After two previous posts about great dogs, both heroic and loyal, I keep finding more wonderful dog stories to share. Dogs have an amazing ability to do whatever needs to be done, and will still wag their tails afterward.
1. Patsy Ann, the Greeter
Patsy Ann was a bull terrier who greeted incoming ships in Juneau, Alaska. She was profoundly deaf, but could detect a ship up to half a mile away. She raced to the dock for every incoming ship, no matter what distractions she met along the way. Longshoremen relied on Patsy Ann to alert them to arrivals. She even knew which dock the ship would tie to! Patsy was born in 1929 and lived in several homes before she became a neighborhood dog, loved by all but belonging to none. She was named the “Official Greeter of Juneau, Alaska” by the mayor in 1934. Patsy died in 1942 and was buried at sea while a large crowd watched. In 1992, a bronze statue of Patsy Ann was unveiled in Juneau.
2. Faith, the Bipedal Dog
Faith Stringfellow was born just before Christmas in 2002 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. She only had three legs. Her single front leg was deformed. The leg was amputated after it began to atrophy when Faith was seven months old. Her owners then taught her how to stand on her rear legs, then hop, and finally to walk upright! Faith is now a therapy dog and makes public appearance to encourage others to live to their full potential. See a video of Faith in action at YouTube.
3. Owney, the Postal Dog
Owney was a stray mutt adopted by the employees of the post office in Albany, New York in 1888. He became attached to the bags of mail and began riding the trains that delivered them- first the local, then statewide and across the nation. In 1895 Owney rode around the world on mail trains and ships! Everywhere he went, postal workers gave him local medals, which he wore on a specially-made vest. The workers considered him good luck, because no train carrying Owner ever wrecked. Owney died in 1897 of a gunshot wound due to an altercation with a journalist in Toledo. His body was preserved and is now on display in the National Postal Museum.
4. Swansea Jack, the Lifeguard
Swansea Jack was born in 1930 in Swansea, Wales, close to the Tawe River. He was a retriever. What he retrieved were people in danger of drowning in the river -possibly as many as 27 of them in his short life. After his second rescue, his picture was published in the local paper. Swansea Jack was eventually awarded a “Bravest Dog of the Year”: award from the newspaper, a silver cup from the mayor of London, and two bronze medals from the Dogs Trust. He was also named “Dog of the Century” in 2000 by the NewFound Friends of Bristol. In 2008, Richard Higlett wrote a musical tribute to Swansea Jack and recorded 30 dogs singing it. Swansea Jack died in 1937 after eating rat poison, and a huge monument was erected over his grave.
5. Balto, the Sled Dog
Balto was one of 150 dogs who pulled sleds in the 1925 Nome Serum Run, in which a relay of dogsleds delivered vital supplies of diptheria antitoxin to remote Nome. Balto was the lead dog on the final leg of the journey, in which Gunnar Kaasen drove his team past the last scheduled musher and on to Nome. The dog became famous after the relay. He died in 1933. His body was stuffed by a taxidermist and is now on display in Cleveland. A statue of Balto was erected in New York City. And the route the dogsleds took inspired the modern day dogsled race known as the Iditarod.
6. Stubby, the Military Dog
Stubby wandered into the encampment and was adopted by the 102nd infantry of Massachusetts in 1917. When the infantry shipped out to Europe, Stubby was smuggled onto the ship bound for France. During World War I, Stubby kept watch and alerted the troops to German attacks. He was wounded by a hand grenade once and gassed several times. He once found a German spy and held him by the seat of the pants until American troops could complete the capture! When his master, Corporal J. Robert Conroy was wounded, Stubby accompanied him to the hospital and made rounds to cheer the troops. He was eventually a highly decorated dog, amassing medals for service, campaigns and battles, a Purple Heart, and various veteran’s awards. A group of French women made Stubby a chamois blanket decorated with allied flags to display his medals.
Stubby returned home at the end of the war and became quite a celebrity. He was made a lifetime member of the American Legion, the YMCA, and the Red Cross. He lived at the Y and made recruiting tours for the Red Cross. When Stubby passed on in 1926, he was preserved and displayed with his medals at the Smithsonian Institution.
For more inspiring dog stories, see 7 Heroic Dogs and 6 Utterly Loyal Dogs.
Comments (28)
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Sorry, but the Balto story is no entirely correct. He was lead dog of the last leg, but that was after Kaasen picked up the antiserum from Leonard Seppala and his lead dog Togo – they did the longest (and if I remember correctly, the most hazardous) stretch. You should read The Cruelest Miles – many dogs died on that trek and virtually every leg was perilous. Maybe someone who has read about this more recently can fill in the blanks for me.
posted by Diana on 12-2-2008 at 9:08 am
Thanks, Diana. I found where I got the story confused and fixed it. Kaasem took his team through Rohm’s scheduled leg, but Seppala did the longest run. I will have to file Togo’s story for the next round of heroic dogs, since there are always more great dog stories to be found!
posted by Miss Cellania on 12-2-2008 at 9:32 am
what about greyfriars bobby?
posted by shelly on 12-2-2008 at 9:33 am
Shelly, he’s profiled in the post “6 Utterly Loyal Dogs”. This is the third post of the dog series.
posted by Miss Cellania on 12-2-2008 at 9:36 am
My dog of 12 years passed away last week, after reading all your posts on dogs I am in absolute tears right now! Such wonderful stories :)
posted by Brittany on 12-2-2008 at 10:50 am
does any body else find it alittle wierd to perserve animals? It’s like stuffing your grandparents, making it look like they’re doing regular things then putting them in a exibit. Just freaky…….
posted by arie on 12-2-2008 at 11:18 am
to arie: yes I find it incredibly weird! If I do something heroic or historic am I going to be stuffed and put on display? ew. I like how some were buried instead of preserved.
posted by Tricia on 12-2-2008 at 11:36 am
it’s no weirder than pumping people full of preservatives and then sticking them in airtight boxes in the ground.
they stuffed them to preserve their memory, i assume. casting stuff in bronze is pretty pricey :/
posted by Em on 12-2-2008 at 11:45 am
What a great post! Thank you.
posted by JaneM on 12-2-2008 at 11:54 am
These are all wonderful posts!
posted by Sara on 12-2-2008 at 12:10 pm
I think it might be kinda cool to stuff and display famous people. It certainly makes more sense than preserving and then burying them.
They could have stuuffed Elvis and posed him in his last moments on the john. Or if that is in poor taste, how about eating a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich watching two women in white undies wrestling?
posted by BassMan on 12-2-2008 at 12:39 pm
There is a children’s cartoon movie about Balto, appropriately called “Balto.” Very cute, if probably not historically accurate!
posted by KittyMarie on 12-2-2008 at 4:49 pm
I love these but Smoky the Yorkie Doodle Dandy should be included.
posted by natalie on 12-2-2008 at 6:19 pm
Paddy the Wanderer is a ‘famous’ dog here in Wellington, New Zealand. For his story, click on my name.
posted by Dawn on 12-7-2008 at 3:58 am
Is Faith actually from Pennsylvania? Cuz, She lives here in Oklahoma. Really an amazing sight to see.
posted by Krys on 7-26-2010 at 10:01 pm
All the dogs are amazing but Faith is an inspiration!
posted by Julian on 7-28-2010 at 6:26 am
What about the Hachi story? That was a lovely story about the loyalty of a dog! :)
posted by Melissa on 7-30-2010 at 3:19 pm
You mean Hachiko? That story is here:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/18238
posted by Miss Cellania on 7-30-2010 at 6:17 pm
you know, all these dogs are great. i often wonder if they reincarnate themselves again…kinda like my dog, he carries many human traits… =)
posted by nefas on 8-3-2010 at 11:39 pm
Balto was only one of three dogs who ran the diphtheria epidemic run, he was interchanged with 2 other dogs named Fritz and Togo, lead by Leonard Seppala. What is not commonly known is that Togo ran most of the race, Seppala’s most beloved friend, trusted him with his life. Balto finished the race and got all the media attention, then Universal furthered his fame more. Togo has a camp named after him in his honor in Wasilla,AK called ‘Camp Togowoods’ Unortunately Fritz was the red headed step child of the bunch and I think he’s embalmed at the Iditerod museum.
<3 I love all these dogs though. Good post :)
posted by Lexi on 9-23-2010 at 1:22 am
And WHERE is Hatchi???????!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by Eh... on 9-25-2010 at 6:19 pm
*gasp* No Hachiko?! You have some very important pups on this list but you can’t forget Hachiko!
posted by Megan on 9-28-2010 at 2:03 am
Once again… Hachiko’s story is in BOTH the other posts linked at the bottom of this one, where it says “For more inspiring stories…”
posted by Miss Cellania on 9-28-2010 at 8:50 am
Stuffing animals/pets is unusual, but if my pet is a hero, then maybe I will seek it out. I think burying people in general is strange, just burn the bodies and return us as ash to the earth from whence we came. If my corpse is to be preserved in any way, however, I’d prefer plastination, a la “Bodyworlds”
posted by R.Young on 6-15-2011 at 7:07 pm
haha im so weird i cried reading this…dogs are just so cute and loyal they all are heroes <3
posted by lala on 9-3-2011 at 4:49 pm
Owney is a great story. When I was a kid, our postal delivery person told me about that dog and I thought it was such a cool story.
posted by matt m on 9-16-2011 at 8:28 pm
I don’t know how you failed to include Hachiko. That’s the dog whose owner died while at work and who subsequently walked himself to the train station everyday for the remainder of the dog’s life (8 years) to wait for his master on the 2 o’clock train.
posted by Alexis on 10-11-2011 at 4:48 pm
I wouldn’t call it a failure. Hachiko’s story was in one of my earlier posts, “6 Utterly Loyal Dogs” which is linked at the end of this post.
posted by Miss Cellania on 10-11-2011 at 8:18 pm