Evening star., 1944-08-27
| lust Between
Yourselves
.Bv Philib II. Love


Europe viii be over, and I expect to
get the first news Of 1t from Butcn.
This may seem . lot to expect OF
dog, but Butch tipped me on to-
both of the invasions Of France and
I can't think Of any reason why he
won't do as well on the German
surrender.
Butch is q tan-and-white police
dog" about 10 months old. The rea-
son I put the quotation marks
around police dog" Is that I'm not
too sure Of Butch's breed. He was
advertised for sale as . police
puppy" and the receipt said the
same thing. He. looked like q police
puppy, all right, 50 assumed he
was q German shepherd.
But as he grew-or, rather, failed
to grow-I began to have my doubts.
And a neighbor suggested, IF he's
q police dog he must be detective,
because he's In disguise"
Then I saw a girl with a dog
exactly like Butch, and asked what
kind he was. Belgian police" she
said. They're very much like the
German police but they don't get as
big"
But whether Butch is German or
Belgian, he's beautiful pet and a
fine watch dog. In fact, he's q
regular home body; he never goes
out Of the yard, even when the gate
Is lett open, and he's content any
where, SO long as some member Of
the family is nearby.
Before the girl convinced me that
Butch is Belgian police dog, I
sort of half suspected that he was
a fox. He digs foxholes all over the
yard, and as fast as fill them he
digs more. Once he dug a tunnel
under the fence but he didn't 90
away. He just went around to the
front door and whined until I let
him in. He'd only tunneled out, it
seemed, to prove that he could do it.
And he's never tried it since.
I took Butch along on my vacation
with some misgivings. All the other
dogs I've taken to the farm have
turned out to be more of q trial
than q pleasure by chasing the
chickens and turkeys and barking
at the horses and cows. The dog
had last summer was such an in
durable poultry chaser that I had
to keep him tied, and then he an
noyed every one within 10 miles by
barking and bowling around the
clock.
But didn't have to worry about
Butch. Though he had never seen
a chicken or turkey, he acted al
most as If he'd lived on farm all
his life. He stopped, looked the
poultry over, shifted and then
walked on. 1t was the same with
the horses and the mules; he Just
gave them look and a sniff or two
and proceeded to ignore them.
He had never seen river, either,
and the first time I took him SWIM
ming he just stood on the beach and
watched. Its nice, Butch" 1 said.
Come on in" He dipped one paw,
then the other, then gingerly tried
all four. The water must have felt
good for he plunged in and began
swimming. And he liked it so we'll
that he not only went swimming
with me every afternoon but took to
going down to the river alone for
an early-morning dip.
Butch has bed in the cellar and
he always stays there until 1 let
him out in the morning. On D-day,
however, I was awakened about 5
am. by Butch's whining. He had
opened the door from the cellar to
the kitchen and from the kitchen
to the dining room and come up the
stairs to whine beside my bed. I
escorted him to the yard and then
snapped on the radio. And when I
heard the news Of the invasion I
decided that was why Butch had
come from the cellar to awaken me
so early-he had wanted to tip me
off.
That sounds silly. I know, but
Butch did the same thing the morn
ing OF the invasion of Southern
France. The only difference was
that I was too dumb to catch on. I
didn't turn on the radio-and, as a
result, didn't learn the news until
several hours later.
But that won't happen again. I
know now that Butch isn't a police
dog at all. He's reporter dog. And
the next time I awake to find him
whining beside my bed I'll Just turn
on the radio and listen for the news
I'll know Is coming.
A.