Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-12-31
A Remarkable Dog,

TALKING about dogs as is sagacious,
remarked Mr.. Cannon as he leaned
back in his chair, threw one leg over
pile OF exchanges and ran his fingers
through his gray hair" talking about
smart dogs, raised a dog once which
was just considerably the pertest animal
l ever saw or read of. Never knew
what breed he was Kind of peculiar
seemed to have all the best pints of the
whole species. He came to me in sin
gular manner too when he was no
moren three months old. Heard
scTatchln' at the door one cold winter
mornin' as [ was maxim fire. Opened
the door and in walked that pup. The
first thing he done was to wipe his feet
on the mat. Then he pushed a stool up
to the stove and sat down on it and held
his paws up to warm. After he got
comfortable he asked me to adopt him
into the family.
l am tellin' the truth now, and of
course | don't pretend to say that pup
actually addressed me in the English
language, but his looks, his manner, his
what dye call it?-pantomime, was so
perfect that knew just what he wanted
L never went much on dogs as a general
thing but L couldn't 90 back on one of
such extraordinary promise as this.
Kept him, and we named him Rassler.
He was as initiative as a Cninaman.
Picked up things faster'R a child. He
took to the children right away-liked
them as well as though they had been
his own brothers and sisters-and thew
come to consider him as one of the fam
lily. He learned all that was possible
from the limited facilities afforded on
the farm. Before he was a year old he
could ride horses, tend the baby pick
| up chips and do thousand other useful
! and amusing things.
lola, my oldest boy, had learned him
| to whistle, and it would done you good
to ha' seen Rassler utilize that accom-
plishment. You know rabbit will stop
if you whistle to it. Well, when he got
after rabbit and it was about to get
away from him he'd stop and whistle
The fool rabbit would stop to listen and
Rassler would have him by the neck in
less'n q minute.
We never had to take an ak along
when we went continuing with that
dog. No need to cut down any trees.
He would just skin up tree like a squir-
rel and shake coon or a 'possum out in
jiffy. One of his favorite pastimes was
to take a small pail and 90 out in the
meadow and drown out groundhogs,
gettin' the water from pond near by.
"OnCe I took Rassler to town with me,
and it was election day l allowed my
self to get rather more liquor aboard
! than | could conveniently carry. About
| three o'clock in the afternoon 7 started
home, taking the railroad track | hadn't
gone far before the whisky made me
stupid, and l laid right down on the
track and went dead drunk. Rassler
| tried every way to get me off to the side of
| the road, but was heavy and senseless
and he couldn't bulge me. A train was
comm, and i'll ten minutes more I would
have been run over. Now, gentlemen,
what do you think that dog done? Elk
cuse me, but | can't repress the rising
tear when think how that faithful ami
nal saved my life. He grabbed the red
! bandanna handkerchief from my pocket
ran toward the train and signaled 1t, and,
| by George, stopped it and saved me. Yes
| sir
"But in his death he exhibited a
greater degree of gratitude and intelli
gence than he had ever done before
The boys had learned him to smoke, and
| he became such a slave of tobacco that
| / feared it would impair his mental facul-
| ties l tried to break him of the habit
by whipping him, but it did no good
He'd steal off some place and smoke in
! spite of all I could do. Well, one night
he went to sleep in the cellar with a pipe
| in his mouth, and the fire fell out on
some straw and soon the whole place
was in blaze. Rassler walked up in
| time to arouse the family and get them
| all out, but we couldn't save anything
While we were standin' around lookin
at the burnin' house all of q sudden
Rassler gave bark and rushed through
the flames. In five minutes after he ap-
peared in the library window on the sec
ond floor with something in his mouth.
The flames had cut off his retreat. He
sprang from the window and fell lifeless
at our feet And now, gentlemen, what
do you think that dog had in his mouth
that he had given his life to save? 1t
was the insurance policy on my house"
And the old man wept at the remem-
brance of Rassler's fdelity.-Braaa8a06cEer.