Best Doggone dog in the West

Daniel loved this movie when he was a kid. We bought it for our boys when they were young, but they were never that interested in it. I had forgotten all about it until a few weeks ago when Tristan got it out for the kids to watch on a Saturday morning. Somehow it made a huge impression on Rachel and Elizabeth, and it is now their favorite movie ever.

For those who haven't seen it, here is a short(ish) summary: A family lives on a ranch in Texas. They have two boys - Travis and Arliss. Travis is left as the "man" of the house when his dad goes on a long cattle drive. A stray yellow dog comes to live with them (Old Yeller). Travis hates Old Yeller at first, but then comes to love him as Old Yeller proves his worth around the farm (chasing coons, saving lives, etc.). He becomes, as the song says, the "best doggone dog in the West." Once he saves Travis from wild hogs, almost getting killed in the process. At the end (sorry for the spoiler), Old Yeller fights off a rabid wolf that was attacking Travis's mom, and ends up getting rabies. This is very sad because then Travis has to shoot him. He is devastated of course, but recovers with the help of one of Old Yeller's puppies (they call this one "Young Yeller") who Travis can tell will turn out to be just like Old Yeller (and maybe the 2nd best doggone dog in the West?).

Anyway, the first time they watched it, both Rachel and Elizabeth were just fascinated. I still didn't realize the effect it had had on them until later that night - Lizza got up out of bed and came downstairs to announce that her stuffed dog that she sleeps with (named Frenchy, after Fancy Nancy's dog) was no longer going to be called Frenchy, but was going to be named Old Yeller instead.

The next morning, not only was her dog Old Yeller, but she herself was Travis, and since then we have had nothing but Old Yeller talk around here.

Me: Hey, Lizza. Come here.
Lizza: Call me Travis.

Me: Hey, Lizza, come eat breakfast.
Lizza: Mom! You're supposed to say "Travis, come eat breakfast!"

Repeat several times per day.

Lizza (laying flat on the floor): Mom, ask me what happened to my leg.
Me: Travis, what happened to your leg?
Lizza: The wild hogs got it. But Old Yeller saved me.

Repeat several times per day. (Side note: last week Elizabeth got her immunization shots, and her legs were really sore, and she loved the fact that when she was resting on the couch all day with her sore legs she was just like Travis when he hurt his leg in the movie).

Once in a while she and Rachel will mix it up and Rachel will be Travis and Lizza will be Arliss. But my favorite is when Lizza decides she is actually Old Yeller.

Me: Hey, Lizza. Come here.
Lizza: Ruff! Ruff! Call me Old Yeller! Ruff!

She loves to go fetch things for me when she is in her Old Yeller mode, and she'll often ask me if I'm missing anything. I then pretend that I can't find something, and she crawls off barking and then brings it back to me in her mouth, and we all cheer and clap because Old Yeller saved the day, and we say what a good dog he is.

It has been pretty helpful to have such a good dog around the house ("Old Yeller, quick - go fetch all the laundry from upstairs and bring it down to me. Good dog! Good dog!").

One of her favorite parts to act out when she is being Old Yeller is the part after the wild hog attack (in the movie Old Yeller is hurt too badly to move, so Travis hides him in a little cave and then goes off to get his mom to come help). Lizza will lay on the ground whimpering, with an injured-but-brave look on her face, and then she'll direct the rest of us with our parts: Rachel, you be Travis. Go get Mom. Tell her the wild pigs got me. Tell her you just can't leave me here. Mom - say, "Oh, Travis, I didn't know it was gonna be this bad!" (That's her favorite line for some reason). Rachel really gets into this part, too - sometimes she prefers to be the mom, though, so she can stitch Old Yeller up with a hair that she has me go pull from the mule's tail. It's all very exciting.

It's kind of funny how they have chosen to deal with the whole rabies/Old Yeller dying issue. When only Frenchy (Lizza's toy dog) is playing the part of Old Yeller, they love to pretend she just fought off the wolf and now has rabies (or rubies, as they call it). There's always lots of running around and hysterics and "Mom, come quick! We think Old Yeller might have rubies!!" Rachel usually wants to be Travis for this part, and she asks if she should go get her gun. She has actually attempted to kill off Frenchy before with one of the boys' dart guns, but Lizza put a stop to that.

Thankfully, they never act out that part when Lizza is being Old Yeller. She loves the wild hog incident, because Old Yeller recovers from that, but the wolf attack just never happens.

The funniest thing happened the other day, though. It had been a particularly wild Old Yeller day, and I had told Daniel over the phone about how Lizza kept claiming Old Yeller had "rubies". When he got home from work, he said hi to everyone and then called across the room to Lizza, who was coloring at the table, "Hello, Old Yeller! So, do you have rubies?" I thought of course she would say no, but she looked up at him with a really solemn look on her face, and without missing a beat, replied "Not yet." I busted up laughing at the way she said it - it was just so funny and brave sounding, like "Not yet, Dad. Not yet. I know it's coming, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Here she is as Old Yeller, fetching me a dinosaur that I had misplaced:

Rachel and Lizza singing the Old Yeller song. They do this frequently. Needless to say, this song has been stuck in my head a lot the last few weeks, and I even start singing it sometimes on accident. Side note: the reason Rachel is in black clothes and has a red lightning scar tattooed on her forehead is because she had been playing Harry Potter earlier in the day. Thank goodness I have such well-rounded children, right?