  Pulsation period decrease during the initial stage of the thermal pulse in
the helium-burning shell of the Mira-type variable T UMi is investigated with
numerical methods of stellar evolution and radiation hydrodynamics. To this
end, a grid of evolutionary tracks was calculated for stars with masses on the
main sequence $1M_\odot\le M_\textrm{ZAMS}\le 2.2M_\odot$ and metallicity
$Z=0.01$. Selected models of AGB evolutionary sequences were used for
determination of the initial conditions and the time--dependent inner boundary
conditions for the equations of hydrodynamics describing evolutionary changes
in the radially pulsating star. The onset of period decrease during the initial
stage of the thermal pulse is shown to nearly coincide with the peak
helium-burning luminosity. The most rapid decrease of the period occurs during
the first three decades. The pulsation period decreases due to both contraction
of the star and mode switching from the fundamental mode to the first overtone.
The time-scale of mode switching is of the order of a few dozen pulsation
cycles. The present-day model of the Mira-type variable T UMi is the
first-overtone pulsator with small-amplitude semi-regular oscillations.
Theoretical estimates of the pulsation period at the onset of period decrease
and the rate of period change three decades later are shown to agree with
available observational data on T UMi for AGB stars with masses $
1.04M_\odot\le M\le 1.48M_\odot$.
