By Greg Ellison

(April 23, 2020) Reversing traditional wisdom, Ocean Pines resident Jack Scheeler recently proved that man could be a dog’s best friend.

Scheeler, 78, cast aside personal safety on March 29 to save a wayward pooch stranded in the canal along his home on Dockside Court.

“I’m sitting here having my morning coffee and all of a sudden I hear this dog barking,” he said.

What started as a peaceful Sunday morning transitioned to a life-saving endeavor.

“It was like it was right outside on the back porch,” he said.

Scheeler said the atypical occurrence struck an odd chord.

“I don’t usually hear dogs in the neighborhood, but it kept on barking and barking,” he said.

After taking a gander from his screened-in porch, the scene came into view.

“My neighbor across the canal pointed down to the water,” he said. “There was a big black lab going from one side to the other and he could not get out.”

Instantly springing into action, Scheeler bolted outside to the bulkhead and summoned the canine.

“He came right on over and he was tired,” he said. “He had a collar on, so he belonged to somebody.”

After luring the desperate dog to the water’s edge, Scheeler faced a quandary.

“I grabbed the collar and his head,” he said. “I was trying to grab him and pull him up.”

Scheeler quickly discovered the large wet dog was too heavy to tug over the bulkhead.

“So, I just jumped into the canal and got behind the dog,” he said. “I kept petting him to calm him down.”

Referred to as “

Photo courtesy: Vicki Gmurek
Jack “Happy Jack” Scheeler

,” by friends and fellow fans of the classic rock ditty by the Who, the perpetually smiling Scheeler is known to love animals of all varieties.

“I got his front paws up on top the bulkhead,” he said. “I pushed him … he jumped up and shook all the water off, wagged his tail and ran back and forth.”

Despite feeling a sense of relief that disaster was narrowly diverted, Scheeler was quickly abandoned by the dog while still standing in waist-deep water.

“The next thing I know he ran between the houses and was gone,” he said. “Then I’m sitting there in waist-high water. How am I going to get out of there and the water’s cold.”

Summoning all his strength, Scheeler gripped the bulkhead to haul out of the canal but began slicing his hands on barnacles.

“That’s when my hand slipped and my rib cage hit,” he said.

Finally struggling out of the waterway, Scheeler said an adjacent neighbor who witnessed his act commented, “What a way to start a morning.”

Scheeler, who previously survived organ cancer on two occasions and was still in the midst of healing from a hernia surgery roughly a month earlier, quickly discovered the truism that no good deed goes unpunished.

“I went inside for a warm shower and my right side began hurting,” he said. “I could tell from the pain and previous experience it was cracked ribs.”

Besides fracturing multiple ribs, Scheeler also suffered a groin strain.

Since that time Scheeler said lingering soreness has restricted his sleeping to a lounge chair, while the fate of the rescued dog remains a mystery.

“I knew I did something, but all you can do is tape it up,” he said. “I’m still not clear who owned the dog.”