Comments on: Owney is a tramp, as you can plainly see. Only treat him kindly, and take him along with ye.

Owney is a tramp, as you can plainly see. Only treat him kindly, and take him along with ye.

Shepherd — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:23:31 -0800

Owney the Postal Dog was the unofficial mascot of the U.S. postal service in the 1890s, riding the rails with the mails and accumulating an impressive collection of dog tags on a specially designed vest. He even made it as far as Japan, being issued a special postal class (Registered Dog Package) and an official Japanese passport. After an illustrious career, however, Owney met a sticky end -- shot by the police under dubious circumstances in Toledo in 1897.

Despite his ignominious death, Owney has inspired lots and lots of books and even a decade-long public school project with stuffed "traveling dogs" being sent from state to state. And, speaking of stuffed, Owney can be seen in the fur, preserved at the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. (and even post-taxidermy, he apparently gets out and about every 40 years or so). There's even a video, narrated in a voice so folksy you can't help but imagine a kindly old man strapping you to a rocking chair and jamming crackers and home-made jam down your throat. Owney stands in obvious contrast to the stereotypical postal worker/dog relationship, with the U.S. Postal Service reporting over 3000 bitten carriers in 2007 and holding a Dog Bite Prevention Week every year in May.

By: solipsophistocracy

solipsophistocracy — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:34:00 -0800

True to his canine nature, he turned on the postman in the end.

By: gurple

gurple — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:36:37 -0800

Wait, so a postal worker died due to a bite on the hand from a medium-sized dog? Was the postal worker as geriatric as the dog was by that point?

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:39:27 -0800

I've said it before, and I'll say it again--the Postal Museum is the absolutely lamest-ass (or is it lame-assest?) museum in DC. Since I live in such an awesome place, my post office is in the same building as the Postal Museum, so I'm in the building once a month or so. I actually worked in that building, too, several years ago, at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Then, I thought it was awesome to be in the same building as a museum, a post office, and a brew pub, and it is a beautiful building, but now I guess I'm jaded. Seriously, the Textile Museum and even the freakin' Bead Museum are better. Last time I was there, I wandered around the Postal Museum for 10 minutes or so, saw the inverted Jenny and, yes, Owney, but, wow, LAME.

By: Kabanos

Kabanos — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:41:03 -0800

Owney got pwnd

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:50:07 -0800

Wait, so a postal worker died due to a bite on the hand from a medium-sized dog? Pre- (and, I fear, post-) antibiotics, it is much more of a possibility.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:05:57 -0800

"shot by the police under dubious circumstances in Toledo" holy crap!!! I was in Toledo last weekend... probably lucky to be alive today!

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:08:09 -0800

Did you bite a postal worker? Because if not, that probably saved your life.

By: biffa

biffa — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:27:56 -0800

Talking of working animals and Japan, here's a story about a cat who is the only member of staff at a railway station.

By: jabberjaw

jabberjaw — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:05:05 -0800

I'm totally naming my next dog "Owney."

By: Shepherd

Shepherd — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:32:55 -0800

Photos of Owney iin his current... state... at the Postal Museum show a dog with the expression of an animal that has just had his future as an ornament laid out in front of him slowly and deliberately, with diagrams illustrating what exactly taxidermy entails. My guess is Owney tried to dethroat the SOB that told him he was going to be stuffed and mounted, but was weighed down by 50 lbs. of tags on his vest and couldn't do more than snag a hand.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:38:01 -0800

"Did you bite a postal worker?".. no, but I growled at the docent at the art museum when he told me I couldn't take pictures...

By: noble_rot

noble_rot — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:43:35 -0800

Wait, so a postal worker died due to a bite on the hand from a medium-sized dog? I'm guessing 1897 was pre-Rabies vaccine. And getting bit by a rabid dog is a death sentence.

By: thankyoujohnnyfever

thankyoujohnnyfever — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:32:32 -0800

Wait...this doesn't have anything to do with outraged Muslims in Japan?

By: QIbHom

QIbHom — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:12:31 -0800

Rabid, noble-rot? I think the postmen would have noticed if Owney had rabies. It isn't a stealth disease, and reports say the reporter was mistreating Owney.

By: noble_rot

noble_rot — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:58:32 -0800

QIbHom, the article makes some mention of the bitten postman calling the dog "mad", which I believe is a colloquialism for rabid.

By: banannafish

banannafish — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:12:49 -0800

Pre-taxidermy Owney was the cutest little dog. What a charming story.

By: Lesser Shrew

Lesser Shrew — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:57:10 -0800

Lies! If Owney had been rabid it would have been obvious. He was no more mad than Toto, who was also also falsely accused of rabies by evil farm-country folk.