We all ,it is said,  have a guardian angel . I know I do and mine is a

little Toy Rat Terrier named Stormy .

I have had this special breed of dog almost all of my life . Through the
years growing up in a large family , money and food were scarce . We ,
growing up ,had Coon Hounds and Rat Terriers . My dad and brothers would
take the dogs hunting. I remember growing up we never had much but we
never went to bed hungry . Through the years growing up , Rat Terriers
have remained a part of my life . Through the years I have been able to
meet many wonderful people who love this breed of dog as much as I do .
I also have had the privilege to meet and become wonderful friends with
Stormy`s breeder , Marion Schiller , in Cameron Texas .


In August the 14th , 2000 , I became very ill and finally let my family
take me to the doctor . I was imediately put in the hospital . I had an
abscess in my tubes that had burst and the infection was spreading
thoughout my body . After 10 days in the hospital , I went home . The
doctor had to perform an emergency hysterectomy on me so I was sore and
not doing a whole lot at first . My husband was so kind and lovingly
helping me to recover . And my dogs were very comforting and would lay
beside me for hours .On the night of September 24th 2000 , I was up late
trying to get a few things done in the house . Stormy at night is my
little talking girl . She loves to pretend to be Momma`s little watch
dog at night . As I finished cleaning , I emptied an ashtray in the
trash can . It had been  almost 45 minutes since I had a cigarette so I
thought nothing of it . I sit down in the living room to catch up on my
emails and to relax . About 30 minutes passed and Stormy , who at the
time was only 5 months old , started her nightly routine of watch dog .
She would go the window and the door and growl and bark . Then she would
sit by me and in a few more minutes off she goes again . This is normal
so I always would tell her what a good little girl she was  for taking
such good care of her Momma . Well , a few minutes of this went by and
on her way to the front door to sniff and growl and threaten any would
be buglers , she turned into the kitchen . The hair stood up on her back
and she got loud . She ran to me and back to the kitchen entrance over
and over barking as loud as she could . I was very tired and tried to
ignore her . But she would not give up . I told her to quiet down and
lay down by me and go to sleep to no avail . She still was very upset
because I thought she was playing and she was trying to tell me
something and get my attention . The next time she ran up to me and bit
my hand hard as I was typing emails and ran to the kitchen entrance
again , but this time I knew something was wrong because she was frantic
. So  I got up to see what was wrong . The instant I entered the kitchen
, I saw what my little girl was trying to tell me . There was smoke
pouring out of the trash can . It is a tall can with a flip-top lid .
When I lifted the lid ,the  flames came roaring out and almost burnt my
face and my hair . I ran to the sink and grabbed a gallon jug and
started pouring water in there as quick as I could . My husband , who
was asleep , has fire fighting training , but I was so scared I didn`t
think  . I have no idea how many gallons of water it took to dowse the
flames but when I got it put out , my 30 gallon trash can was almost
full of water . That trash can sits up against our kitchen wall and I
knew as dry and hot as this Texas weather was , once it started going up
that wall , we would loose our house . But thanks to our baby Stormy ,
we still have a home and our Rat Terriers .


Dana Curtis
220 C-7 Sunset Blvd
PMB 129
Sherman Texas
75092

Day phone 903-786-2993
Evening phone 903 786-4782

E-Mail : TheAnimalHouse@webtv.net