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People really don’t believe me.

But I am telling the truth!

And, when I try to convince them I am serious, they look at me as if I’m crazy.

Of course, I realize it is unusual for dogs to climb trees, but I really did have a tree-climbing dog when I lived in Arizona. Well, he could climb up trees, but when he got too high, he couldn’t or wouldn’t come back down.

His name was Wally, and he was part Australian sheep dog. We didn’t have any sheep on the ranch where we lived, but Wally kept careful check on our horses and cats. I never worried about anyone or anything harming the children when Wally was around. He always accompanied them when they went horseback riding.

One day when the children were in school and I was working in my office at the front of the house, I heard Wally bark.

He usually only barked if someone — or something like a rattlesnake or wild boar known as a javelina — decided to wander too near the house.

I left my typewriter and went out the back door to investigate.

I peered around the edge of the back porch, certain I would see a snake.

Wally was nowhere in sight, but his barks sounded as if he were right at the back door.

About that time, I heard rustling in a tall mesquite tree close to the house.

I looked up — again expecting to see a rattlesnake.

There was Wally, all 50 pounds or so of him, high in the branches of the tree!

And perched above him — nearly at the tip end of some smaller branches — was one of our many cats. Wally normally didn’t chase cats, but apparently this one had done something to make him mad.

The cat, I think, was afraid to go any higher for fear the branch would bend or break and she would fall right on top of Wally . Wally apparently had come to the same conclusion about the branches on which he was precariously balanced!

It was quite a job getting Wally out of that tree. I finally pulled and tugged on him until he came tumbling down on top of me, rolling me across the desert sand filled with all kinds of sticky burrs.

Shrugging in disbelief, I went back into the house.

Then, I realized no one would believe me if I told them Wally had climbed a tree. Why hadn’t I grabbed my camera?

A few minutes later I again heard Wally barking . I glanced out the kitchen window and, sure enough, Wally and the cat were back in almost the same positions in the mesquite tree!

This time, I went out the door with camera in hand. Realizing I was taking his picture, Wally even posed for one of them. I have a photo of him peering down at me from the tree branches. He looks as if he is smiling.

After taking several pictures, Wally and I did our “rolling-on-the-ground” act again.

You would think that after twice being pulled out of a tree, Wally would have learned his lesson.  For at least a few days, I believe he did.

Then one day, I was walking up the driveway to the mailbox. As usual, Wally was with me.

Suddenly a tiny prairie dog appeared on the ditch bank next to the driveway. The critter and Wally spotted each other about the same time.

Off went the prairie dog with Wally in hot pursuit.

Now, in the desert where we lived, there are only a few scattered trees, and some don’t grow much taller than five or six feet.

Scurrying across the sand, the prairie dog spotted one of these trees, and up he went.

You could almost see him breathe a sigh of relief as he got to what he believed was a safe distance from Wally.

But, then, the little prairie dog felt the branches beginning to shake and quiver. When he looked back down the narrow trunk of the tree, Wally was clawing his way through the tree branches.

Wally’s prey looked skyward and hurried along to some smaller branches and looked back at his pursuer. Wally was brought to an abrupt halt when he ran out of limbs large enough to hold him.

I’m sure the little prairie dog had a hard time convincing his peers back in prairie dog town that he had been chased by a tree-climbing dog.

Just as I have problems making people believe me when I tell them these tales!

Ann Fish is a Reidsville native but has lived in Eden since 1979. She is a retired newspaper editor and reporter. Contact her at annsomersfish@yahoo.comCutlineAnn Fish/Special to the News & Record