A VERY GOOD BOY
The year was 1888. A postal clerk in Albany, New York, liked to take his dog to work. The clerk would work all day, and the dog, a mutt named Owney, would paw around the station. Owney could often be found sleeping on the mailbags. He fancied their smell. He liked the postal carriers too in their neat uniforms. Though his owner quit working there, Owney did not. In fact, he went on to become the unofficial mascot for both the Albany Post Office and the United States Postal Service! During his nine years of duty, Owney traveled throughout the contiguous (sharing common borders) 48 states and journeyed overseas. According to the USPS, the dog logged in approximately 140,000 miles of travel in his lifetime. Just think of all the postcards he could have mailed (if dogs could write postcards, that is).
Owney was not just a playful mascot—a dog for the postal carriers to pet and feed and pal around with—he became a coworker. Marshall Cushing, author of The Story of Our Post Office: The Greatest Government Department in All Its Phases, wrote of Owney in 1893:
“The terrier … travels from one end of the country to the other in postal cars, tagged through, petted, talked to, looked out for, as a brother, almost.”
A GOOD LUCK CHARM
Owney traveled as part of the Railway Mail Service and guarded the mailbags. Once a bag fell off the wagon, but the postal carriers were unaware. Owney had jumped off and stayed with the mail until the postal carriers returned, looking for the bag and the dog.
He was thought to be a good
luck charm too. In those days,
train travel was dangerous. Accidents happened frequently, and some were fatal. But not with Owney on board. Every train he traveled on made it to its final destination. If Owney was with you, you were safe.
The dog rode the rails all across the country. He would visit post offices, large and small, and as a token of appreciation for the pup, postal workers put a dog tag on his collar—a memento of where he had been. Soon, Owney’s collar was too full, so they had to create a special harness on which to attach the medals. Whenever he walked, he sounded like jingle bells. Soon, the harness became too heavy because he’d been to so many places. It is estimated that Owney collected more than 1,000 medals and tokens during his travels, although no one knows for sure.
GIVE THE DOG A BONE... OR PIECE OF MAIL
However, he didn’t just go around the United States, he went around the world! In 1895, Owney left Tacoma, Washington, for a four-month international boat trip, traveling throughout Asia, Europe, on the Suez Canal, and across the Pacific to Alaska and the far north. He was so well-traveled, he met the Emperor of Japan and was awarded an actual passport.
Owney aged and was eventually put down when he was about 10 years old. Newspapers across the country lamented his death. He was so deeply loved that no one wanted to bury him. Instead, his body was sent to a taxidermist for preservation. You can
even visit him today! He is on exhibit, with his coat of medals, in a place of
honor: the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.
Say “Hi,” but don’t get too close to those mailbags. He’s still guarding them to this day.