Kyle is a German Shepherd who comes from a lineage of police dogs. After serving in the police for 10 years, he was retired, adopted, and moved to a countryside home. Still, Kyle missed his former partner John, with whom he had formed a strong bond.
Sometime after his big life change, something unusual happened to Kyle, as one day he tracked down something peculiar and disturbing in one of the most unexpected places: a tree.
Investigation
While out roaming with his new owner Thomas, Kyle’s brought his nose to the ground, and then he began to dig. After completing his investigation, the dedicated dog refused to move from his position. This was the first time Thomas, had seen him do anything like this.
Thomas decided to take a peek inside the tree Kyle had been digging at, and what he saw sent tremors through his body. What was Kyle tracking down? What was inside the tree that shook Thomas to his core? Before we get to that, let us introduce Kyle, his owner, and the fascinating background story that led to this situation.
Born to Serve
Kyle was a talented sniffer dog who was born into a family of German Shepherds. His mother was a police dog who was quite the high achiever. Although he had no idea about his own destiny when he was just a pup, Kyle slowly began to learn about his environment and his family.
Obviously, Kyle wasn’t the only one in the litter. Like most pups, he had many brothers and sisters who were also trained to follow the family tradition. However, he and his sister were the only ones able to complete the rigorous police dog training. It would seem Kyle really was prepared to pursue family tradition.
Training And Service
Police training was a daunting task for Kyle, but his obedience and wits managed to carry him through. He was quite a fast learner, easily picking up what was being taught to him. In fact, it soon became clear to all that Kyle was much more than just your average pooch.
During his years as a police dog, Kyle was known to have a great sense of smell. This talent in sniffing helped him track down a lot of missing persons. His keen eyesight, which is a bit unusual for a dog, as well as his athleticism, made him an invaluable member of the force.
Good At Being Good, Bad At Being Bad
Though Kyle was shown to have good senses and physical fitness, his sweet and gentle disposition meant he has difficulty in aggression training. The sweet pup couldn’t easily bring himself to be aggressive to others, which is an unusual trait for his pedigree. This put Kyle’s career into question – would he be better off as a family pet?
As it turns out, Kyle played to his strengths so well that his lack of aggression wasn’t too hard to remedy. The clever dog overco=ame the challenges presented to him during his time at the police dog academy, and then he finally got to meet his first human partner.
Partners In Crime
Service dogs are usually paired with many different officers, and Kyle was no different. However, despite being trained in obedience, he still had difficulty following orders from his assigned officers. Things started to change when Kyle was assigned to John, and the two immediately formed a strong bond.
Kyle was so efficient with his job when he was with John, despite the fact that he struggled to cooperate with others. At this point, it would have been foolish to separate the two as John and Kyle had become very close. Kyle was permanently assigned to John, and the officer eventually decided to adopt him as well.
Retirement Woes
Not all good things last forever, however, and Kyle eventually retired from the police after 10 years of service. John wanted to keep him around, but his busy schedule meant he wouldn’t be able to spend enough time with Kyle. A sad truth gradually became clear: Kyle needed to find a new home.
As a former police dog, Kyle had to be placed with a family not affiliated with the police in any way. This would allow him to be given tender loving care, just like any other family pet. Eventually, the dog was placed with the Smiths, who were well acquainted with John.
A New Home And Family
The Smiths were immediately smitten by Kyle thanks to his aforementioned sweet and gentle nature. Of course, the dog was saddened with having to leave his partner behind. John felt the same way for sure, but he knew it was for the best. Kyle would become part of a family that could give him more TLC and attention than he could provide given his duties as an officer.
Although relaxation, hugs, and kisses felt strange for Kyle at first, he was able to warm up to his new family and their cozy home. The Smiths gave him lots of exercises, and their new countryside home meant Kyle had tons of room to move around. They were happy to have a former police dog protecting them and giving them company.
A Fateful Day
Kyle managed to fully adjust to his new life as a family dog, with Thomas Smith taking him for walks every single day. Their new home was surrounded by mountains, green pastures, and wooded forests, so the daily walks were a blast for both the owners and the dog.
However, when Thomas took Kyle for an outing one day, the dog’s behavior was noticeably different. The dog seemed lethargic and could barely bring himself to get up and follow his commands. He still spent time with his new family but in a far more quiet manner. Over the days that followed, Kyle’s love of the great outdoors waned.
Finding A Solution
Initially, Thomas thought Kyle’s strange behavior might be a result of him still adjusting to his new environment. However, his behavior remained the same after several days had passed. At this point, Thomas realized he has to do something about it. He wasted no time trying to find the root cause of Kyle’s woes.
First, Thomas tried changing the dog’s diet to see if the food was the culprit. He also tried changing the bedding to see if sleeping discomfort was causing Kyle’s odd behavior. Neither seemed to address the problem, and the family’s concern for their dog grew by the day.
From Bad To Worse
Unable to do anything, Thomas decided once more to wait and see if Kyle’s problem would go away on its own. Things kept getting worse, however, as Kyle even refused to eat his food. Thomas knew he had to do something or the dog’s health might decline.
The family had already done everything they could think of to give Kyle the best retirement possible. They moved to the countryside to give him space to move around, they gave him nutritious meals and even made his bedding as comfy as possible. It seemed like he’d come to love them, so what could possibly be the reason behind his strange behavior?
Medical Intervention
Left with no other options, Thomas decided to take Kyle to the vet for a check-up. The dog was given a full physical examination along with a series of tests to help determine the problem. After some time, results showed that Kyle was healthy and in perfect condition.
Both Thomas and the vet were perplexed. If there was nothing wrong with Kyle on the health side of things, then what outside factor could possibly be behind his unusual behavior and lack of energy? Did it have something to do with where they were living?
Off The Beaten Path
Once again at a loss, Thomas decided to continue his daily routine with Kyle despite the dog not being himself. One day, the duo began to deviate from their usual walking trail, and Kyle started acting up once more. However, Thomas soon realized that Kyle’s behavior was a little different. The laziness was gone, replaced by something even more concerning.
The best way Thomas could describe it was that Kyle had reverted to police dog mode. He was known to be an excellent tracker during his time at the police force, so Thomas decided to let him do his thing. With ears raised and nose sniffing the ground, Kyle was clearly looking for something, and he was filled with determination to hunt it down.
Following The Trail
It had been a long time since Kyle had lived in the city, and he always enjoyed a good walk around his new country home. During walks, Kyle would make it a habit to sniff around for anything unusual. After all, he had a very good sense of smell, so it was natural for him to be interested in the sensorial layout of his local area.
When Kyle picked up a strange scent that fateful day, he broke himself free from his leash, determined to track it to its source. Thomas immediately went after him as Kyle rushed into the woods and out of sight. Could this scent be the cause of Kyle’s strange behavior?
Trained For Life
Sometime after he moved into his new home, Kyle had begun to act strange and lose interest in almost everything. However, he would perk up whenever he and Thomas would get to a certain point in their routine walks. Thomas eventually realized that Kyle was still living out his police dog days, despite being in retirement.
Kyle’s training kicked in as soon as he sniffed out something strange. His natural instincts plus his police training made it hard for Thomas to rein in his behavior. The dog followed the scent trail until he ended up in front of a tree. Thomas tried to call him back to no avail.
A Nose For Discovery
When it comes to sniffing habits, Kyle is not much different from your average dog, even with his special talents. He enjoys sniffing around his surroundings during walks and would often discover different things such as discarded toys, small animals, and food wrappers. One could say he’s always training his scent-tracking abilities whether he’s working with the police or not.
If anything ever seemed out of the ordinary, Kyle would waste no time tracking down the source of the scent. For Thomas, his companion’s uncontrollable urge to track things down would soon lead him to something so unsettling that a full-blown investigation would be warranted.
Arriving At The Scene
Thomas managed to catch up to Kyle, and the dog continued to sniff at the tree. He looked up into the branches to see if anything was triggering Kyle’s behavior; perhaps a small animal taunting him or an object stuck in the branches, giving off a peculiar odor.
However, with the branches emptied of leaves by the onset of winter, Thomas ruled out the possibility of something being up there in the canopy. Whatever Kyle was trying to sniff out was hidden so well that not even the slightest sign was apparent on the surface.
At Wit’s End
Thomas tried to snap Kyle out of his behavior, but the dog refused to leave the tree. Not even his favorite treats could budge Kyle from his position, and repeated calls and commands did nothing. Thomas even tried to gently pull the collar, but Kyle simply refused to move from his position.
Obviously, Kyle’s training taught him to be determined and disciplined, and soon he simply lay down by the tree after sniffing for a while. Though he understood that Kyle was acting in accordance with his training, Thomas was completely at a loss at what to do about the situation. Left with no other options, he decided to seek help, but this time from someone familiar.
Calling An Old Friend
Despite being perplexed and frustrated by Kyle’s behavior, Thomas was curious about what this highly-trained dog was tracking down. He turned to the one person who could truly help him solve the case: Kyle’s former partner John. After all, nobody knew Kyle as well as the officer himself.
Perhaps John had seen behavior like this before and it was actually normal to him. He could probably offer Thomas some advice on how to deal with what Kyle was doing. Maybe there was some kind of trick to making Kyle obey orders? In any case, John was Thomas’ best chance at remedying the strange situation.
The Problem With Kyle
When John first heard from Kyle’s new owner about the situation, he felt a jolt of fear and concern. The officer felt worried that his ex-partner wasn’t faring well with his new home and family. However, once Thomas explained the whole situation, John blew out a sigh of relief.
Indeed, something had happened to Kyle, but the problem was nothing like what Thomas was imagining it to be. In fact, John was quickly able to identify Kyle’s current behavior: When searching for clues during cases, Kyle was trained to sit down and wait whenever he found a lead.
A Disquieting Situation
When Thomas explained to John that Kyle was sitting right beside a particular tree, the officer’s anxiety returned. He knew this was a sign that something sinister had happened in the spot Kyle was refusing to budge from. John advised Thomas to be careful as there could be something dangerous within their vicinity.
Thomas looked around, both for potential hazards and possible escape routes. They were quite deep in the woods, far from their usual trail. Knowing that John wasn’t going to arrive right away, Thomas decided to scout the area further, though he did heed the officer’s advice to take care.
John’s Explanation
During the call, John told Thomas that Kyle was trained to sit down and wait whenever he picked up an unusual scent. If you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense – a dog like Kyle could only do so much before needing assistance from more experienced hands.
John told Thomas to do a little inspection of the tree but with great care. “Could it be drugs?” Thomas asked himself. In actuality, Thomas found something even more concerning than some contraband stashed inside a tree.
Closer Inspection
As Thomas inched closer to the tree, he saw that the bark was loose. At this moment, Kyle began barking louder. Steadying his nerves, he slowly and carefully peeled back the loose bark, revealing the contents hidden within the tree trunk.
After peering into the dark, Thomas was able to get a clear picture of what was inside the tree trunk. He flinched when he pieced together what it was, leaping back with a horrified look on his face. The drugs he had suspected certainly were not stashed inside. Meanwhile, Kyle maintained his vigilance, awaiting the assistance of his old partner on the force.
Calling For Help
Thomas, afraid that his actions would mess with the crime scene, backed away and made sure not to lay a finger on the tree again. He immediately grabbed his phone and wasted no time shakily calling John again.
With his voice trembling, Thomas explained to John what he saw inside the tree trunk. The officer was troubled and in disbelief about what Thomas was telling him. John quickly called on some forensic experts to assist with the investigation, and they all rushed to the scene, John included.
A Happy Reunion
As John and the others arrived, Kyle finally perked up. Unable to contain his excitement any further, the dog rushed towards his former partner. Although John came to the scene with a serious look on his face, he could not help but feel elated to see Kyle once more.
The two share a brief yet affectionate hug. Thomas was delighted at the sight of their reunion, but the pleasantries quickly ended as everyone returned their focus to the task at hand. John and the forensic experts made their way to the tree and began their investigation.
Unbelievable
John began to slowly pull back the loose bark with his heart racing while Kyle egged him on by frantically barking. John’s eyes popped wide as soon as he looked inside the tree. He realized that the unsightly contents perfectly matched Thomas’s description. It was unlike anything he’d ever seen in his career.
The officer was so unnerved by the discovery that he was considering calling for even more backup. The contents of the tree indicated that a murder had taken place, though there were plenty more clues to unravel before John could be sure.
Lots Of Bones To Pick
The first thing that was apparent to the officer was that the tree contained a human skeleton. Kyle was actually leading everyone to a crime scene. The skeleton was so well-packed into the tree that the tree itself had to be carefully chopped down to ensure crucial evidence wasn’t destroyed.
Everyone held their collective breath as the remains were carefully extracted from the tree. So many questions arose from this discovery: Whose body was it? What happened to them; and why did the perpetrator stuff their remains inside of a tree? How long had the skeleton been crammed in there?
Slowly Back To Normal
As the investigation proceeded, Thomas noticed an improvement in Kyle’s mood. He seemed livelier than before and was slowly going back to his old self. Perhaps it was like a sigh of relief that his job was finally done, but Thomas had a feeling it was more than just that.
He realized that Kyle’s mood and behavior improved as soon as he met with John. After all, the dog happily rushed to his ex-partner as soon as the officer arrived on the scene. As Thomas was watching over the dog, new information was being revealed by the forensic experts.
He Never Saw It Coming
Officer John was completely taken by surprise when he saw the remains crammed inside the tree trunk. Although he had seen his fair share of strange cases throughout his career, this one was the first of its kind he had ever encountered. The hiding place was astonishing, turning the case into a mystery you would only expect to see in fiction.
Considering that the remains were so well hidden out in a remote area, John decided to call for reinforcements. However, before he could successfully contact the station, one of the forensic experts came to him and told him there was no need.
No Backup Needed
One of the forensics experts that John brought along gently tapped his shoulder and told him not to push through with the call. Normally, John would try to contact his superior if the case they were investigating got too demanding. Not this time, however, as it would turn out that the forensics expert was right.
The officer complied and packed away his radiophone. The forensics experts then begin unpacking all the equipment needed to thoroughly investigate the skeleton. Given that the corpse had already been reduced to bones, it was crucial that there was no further tampering in order to find out how long ago the death occurred.
On The Case
Normally, it takes around one week for forensics investigators to fully determine the identity of the remains as well as their origins. Given that the remains were already skeletal upon discovery, the crime may have taken place more than 10 days ago, which is the minimum time it takes for a corpse to decompose to bones.
However, the forensics experts discovered that no further investigation would be necessary, which is why John refrained from making a call to his boss. Somehow, they already had everything they needed to conclude the case. In fact, one could say that the case was over before it even began.
Coming A Long Way
As the investigators started packing up their stuff, officer John was thinking about many things, especially about Kyle and his new home. The pup who had once been his best friend now lived so far away that it took him hours of driving to get there.
John was so busy with his work that he was having a hard time finding time to visit Kyle since the Smiths took him in. Combine that busy schedule with the fact that Kyle’s new home was so far away, it’s not surprising that John felt guilty for not visiting his old partner.
Unexpected Results
As it turns out, the forensic experts on the scene were right to stop their investigation – the life-size human skeleton that Thomas and Kyle discovered was nothing more than a fake. Someone must have put it inside the tree as a sort of Halloween prank and then forgotten about it.
Everyone felt relieved and ended up having a good laugh, but they wondered why Kyle would alert them to something like this. After all, he was trained to be able to tell dangerous and harmless smells apart. Thomas, however, quickly realized why.
A Staged Crime Scene
Thomas had a strong intuition that Kyle just wanted to see his partner again. It’s quite a stretch to assume that Kyle would be capable of orchestrating a crime scene, but none can deny that he felt lonely and missed his best friend and ex-partner very dearly.
After all, Kyle and John worked side-by-side for so many years, and perhaps this cry for help was the only strategy the dog had for getting his old partner’s attention. Speculation aside, the way Kyle reacted to John as soon as he arrived on the scene was what gave it away for Thomas.
A Dawning Realization
With the situation amicably resolved, John looked down at Kyle, who was still bouncing around in excitement, licking his hands and nuzzling his legs. He began to realize that this wasn’t about the skeleton at all.
It was at that moment that the last piece of the puzzle was revealed and everything fell into place. As Kyle continued to shower John with affection, the officer recalled something about his years of working with his former partner. He remembered that there was a surefire way for Kyle to grab his attention.
Smart Pooch
Kyle knew that the best way to make John come to him was to sit down and bark when to indicate that he’d found something – just like what he was trained to do. Even when retired, Kyle continued to use this tactic, and it’s safe to say it was as effective as ever!
John couldn’t do anything but laugh when everything fell into place in his mind. He bent down and gave Kyle a loving scratch on the head. Meanwhile, Thomas looked on with a smile, knowing that these two great friends were together again, even if only for a moment.
Unwavering Devotion
This was a message from Kyle to John that he missed him dearly, even though he was fine with the Smiths and his new home. Kyle longed so much to see John that he was willing to do whatever it took to find a way to be with him once more.
Even though Kyle was thriving in his new home, especially with Thomas Smith regularly taking him on walks, he still remembered the good ol’ days. Just being able to spend time with John, even during work, was enough for Kyle. Wherever he ends up, Kyle will always remain loyal to John no matter what.
Tears Of Sorrow And Joy
Looking into Kyle’s eyes, John was emotional over the fact that the dog had remained loyal and loving to him, even after being separated. Feeling a little guilty and nostalgic for his ex-partner, John decided to stay at the scene for a little while so he could spend some time with Kyle.
John asked Thomas if he could take Kyle for a walk, just the two of them. Thomas, of course, said yes. As they strolled around, John saw how elated Kyle was to be with him. After a little bit of thinking, the officer made a vow to visit Kyle as often as he could.
All Is Well
After their walk, John continued to assess Kyle’s behavior. Watching his furry friend wagging his tail and jumping up and down was more than enough to warm his heart. It was a truly surreal experience for both the officer and the dog to be reunited once more.
Kyle’s energy and enthusiasm were back in full force, and he returned to being a playful and energetic dog. For their part, John and Thomas were relieved that the scene didn’t turn out to be murderous and elated that Kyle had gone back to his old self. The two decided to have a friendly little chat about what had gone down.
Smarter Than You Think
Although John felt a lot of guilt and sorrow for leaving Kyle with someone else, he knew it was for the best. “What a smart old pup!,” said John as he and Thomas laughed and Kyle continued to play around. All’s well that ends well, especially for good ol’ Kyle!
This story shows that dogs are more capable than you think and we give them little credit for it. German Shepherds are among the smartest dog breeds in existence, and this story proves that they have love and loyalty in their hearts to match. Thomas and John are very lucky to have such a smart, loyal, and loving dog!