Story of the Month| South Dakota

Perhaps that is what my grandfather, Zina Adkins saw in Custer’s hounds. According to Brian Duggan’s book, “General Custer, Libbie Custer, and Their Dogs,” the Custers owned forty hunting dogs at the time of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, in 1876. Before he departed on the expedition, he left the majority of dogs with Libby at Fort Abraham Lincoln, but three went with him.

The night before Custer actually entered the Bighorn, he left the three dogs with their handler, John Burkman. The fate of the dogs was not recorded at that time. But a year later, Edward Godfey, who served in the 7th Calvary, but not in the battle, wrote that the dogs were left with the wagon train.

Part of the family’s dog stories includes one of the most difficult to tell. In April,1870, my maternal great-great grandmother, Vincencia Srstka died in Iowa. Her husband Stephan, along with the children, Vincia and Stephan Jr. and their dog, moved to Bon Homme County in Dakota Territory.

Stephan remarried in October. That winter was harsh and brutal. Their “home” was a partial “dug out, indoor temperatures often dipped below freezing. Hunting nearly impossible with the deep snow, food became scarce. The family dog paid the ultimate sacrifice, so the family could survive.

There were good dogs in the towns, too! In the 1940s and 50s, the dog with the biggest reputation in Parkston was Joe Shelley’s cocker spaniel, Tippy. Joe was the custodian at the public school for years. Tippy was his constant companion and got his own press!

In 1953, from the Parkston Advance, “When you see a black cocker spaniel, who answers to the name of Tippy, and right behind him a man who answers to the name of Joe, you see our custodian and his dog. They are a very familiar sight in the halls of old Parkston High.”

Tippy got his first “press” in the Parkston Advance in 1947. In an article by Winnie Gilbertson, “Good dogs are loyal dogs. I think Joe Shelley has the most loyal dog I ever saw. In fact, he protects Joe from anyone who gets too close to Joe - as if Joe needed that protection, being a former prize fighter.”

Tippy’s loyalty was proven in 1949, again from the Parkston Advance. “Joe Shelley has been in the hospital with a broken arm. Joe’s dog, Tippy, impatiently awaits Joe’s arrival home, by not eating much, spending most of his time with Joe’s sheepskin coat and checking out Joe’s bedroom to see if he is there.”

I remember Tippy. He was my savior during lunch in the 1950s. Our principal, Frank Wingfield, would make the grade school children stay in the lunchroom, until you ate everything on your plate. No empty plate, no noon recess! We had long tables with benches, some were along the wall, with space enough for just one person to walk behind. One person, with a dog following. If you were very careful you could put your disliked food in your hand, put it behind your back about dog level, and presto it would disappear. You never turned around, even if you could feel the tickle of a dog’s tongue.

Sometimes dogs are so well loved that they get things named after them. Such was Jude, my sister Gloria and her husband, Russ Leonard’s dog. He was a Great Dane, who thought he was a lap dog. He was a fixture in Parkston in the 1990s. He walked in the Homecoming Parade wearing a Trojan football helmet.

Jude ate anything, after all a big dog has a big appetite. You never let any food within his reach. He ate an entire bowl of coleslaw in about three gulps. Perhaps that is why Gloria and Russ named their small restaurant, across from the high school, Jude’s!

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Edited by Jessica Kay Brown

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