The coolest dog ever. The dog who climbed trees. Sgt. Pepper

The coolest dog ever. The dog who climbed trees. Sgt. Pepper

I came "home" from O.U. one day to the house by brothers and their friend were living in, which had been where I lived for about half a decade. 

My parents had moved to Muskogee, OK where my father, an Episcopal Priest, had found a small Church, Grace, In the town in which he was born.

They left behind a house that they owed more on than the actual value of the house. And, eventually, they had to declare bankruptcy. My father assured everyone involved that he intended to pay what he owed them, with the exception of the house which was a total loss.

My brothers and their friend lived there while the house was being sold.

When I came home to visit while still living on the O.U. campus (only about 30 minutes south) we were in the back yard and my brother's dog Sgt. began to act weird. We had been playmates since he was a tiny puppy. I spent my teen years as his best friend. We used to wrestle on the ground, him making noises like he was attacking me, which I played up to some visitors who didn't know we were playing. He even tried to follow me up the back yard tree which I climbed almost every day. He made it a good distance off the ground, but no further up than the two large trunks. The dog who climbed trees.

But when I came to visit something was wrong. He was looking at me funny, like he didn't recognize me. I had heard about the possibility of dogs who were mixed with wolves becoming more aggressive, mean, and otherwise wolf like when they got older. This may have been what happened.

I tried to wrestle him, using a maneuver I'd used a thousand times where I grab a front leg and take him down to the ground, then roll over like we were wrestling, and then let him come up and act like he was mauling me.

I say I "tried" because the moment I grabbed hold of his foreleg, he bit deep into my left forearm just below the wrist.

I my brother's roommate looked at me like I was freaking crazy to do that. I tried to explain but he didn't really pay attention.

I stopped playing with Sgt. after that. He had become too old and too wolfy. 

Years later in Tulsa, OK he bounded out the open front door and was never seen again. My oldest brother searched all over, including pounds and rescue centers. Nothing. It's my opinion that someone saw this cool looking black and white dog that looked like a shepherd and a wolf and kept him. If someone did, I hope he lived the rest of his life loved and well cared for.

Details below of the bite below directly below, 

And after that, a bunch of pictures of him I took using black and white film and the Cannon camera my parents gave me when they got a new one. A few of him in the tree, including one of the first times he jumped up in it taken from the very top of the tree (you can barely make him out down on the last two big branches.) As well as a color picture of him as a pup chewing on my foot (notice the blue Casady School gym clothes.) And one taken by my father on a New Year's Eve where he was trying his funny way of slowly scooting into the house where he wasn't allowed. Somehow, he thought do one would notice, Hehe.

I was bitten by a Half Alaskan Malamute, One Quarter German Shepherd, and One Quarter Timbre Wolf.

(by the name of Sgt. Pepper. But we just called him Sergeant for short.)

So, I can say in all honesty I was bitten by a wolf and I still have the scars.

Perhaps, one day, I'll figure out the lost art of shape-shifting into a Werewolf.

One can only dream. . .

(c. 1991 when I was still at O.U.) That's my left forearm to wrist and a drawn image of teeth to demonstrate where the canines bit, and you can clearly see the round white scars.) 

(Profile of the coolest dog ever.)

"What was that noise?"

"I want something, but I can't talk."

Trying to slowly sneak into the house through the sliding glass doors.

"The dog that climbed trees."

I used to climb our big tree in the back yard, all the way to the very top (I didn't weigh much back then.) And one day the strangest thing happened when I climbed the tree, I looked down and Sgt. tried to climb up to me. He only made it to the lowest large branches, but it was the oddest thing to see, a big black and white malamute-shepherd-wolf siting in a tree. He even scared the neighbor once while he was looking over the fence.

(last picture above, look closely at the center and you can see Sgt. way down but still in the tree.)

The little guy trying to chew on my skinny foot.