The True Story of Shep the WonderDog By Joe W. Ozier (Shep The Musical)

ACT ONE
It all began on a hot June day in Madera
California. My mother and I drove from
Fresno, about 20 miles north, to look at
some used slate stepping stones that were
advertised in the newspaper. She convinced
me to go with her because I was depressed
about a break-up with a girlfriend. She
said it would be good for me to get out of
the house for a while. Little did I know
just how good it would be! We left the
Interstate and drove down a small side
street and onto a dusty dirt driveway where
workers were dismantling a second floor
deck. The tiles had been taken from the
deck. We were told to go around the back
of the house past the barking dog to find
them. As we approached the tile pile, we
noticed that there was a dog barking
convincingly. We maintained our distance
from him as we looked at the tiles more
closely. Mom decided that she did want to
take some home, so we began searching out
the best ones to place in the trunk of her
Lexus. The owner came out to greet us as we
neared completion of the sorting and
loading. After a brief conversation and
money exchange, he told us he was selling
the house to move to the city. I asked
about the dog and he explained that since he
had no room in his new condo for him he
intended to have the dog stay put when the
new owners took over the house. Buy a
house, get a free dog tied to a doghouse. I
said that that sounded like a pretty bad
deal for the dog. The dog's face reminded
me of some of my childhood dogs. My dad
liked Border Collies a lot, as they were
smart and loyal and good with kids. I
wanted to pet him so I slowly approached. I
reached out to pet him and fully expected
him to snap at my hand but instead he parted
his lips and began smiling. Not your
happy excited smile mind you, but the kind
of smile that begs you not to whack his face
kind of smile-a pleading to be loved,
a broken down anxious and unsure kind of
smile that only a dog who has been beaten
both mentally and physically can express. I
talked softly to him and he rolled over for
me to pet his stomach. Without hesitating I
told the owner that I would be interested in
taking this dog off his hands. My mother
was getting anxious to go and said, "What
would you do with a dog anyway? And do you
really want thisdog?" I really believed
right then and there that I wanted this
dog. I wanted to save him from any further
abuse and neglect. The owner reluctantly
agreed. He walked over to the chained
animal and began petting him and talking
softly. I started feeling a bit guilty, but
when the man stood up, my mother put her
hand on my shoulder and said, "Well, I guess
you have a new dog Joe. I know you will
love him very much!" I walked back to the
dog and let him off the leash and asked him
if he would like to go for a walk. He
briefly wagged his little stump of a tail
and curled his body in a semicircle while he
smiled and danced around us for a few
moments. I went over to the car and opened
up the back door and asked him to get in. My
mother quickly got a woven afghan comforter
from the trunk and placed it over the
leather seats. The dog was hesitant but I
called to him as enthusiastically as I could
and then took him by his collar, looked the
man in the eye and thanked him for giving his
dog another chance, and slowly escorted
the dog to the car. He had obviously never
been allowed into a car but he was very
quiet and polite. My mother was staring in
amazement and to this day I'm not
sure whether it was from disbelief that I was
actually taking the dog or that she was
letting this stinky dog ride home in her
car. The dog's hair was so matted and greasy
that I believe it was the latter. I told her
to hurry up and get in and go, as I didn't
want the man to change his mind. As we drove
back down the dusty driveway, I looked back
and saw the woman put her arm around the
man's shoulder. There was no wave goodbye. I
sat in the back seat with my new friend
hugging him and smiling all the way back to
Fresno. I wondered what I would now do with
this creature that was now completely
dependent on me but I knew I had made the
right decision. I was going to give this dog
more than he ever dreamed of.

ACT TWO
I had a new dog and soon, a new girlfriend
too. She is the one that gave him his new,
permanent name "Shep." Shep grew from 43
pounds to just over 60, mostly due to muscle
tone he acquired from daily walks and
overnight trips to lakes and rivers in
California and from swimming in the Gulf of
Mexico after we moved to Sarasota Florida
in August of 1998. I had to do some very
serious socialization with Shep as at first
he wouldn't let my friends or anyone into my
home without bearing down on them and
cornering them at the door, with teeth
exposed and a snarl as good as they get. My
friends would back up and exclaim "Great dog
Joe" but eventually he began to accept and
trust people. Taking him to dog parks or as
we called it in California, "doggie church"
on Sun-day was a very good way to help Shep
learn that there are many other types,
shapes, sexes, makes, and models of dogs out
there-some friendly, some smelly, some
slobbery, and everything in between. Shep
got in a few scuffles.One led to a brief but
well worth it love affair that I had with
the other dog's owner. Shep was three and a
half when I saved him on the 28th of June
1996 and my birthday is on December 28. I
think that makes our birthdays on the same
day and that seems quite magical and
wonderful to me. Shep was given the full
run of my house, a dog door, and a window to
the moving world from the front seat in my4-
runner. I took him to work with me every
day and I even threw a dog party and made
him the guest of honor. He mostly hid under
a bush in the backyard and I had to coax him
out with a piece of steak or a doggie ice
cream cone. I finally realized that it was
asking a lot of him to accept all these
strange dogs and their owners right up front.
He had been alone and away from life in his
own solitary confinement for a long time.
But he learned and adapted to his new life.
Unfortunately, Shep was becoming a wanderer.
By that I mean that he followed his nose and
eyes in any and all directions at once.
Everything was new and sometimes edible
too. My line for him was "the world is his
buffet." I would have to call him several
times and go get him from neighbors'
backyards and from the various offices at my
workplace because he would be oblivious to
my calls for his return. It was like
the time my mom scared me to death by
tapping me on my shoulder while I was
singing at the top of my lungs to a Led
Zeppelin song with
my headphones on. To this day Shep
experiences everything as if it is the first
time each and everytime. He really does
stop to smell the roses. I jokingly called
him Shep the wanderdog and when people would
repeat it back they would say, Shep
thewonderdog, and so that became his name.
Love and a sense of justice transformed the
backyard dog of Madera,California into Shep
the Wonder Dog

ACT THREE
Two years later I packed Shep up and started
a new life for both of us in Sarasota, Florida.
I was always interested in theater and so I
began performing in the local Community Theater.
The director of "Carnival" asked us if any of
us had a dog that could perform. I quickly answered yes.
(My dad taught me to say yes first and then figure
out how you are going to do whatever you said yes to.)
I brought Shep to rehearsal and he was a hit
with everyone. The 30 plus kids and adults
inundated him with constant petting and kind
words and treats from the moment he arrived.
I had to practically demand no more treats
because cast members were buying boxes of
treats and chewtoys by the bag full. He was
always begging and going through
peoples'bags and becoming a nuisance,
milking the sympathy he received when
people learned about his previous life for
all it was worth. I frequently laughed and
silently cried over Shep's good fortune.
The thought of how far he had come
sometimes overwhelms me.
A few years ago, I was completing a run
of "On Golden Pond" at the Venice Little
Theater and I brought Shep to our archive
photo shoot. A very kind lady saw me
taking Shep through the tricks that he had
learned for "Carnival" as I waited for my
turn at the photos. She said that she was
the stage manager for an upcoming show
called "SugarBabies" and she thought that
Shep and I would be perfect as an additional
act in the show. She arranged an audition
for us and Shep performed perfectly.
He would be in the show on one condition:that
he learn some new tricks and some others
along the way as the director saw fit.
Again, I said "yes" without hesitation and
became Shep's "trainer."
Shep received great reviews for his 20+performances.
He was a hit!
In total Shep had been in
four productions and has probably been seen
by nearly 40 thousand people. Iam so very
proud of how far he has come and I know I am
fortunate to have him in my life. I
believe that angels brought us together
and so I have been writing the story of his life
in the form of a musical called, of
course,"Shep The Musical. The Story of Shep
the Wonder Dog." Everyone who hears this
true story is happy for Shep. They say that
I have done a wonderful thing by saving him
but I think that it's the other way around-
I'm the lucky one.