[GOPJ]

That's not how trees grow... the dog was most likely put in a rotten out part of the tree and died trying to get out. Trees don't ‘grow’ up... they grow out... Put a nail in a tree and twenty years later the nail will be at the same height.

[Vermont Lt]

The tree did not “grow around him.” It is likely he was chasing something “into a rotted out middle” of the tree and went up high enough to get stuck.

I’ve cut down plenty of trees rotted out in the middle enough to fit beagles into. Although, beagles—dumb as they are—are too lazy to actually climb.

[GreyFriar]

I beg to differ, trees do grow up, as well as out. a tree that I planted in my front yard 30 years ago was about 2 feet tall, it is now about 50 feet tall. It’s trunk has also “grown out” by getting thicker in the same period.