5 More Famous Dog Stories You Really Should Know

Really, there are too many wonderful dog stories out there to be contained to one list! So here's another.

These dogs were all legends and heroes in their own time (in a way), and many are still celebrated in their home town or local regions in which they lived. But really, these dog stories should be crossing borders. While famous men and women transcend history, many of the famous dogs that stood by their side are nothing more than a footnote.

So here are some more of their stories, front and centre.

1. Seaman

After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, President Jefferson decided it was imperative that an exploratory journey be taken through to the Pacific coast, mapping the area – what we know today as the Lewis and Clarke Expedition. Lewis bought a Newfoundland dog in preparation for the trip, which he called Seaman, due to the breed being good in boats and generally good swimmers.

Seaman became vital to the 3 year trip, hunting for the group regularly, usually catching squirrels and small critters for the group to eat as they trekked the wilderness, but also geese and deer, once even taking down an antelope by drowning it in a river. Beyond hunting, Seaman was also a cautious watchdog, alerting the group at night when bears or buffalo were nearby, once saving the team when a buffalo stampeded their camp. In 1806, on the return journey, Seaman was stolen by Native Americans, but Lewis was as devoted to the dog, and retrieved him.

After the expedition, Lewis took Seaman home, and when the explorer died in 1809, Seaman is said to have refused to leave his master’s grave, or eat, and died shortly after.

2. Taro and Jiro

In January 1957 the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition, comprising of 11 researchers and 15 Sakhalin Husky sled-dogs, arrived on the continent. The plan was for the team to work through to February 1958, when a replacement crew would arrive to relieve them. However, the ship carrying the replacement crew became trapped in sea ice, and abandoned their trip. The waiting Antarctic Research team were not able to stay a further year, and with supplies running low, needed to be rescued by helicopters. Unfortunately, there was no room for the dogs, who were left chained on Antarctica.

In January 1959, 11 months after the previous team was airlifted out, a new team of researchers finally arrived, and to their surprise, found the two of the 15 huskies still alive and well: Taro and Jiro. Managing to escape from their chains and learning to hunt penguins and seals, their almost year long survival was miraculous, and the two dogs instantly became national heroes. When they died, both bodies were stuffed and move to the National Science Museum. Today, three separate monuments exist in Japan in their honour, and their story has led to various movies, documentaries and TV shows.

3. Pickles

In March 1966, in anticipation to the football (or soccer) World Cup tournament held in England, due to begin in 4 months, the trophy was put on public display in a Westminster exhibition. Somehow, the trophy, known as the Jules Rimet, was stolen. Panicked organisers quickly received a package containing a letter and a demand for £15,000. Police tracked and arrested the person who wrote the letter, who claimed he was nothing more than a middleman, but no trophy was in his possession.

But the day was saved by Pickles. A 4 year old mixed collie, while out for a walk with his owner, ran up to a roll of newspaper at the wheel of a parked car. When his owner checked what he was making such a fuss about, he checked the newspaper and found it contained the missing Jules Rimet. Pickles was lauded a national hero, a status only heightened when England went on to win the World Cup that year. Pickles was invited with his owner to a celebration banquet, was awarded the silver medal by the National Canine Defence League, and his new found fame led to a brief career in TV and film. Today, there are few English football fans who do not know the name Pickles the dog.

4. Bummer and Lazarus

Perhaps the most famous story of friendship among dogs is that of Bummer and Lazarus, a pair of stray dogs in 1860’s San Francisco. For context, the city, like most of the country, had a real stray dog problem at the time. Dogs roamed the streets, some feral, and were seen as a nuisance, with the law allowing them to be poisoned and killed. However, dogs which were good rat-catchers were often spared, and none were better than this pair.

Bummer distinguished himself as a “ratter” first, and was well known in the city, surviving by begging for scraps. He saved Lazarus from a dog fight, in which the latter was badly wounded, and brought him food, sleeping close to him at night until he recovered. From that point the pair became inseparable: a team of expert rat-catchers known throughout the city, never seen apart. Before long, the press were regularly writing stories on their escapades, and they became local celebrities, living legends, exempt from the laws allowing stray dogs to be killed.

When Lazarus died in 1863, angered San Franciscans put up a $50 reward to catch the person who poisoned him, and a local newspaper wrote a lengthy obituary. Bummer, now alone, is said to have been taken in by none other than Mark Twain, who on the dogs’ passing a few years later, wrote a long eulogy. Newspapers and cartoons across the city and state mourned their loss.

5. Don the talking dog

As his name suggests, Don was tremendously popular act in the 1910s for his ability to speak. Don couldn’t reel off full sentences but, in his native German, was said to speak eight or more words, including his own name and his master’s name. His talents were first noticed, supposedly, when his owner, sat at the dinner table, asked him if he wanted something and Don replied “want.”

Whether his barks could really be defined as words is another matter, but animal acts were incredibly popular during this period in the United States, and Don and his master had several tours, being paid handsomely in the process. His popularity put him on to the same billing as Harry Houdini, and his legend was further cemented when, one day at Brighton Beach, New York City, he saved a man from drowning. When a man lost his footing and began struggling in the water, Don was said to have shouted “help” before jumping in and pulling him to safety.