Henry Tribe

Erlo was my Grandmother’s Alsation dog. He loved me! And I loved him! Without Erlo I would not be here. He saved my life three times.

The first time Erlo saved my life was when I was two and my parents went with Erlo and me to the Sense, a beautiful fast-flowing river that runs through a gorge near Bern. Both parents had fallen asleep. I had been playing in a shallow place for a long time, with enormous joy! Finding the most beautiful stones… with all their shapes and colours and I had created a special place for all of them. When I went in again to find some more of the miraculously beautiful stones… I fell over! The river immediately carried me away. It, with no problem at all, floated me to a deep place. I COULDN’T SWIM! Erlo knew I had to get out and, about the danger. He jumped into the river, swam to reach me, because his plan was, to bring me out of the river. His teeth were holding onto my bathing suit… which was a KNITTED one! IT IMMEDIATELY STARTED TO UNRAVEL!!! By the time Erlo had deposited me onto the river bank… my swim suit at the back was totally unravelled and gone! What I remember is: how totally embarrassed I was to have lost my beautifully knitted swim suit… and my whole bottom exposed!!! I was told off!

The second time Erlo saved my life was when I was four. I went downstairs to find my father in the cellar where he had a huge cold room. He was very busy when I came down and he didn’t notice me. But I saw that the door to the ICE ROOM was open! THAT WAS EXCEEDINGLY RARE! I knew the room where he hung meat to get tender. I also knew the room where sausages like Cervelat were. But I had NEVER seen the ice room inside. So to take the opportunity to venture into it and have a good look round was TOTALLY IRRESISTABLE! Especially, I could see that there was something exceedingly interesting for me to go and inspect: A bucket of tripe! I went in and looked at it and touched it. My father came in, deposited something, went out again and shut the very heavy and very thick door… turned the lights out and then went upstairs. NOBODY would have found me there. But Erlo knew! He went to my father and pulled on his apron. Then barked. Then ran downstairs and up again. Pulled my father towards the cellar stairs. Ran down and howled and barked! Ran up again and tried to get my father to come downstairs. But my father refused. Erlo got more and more insistent. My father grumbled with him. However, in the end he gave in and followed Erlo downstairs. Erlo barked at the door and scratched it. So, finally my father opened the door and Erlo ran to where I was already unconscious on the floor. If Erlo hadn’t brought my father, I would have frozen to death.

The third time Erlo saved my life was when I fell into a sewer. As I keep saying: I was ALWAYS curious. So when I saw that the round lid, which was always there, WASN’T… WOW… WHAT IS THERE TO SEE!!!???!!! Well there was an OPEN hole… and quite a long way down… was… WHAT!!!???!!! It looks like ??? Is that a PIPE??? It SURE IS!!! But…???… it seems to be OPEN … REALLY??? WOOOOW!!! AAAND… UGH… IT STINKS!!! What on EARTH COULD THIS BE??? It looks… yellowish… And then, I wondered if I could JUMP over it! Well, I COULDN’T!!! I found myself lying in the yellow gunge with NO WAY TO GET OUT of this awful and stinking slowly moving whatever, nor the hole. AND: NOBODY ABOUT!!! I was about five… and the smelly slowly moving river tried to carry me away. Erlo saw at once something was drastically wrong and dangerous… He dashed into the house and pulled my father, who was working, out to the open hole and my father was able to pull me out and up! If not for Erlo, nobody would have known where I had disappeared to.

I also learnt to walk with Erlo. He didn’t mind, that I pulled myself up to standing, on him! Then, I walked whilst holding on to him! And one day, I let go and walked by myself. But even then I walked with my arm ‘around’ him! We were inseparable. Everybody in my village, Köniz, knew us. With Erlo, I was also totally safe crossing the road.

Erlo also had a best friend: Nero. Nero was a black Alsation. They sat together for hours. Nero lived just over the road. I often sat between Erlo and Nero on the low wide steps in front of our shop, my left arm over Nero, my right over Erlo! Our low steps were wide enough for the two dogs to lay there comfortably looking out onto the road. But often we decided to go for a walk together and the pavement was wide enough for the three of us to walk ‘in a three’, the two dogs with me in the middle.

Therefore: I LOVED DOGS ALL MY LIFE!

Katharina Tribe, reminiscence, 2025.