Boomer the dog has a bone to pick with the world. He wants to be accepted for his doggie lifestyle.
Born Gary Matthews, the retired technology worker and a self-confessed "nerd" thinks he is a dog. The 48-year-old wears a dog collar, eats dog food from a bowl — his favorite is Pedigree – and loves milk bones and dog cookies.
"I don't eat dog food every day," Matthews told ABCNews.com "It's a special thing for me to do once in awhile to get closer to feeling like a canine. I eat the canned kind. It's not bad -- it tastes OK. I eat regular human food, too, like pizza."
But he has the most fun wearing his dog suit, code-named "Papey," because he made it from shredded paper. He wanders around the streets of his hometown Pittsburgh, barking at cars and digging holes in the backyard.
"When I go out, I get the feeling and I wave to people as a dog," he said. "I go to local festivals because kids like the costume. That's my way of reaching out to people and spreading the word that I can be myself in life. They see that you can have fun in adulthood. But I am kind of a loner dog."
"Sometimes I sleep in my dog house, which is up in the attic -- I built it myself," said Matthews. "It's made out of wood and I can take it apart and move it. I go up there and read a book. It has a little night light and is like a club house."
The mild-mannered and seemingly rational man even has a telephone answering machine that barks. His emails say "pawed" instead of, "said." and he runs a website Boomer the Dog, and a podcast.
