Alan Ivy has a story to tell.

The Oxford Police captain was investigating a string of burglaries on the square in the early 2000s when he received a call about an intruder on the second floor of University Sporting Goods.

Ivy, his partner and their K-9 companion Thor rushed to the scene and immediately began searching the store.

After a few minutes, Ivy determined the suspect had jumped from an exterior ledge on the roof to the balcony of the building next door. He told his partner to double back and go around, but Thor had other ideas.

Much to the surprise of the two human officers, the 90-pound German Shepard decided to try and continue following the suspect’s path on his own accord.

“We’re standing there and I said ‘he went across here, we gotta go back down,’ but the dog didn’t realize that was a ledge or he didn’t really care so he jumped straight over the ledge,” Ivy said.

The dog did not get far however, as it got caught on a railing and hung suspended by his collar some 15 feet off the ground. Ivy reacted quickly, freeing the helpless hound from his perch while his partner held onto him to ensure they didn’t all go tumbling over the edge.

They returned the dog to safety and looked back over the edge to the street below, where Ivy noticed a pair of familiar faces staring up at him in shock.

“I looked down there and right about where the phone booth is — there’s the mayor and the chief down there with their mouths hung open,” he said.

Thor escaped unharmed, the suspect was eventually apprehended and the incident ended up providing a laugh for all involved.

Ivy finished his last day on the force last week as he retired after 32 years of serving the community. He served during a period of rapid growth for both the city of Oxford and its police department, both of which have more than doubled in size since he joined the force in 1991. OPD had 30 employees and just two divisions at that time, but now has more than 100 employees spread across 10 divisions including patrol, investigations, school resource officers, SWAT, honor guard, a downtown unit, a DUI unit, a K-9 unit, a CIT unit and a mounted unit.

“I remember when Jackson Avenue was two lanes all the way out and you think that traffic’s bad now, it really backed up back in the day… it’s really been developed and it’s exploded but it’s great,” Ivy said. “I think we’ve done a good job of it, it’s just really different… I’ve lived here all my life and wouldn’t live anywhere else.”

Much has changed around Oxford in the last 30 years, but one piece of advice of advice remains evergreen:  Don’t bring your pooch out on the balcony.