Today is the five year anniversary of my beloved Beatrice, the English Bulldog (after whom Aunt Bea’s French Bulldogs) is named, leaving this world and crossing over the rainbow bridge.  Cheyenne, her best friend a wolf who lived in Brooklyn, passed over the bridge this past Saturday.

In memoriam to Cheyenne and also in memory of Beatrice I have been writing a rather fun story in their words, and have attached the story for your reading pleasure.

I have also attached a picture of Beatrice and one of Cheyenne, the Wolf that Grew in Brooklyn.  In this story you may think that there are some typographical errors. However, when you see a "TS" in front of a "C" or an "S" or any other letter, this reflects Beatrice's "litsp".

	Cheyenne, the Wolf	Carol and Beatrice - the English Bulldog

Introduction

Cheyenne, The Wolf that Grew In Brooklyn.

I met Cheyenne, a white wolf to whom belonged Jessica Noonan.  It was one early morning in the early days of  Beatrice’s ownership of me.  I calculate that we met her in March or April of 1997, when she was about four years old.  Beatrice was about five or six months old at this first meeting.  Beatrice came home with me on February 28, 1997, so it was soon after this date.

For those of you who have read the Story of Beatrice, you will find mention of Cheyenne in this story.

Cheyenne was the epitome of what a canine could, would and should be.  She was a wolf, or a “wolf hybrid.”  For the many years that she was alive, were only allowed to say that she was 10% wolf as she lived within the city limits of New York , to be exact, she lived on Caton Avenue on the south side of Prospect Park . Later on, in an attempt to keep her true identity a secret, she was referred to as a “malamute and what ever got over the fence.”

Cheyenne was very lovingly assisted over the rainbow bridge by Jessica, on June 27, 2009 at the age of sixteen.  Cheyenne lived a long and great life with Jessica and we both now have visions of her reunited with her best friend Beatrice somewhere in spirit on the other side.

Beatrice and I lived on the Southwest side of Prospect Park , in the Windsor Terrace area of Brooklyn , just down the slope from Park Slope.

Cheyenne  and her humans, Jessica and Aaron, lived a short walk from me and Beatrice, just on the other side of the  Prospect Park Parade Grounds, a green space for events and games.

Getting back to our first meeting, it went like this.  I was desperate.  I had Beatrice and needed a dog walker and need to be trained on what to do with this seemingly monster of a puppy.  In the local pet store, a woman told me of Jessica and told me that she did not have her telephone number, but that she was a dog walker, but not your regular dog walker.  I was a Lieutenant with the NYPD and did not just want anyone coming into my home. I was concerned about my home and my dog.  So to find  Jessica who was working on her Master’s Degree in Non Profit Management at the New School and dog walking as one of the ways she made ends meet while studying, was a gift to me.  I found out later, that Jessica held a Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Science. The woman at the pet store said, “you cannot miss her she has a white wolf, oops, a  “wolf- dog.”  The whole neighborhood was in on the story.

It was about 6:00 a.m. one morning soon after speaking with the woman in the pet store, and I was trying to get Beatrice to go in any direction, as if you know bulldogs or French bulldogs, it is not about where you want to go, it is about where they want to go.   I finally got her to walk in the direction of the circle towards the Southside of the park.  We were walking rather close to the fence of Prospect Park and made a tight turn around the corner, to come face to face with a rather large statuesque creature, a white wolf.  I was immediately horrified as I did not see the human attached to the other end of the leash and thought Beatrice was going to be breakfast.  I then looked up and saw a woman, who I came to know as Jessica and the wolf who was Cheyenne .  In that instant, Beatrice was crouching and submissively doing the wiggle butt, that she became famous for, and Cheyenne and she immediately bonded as no other bulldog and wolf had ever done, right there on the street in Brooklyn , next to the Park where I grew up and where I made and kept many of my lifetime friends.  It was Kismet.  You could tell by their interactions that Cheyenne found Beatrice goofy, clumsy, charming and funny all at the same time. After Jessica stopped laughing at Beatrice, and screaming about how cute she was, Jessica and I introduced one another and I hired her right then at that moment to begin walking Beatrice that same day. 

Jessica and Cheyenne came back to my apartment at 800 Greenwood Avenue , and I gave her the key.  Little did I know that this meeting was exactly what I needed at the time and for a lifetime.  As we got to know each other, we became friends and walked many hours  in Prospect Park where the dogs were allowed to run free in the Great Meadow each morning and evening. While we walked we talked only of dogs, we did not gossip, we did not speak of human things, we talked about dogs, every walk, for the entirety of the walk and this was where most of my knowledge about dogs came from, and this is where I learned to think like a dog and understand them enough to breed English Bulldogs in New York and French Bulldogs in Florida and maintain a friendly pack.

While I was being educated by my two friends, Beatrice was being educated and reared by Cheyenne .

For those of you who know about the canine, all dogs come from the wolf.  All the DNA of a wolf and a dog is exactly the same.  There was an exhibit at a museum in St. Petersburg , Wolf to Woof, and a movie shown at the exhibit that is available through NOVA, Dogs and More Dogs.  This move reinforced this understanding of dogs for me.  However, to see it in action was incredible. 

In the relationship between Cheyenne and Beatrice we had the primary dog, a wolf, befriending and instinctually teaching the most human engineered of all dogs, the bulldog.  The things that Cheyenne was teaching Beatrice were things that would have never entered the bulldog mind, easily learned and reinforced by the wolf.

For the rest of this story, I will tell it in the words of Beatrice and Cheyenne .  Beatrice spoke with a lisp, and in a female version of Elmer Fudd, so it will be easy to imagine and recognize her voice:

Chapter One – The Meeting

Cheyenne :          Well look at this, a fat little . . .

Beatrice:              What, a fat little, what, I am a bulldog, I am tsupposed to be like this, I am not fat

Cheyenne :          I have never seen anything as funny as you

Beatrice:              Glad to be amusing, come here a minute, I have an itsch, can you give me a bit of a scratsch

Cheyenne :          Even they (motioning to Jessica and me) think you are ridiculous, look they are laughing

Beatrice:              Oh, well, who really cares, it is a great day and I am glad we met, what kind of dog are you, you are pretty tall and t slim, I have never seen anyone quite like you

Cheyenne :          I am a wolf, but you cannot tell anyone, I am not supposed to live in the city

Beatrice:              I am undercover too, I live in a building that does not allow dogs, and can you imagine, they thought I was a pit bull and I almost got evicted ontce already

Cheyenne:          That is pretty funny, you do not look like a pit bull to me, hey, how are old you

Beatrice:              I am five months old, and you?

Cheyenne :          I am four years old

Beatrice:              So about this wolf t stuff, how did you get here, I mean to Brooklyn, I never heard of a wolf in Brooklyn

Cheyenne :          Jessica found me abandoned out west and brought me home, and now I live with two German Shepherds

Beatrice:              Oh, German t shepherds, they are gorgeous, but I always wanted to be Lassie

Cheyenne:          Wait until you see them, Duke and Creep, Duke is my main guy, and Creep is pretty cool too, and why Lassie?

Beatrice:              Carol and I watched it on television. I am her first dog, and she thought it would be educational for me

Cheyenne :          First dog, that is trouble, I hope she figures out what she is doing soon, or else pretty soon you will be wearing human clothes

Beatrice:              Hmmm, t clothes. I did have a tee shirt on a day or so ago, before I got giardia, but I was pooping so much, the change of tclothes was not working out well

Cheyenne:          You will need to put an end to that right away, next time she puts anything that looks like clothes on you be sure to twist your head all the way around and rip it off, and when she is not looking shred it and she will get the message

Beatrice:              Don’t you think that will land me in trouble

Cheyenne :          Trouble is what puppies are supposed to be in all the time, that is why we are cute when we are born, but I must say you are pretty homely. What is with the underbite?

Beatrice:              I am an English Bulldog, and that is what I am tsupposed to look like, but Carol says I look like an old lady and that is why she calls me Beatrice.  It means beautiful face, so I don’t think she thinks I am homely.  A few of the old ladies in the nursing home across the tstreet have the same name as me

Cheyenne :          You talk alot, I guess that is because you have no one at home to talk to

Beatrice:              Yes I do, I have TSal and TZiggy - they are Persian cats

Cheyenne :          Now I am really worried about you, talking to cats

Beatrice:              They are pretty nice to me, they tsneak me out some cat food and they wash my face

Cheyenne :          Pretty soon you will be acting like a cat

Beatrice:              I already to, I get up on the arm of the chair and jump like them, but the other day I hurt my chin jumping

Cheyenne :          I think you will need to spend more time in the park with me; you will be going down the wrong road before long

Beatrice:              Hey, by the way, what is your name?

Cheyenne :          I am Cheyenne

Beatrice:              Nice to meet you, nice name TCheyenne, maybe we can be friends?

Cheyenne :          You are so ridiculously funny looking, I am almost embarrassed to be seen with you, but you are a bit young maybe as you grow into yourself, you will be a bit more attractive. In the meantime, we are walking now, so we may as well make the best of it, try not to walk too close, I want to act as if you are just trailing along, although you are kind of fun to have around

Cheyenne is let off the leash by Jessica, and she chases a rabbit into the woods.

Beatrice:              Hey, wait for me (as Carol unhooks Beatrice’s lead)

Cheyenne :          We will never catch anything if we wait for you, do you think you might be able to run straight forward without having your rear end off to the right or left of your front, I think that might help you to move forward more quickly

Beatrice:              What do you mean, I am running straight forward

Beatrice paying too much attention to her gait, falls over a tree root and topples head over heels

Cheyenne :          Oh brother, what happened now my little friend?

Beatrice:              I don’t know where that came from, I fell and now I am embarrassed, do you think that Sharpei with those two Dachshunds saw me?

Cheyenne :          I think everyone and every dog saw that one, your breathing is so loud you could wake the dead, even the geese are cackling

Beatrice:              Geez, you are right, I did not notice, I will have to take a lower profile

Cheyenne :          If you were any lower you would be a Dachshund, laughing with her head up high

Cheyenne :          Well if you want to be my friend, we have to work on some of the goofy and sloppy things about you, as I like to chase rabbits, and with all the noise you make, we will never catch anything

Beatrice:              Why would you want to chase something as cute as a rabbit?

Cheyenne :          It is our nature, we were made to hunt.  We are supposed to be able to sneak up and chase other creatures, we have to disguise our scent and be crafty though

Beatrice:              My mom uses cologne, do you think that would be a good disguise?

Cheyenne :          No we need to roll in something dead, or some other creature’s poop

Beatrice:              Yeah, that sounds really cool, where do you find that kind of tstuff

Cheyenne :          On the bridal path we are certain to find horse manure, in the woods up before the Nethermead we are sure to find some poop of homeless people and if we are really lucky we might find a dead rabbit or squirrel or skunk to roll over

Beatrice:              I am so glad I met you   

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