perfect, as one of the “jobs” they needed filled was Canine & Feline Paparazzi. You know me: have camera, will travel.

I signed up and was set to have my volunteer orientation Tuesday, May 18th. And that is when fate stepped in and decided that it was Snips’ time to run in the Elysian Fields near the Rainbow Bridge. Veterinarian Dr. Frey (who was wonderful during our sad goodbye with Snips) really tried to dissuade me from going to the orientation. I was a mess that day (the 15th) and she didn’t think I’d be ready. But I come from strong Mennonite stock and have grown pretty good at pulling myself together when needed. So I decided to go.

At the shelter, orientation went well and I was very excited to get started. Robin asked if I came home with any puppies, but I hadn’t. You can’t touch them without “suiting up” in a protective coverall and gloves between each one, and none of them were fluffy. It’s also very LOUD in the dog rooms, which can be overwhelming.

A little background information – Charlie knew that I was not willing to live in a “dog-less” house for very long, and in preparing to be a Paparazzo I went out to SavingGraceNC.org to look at some of Diane Lewis’ work and fell in love with several dogs. We talked it over. I told Charlie that we wouldn’t adopt the first dog we saw, we’d wait until after June 17th (I had business trips the first two weeks of June), and we wouldn’t get a dog over 30 lbs.

Okay, back to the action. My first shift as a Canine Paparazzo was after work on May 25th. I was so excited that I had to call Charlie on my way to the shelter so as to calm down and not get into a fender bender. That evening I photographed six cats and four dogs. Trudy was the first one I did by myself; a big black lab who went and sat down shortly after the excitement of me joining her in her kennel. She’d been there for 45 days.

Over the next couple of weeks, thoughts of Trudy kept niggling at the back of my brain. I read her profile as I processed her photo… five years old, good on a leash, spayed, microchip, heartworm negative, only a $50 adoption fee — take home ready. I’d run across different staff and volunteers who would talk about how sweet she was, how well mannered she was, and how they couldn’t understand why she hadn’t been adopted. Then someone expressed concern that Trudy had been there 45 days. As adoptable as she was, she was running out of time.

Labs aren’t a breed I would have ever seen myself with and I like my dogs fluffy, not smooth, but well, it just kept niggling at me. I talked with Charlie that night, June 1st, about Trudy and he agreed to go look at her with me later that week. The more I talked about it with friends, the more excited I got. My friends Kirk & Paula said they had looked hard at her in my Flickr set and if it hadn’t been for the fact that they already have three dogs, they would have adopted her themselves.

I couldn’t wait. My all-day meeting ended early on Thursday and I asked my boss if I could take a long lunch and go with my husband to look at this dog. We got to the shelter around 2 PM. As we approached her kennel she started bouncing, just like Tigger, boing, boing, boing, and barking … Charlie thought I’d lost my mind as this was not the calm type of dog he was looking to live with.

We “suited up” and had someone bring her into one of the “get to know you” rooms. She mellowed out immediately and lay down on the other side of the little room. She was a little stand-offish, but that didn’t throw me because my first dog was a full blooded Chow Chow who was more cat-like than dog-like when it came to wanting affection. Next we had someone take her and us in back for the “cat test”.

Yes, the shelter has a “dog testing cat”! His name is Zack. He’s not adoptable because he is FIV positive (feline HIV). He was mauled by a dog in a previous life, but has absolutely no fear of dogs. He now lives the good life in the office area.

Trudy completely ignored Zack, literally. Zack sat at Trudy’s feet and she never even looked down at him. Charlie immediately started bonding with Zack and had to be dragged back in to the conversation about Trudy. When we got back to her kennel and talked more with the people at the shelter, we discovered that her name wasn’t Trudy. Her name was Tippett. I immediately said Tippy and she responded the way you would expect a five year old dog to respond to her name. Sometimes the shelter changes the animals’ names to see if it will make them more adoptable. Her name was Tippett, then they changed it to Trifecta (and this was supposed to get her adopted???) and finally, Trudy.

And the story goes that on June 2nd around 4:00 PM Charlie & I became the proud parents of a five year old 65 lb. black lab. Promises broken… I was leaving for Dallas on June 8 and she was more than double the weight limit …

The nicknames came out in full force that night … Tippster, Tippmeister, Tippecanoe & Tyler Too, Tipperoni, The Tippinator, Tippopotomous, Tippideedooda, Tippi Hedren … Tippett, an odd name but we liked Tippy. I understand that Tippett is a common family name up around Wake Forest, but I googled it and found a Sir Michael Tippett who was an English composer and pacifist.

From the beginning she has been an amazing dog. We immediately went shopping at PetsMart because I didn’t have any large collars at home and Snips’ kennel wasn’t going to be big enough. We shopped all over PetsMart with her on nothing more than the cheesy lead they give you when you adopt a dog. She barely pulled and only made noise when we made her test the size of the kennel. Even when the Yorkie got all up in her face, she just stood there.

We’ve been walking twice a day and last night we went bicycling with her for the first time. We took her to Lion’s Park and rode around the parking lot. She really seemed to enjoy the running and didn’t pull anyone over. Later we went out for ice cream at Goodberry’s – we brought along a Frosty Paws for her – and she was such a good girl as we stood in line.

Tippi is always up for a walk but just as willing to spend the afternoon napping with Mom. Well mannered when guests come over. Has yet to bark in the house or in the car – actually she’s only barked when in the shelter’s kennel and in the kennel at the groomers the other day. Followed all of Robin’s basic dog training instructions. Doesn’t pull on the leash when we walk even when she sees a squirrel that she REALLY wants to go after. Minds me when I tell her to stop something. A model canine.

DAME TIPPETTE HEDREN FOOTE, A.K.A. TIPPI – “Dame” for the knighted part; an added “e” ‘cause we’re the Foote clan, “Hedren” because she’s a Tippi with an “i” and actress Tippi Hedren is from New Ulm, Minn., and Foote because she is a part of our family.

And Tippi because her full name is too much to yell from across the house.

________________________________________

Important Links:

Tippi’s Flickr Page http://www.flickr.com/photos/suziqred/sets/72157624074998211/

Suze’s WCAC Paparazzi Page http://www.flickr.com/photos/suziqred/sets/72157623996267133/

Wake County Animal Center http://www.wakegov.com/pets/adoptions/default.htm

Saving Grace Rescue http://savinggracenc.org/