The Dog Days of Summer: Heroic hounds

In honor of the Dog Days of Summer, here is a selection of dogs, famous and less so, who have made headlines, saved lives, and licked the competition.

Togo, the unrequited hero of sled dogs
Courage, leadership, loyalty–Togo the Siberian Husky had them all, though he started his life as a sickly pup and was then repeatedly rejected for the sled because he was too rowdy.

But Togo showed them all. First, when given away as a pet, Togo jumped through a glass window to return to his musher. There, Togo got in dog fights and repeatedly broke out of his kennel to follow the sled. Finally, at 8 months old, he was given a chance in the team. He was a natural leader.

In 1925, 20 mushers were given the task of relaying diphtheria serum more than 600 miles to Nome, Alaska. The heroic feat was a test for man and beast in January with temperatures at 40 below zero and whiteout conditions. Then 12 years old, Togo led his sled 365 miles round trip across ice, up a mountain, and a swim through ice floes, during which he saved the team’s lives.

Although the well-known and also heroic sled dog Balto received most of the fame for completing the last leg of the trip, it was Togo whose work is generally acknowledged as the hardest.

His owner and musher, Leonhard Seppala, was crushed that Togo’s feat of courage and endurance was less recognized than Balto’s. Seppala and Togo retired to Maine after many wins in the musher world.

Willow, the last of the royal corgis
Although Buckingham Palace refused comment, word went out in April 2018 that the last of the line of royal corgis, Willow, had died.

Willow was believed to be the 14th generation of royal corgis, beloved by Queen Elizabeth since she was gifted the corgi Susan on her 18th birthday.

The queen stopped breeding corgis in 2002, worrying that a young dog would be left behind after her death, according to the New York Times.

Originally bred as cattle herding dogs, the corgi’s short legs made it a natural to weave in and out around cattle’s hooves.

Queen Elizabeth once remarked that the dogs were small and happy in groups so “one can have quite a lot of them.” Meanwhile, Prince Harry has been much less flattering about the corgi domination of the family, saying he has spent 33 years being barked at.

Salty and Roselle, the 911 wonder dogs
Widely honored for their life-saving work at the World Trade Center, Salty and Roselle were yellow labs whose work saved the lives of many people during the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.

The dogs led their owners — and others — more than 70 floors down to the ground after the attacks, and then through the blizzard of debris when the towers collapsed.

Roselle’s owner, Michael Higby, said: “While everyone ran in panic, Roselle remained totally focused on her job, while debris fell around us, and even hit us, Roselle stayed calm.”

Bobbie, the determined dog
Bobbie the Scottish Collie gained fame after 1923 for his breathtaking 3,000-mile trip to find his family.

Bobbie’s family, from Oregon, was visiting Indiana when Bobbie got in a dog fight and ran off. Despite a long search, he could not be found and his family returned to Oregon.

But six months later, the dog, straggly and worn, found his family in Oregon, having trailed them back home over mountains and deserts.

The story is not only a triumph of the dog’s spirit, but also the kindness of human strangers. Bobbie was helped and nursed by many along his way.

Barry der Menschenretter (people rescuer)
In the treacherous Swiss Alps, the tradition of rescue dogs began as early as the 1700s.

Though many dogs were known for their rescue of humans, none was so celebrated as Barry. During his career in the early 1800s, Barry saved more than 40 people. No rescue was as famous as his rescue of a young boy he found trapped, partially frozen and asleep in an ice cavern.

Barry licked the boy to warm him and wake him. The dog then contrived to get the boy to cling to his back and the two made their way to The Great Saint Bernard Hospice, where Barry lived and was trained.

At the hospice, one dog has always been named Barry in honor of the great rescuer.