owney

What a fantastic collection, thank you so much for sharing them with us

From the National Postal Museum: "Owney was a stray mutt who wandered into the Albany, New York, post office in 1888. The clerks let him stay, and he fell asleep on some mailbags. Owney was attracted to the texture or scent of the mailbags and followed them when they were placed on a Railway Mail Service train. Owney began to ride with the bags on trains across the state—and then the country. In 1895 Owney made an around-the-world trip, traveling with mailbags on trains and steamships to Asia and across Europe, before returning to Albany. "Railway mail clerks considered the dog a good luck charm. At a time when train wrecks were all too common, no train Owney rode was ever in a wreck. The Railway mail clerks adopted Owney as their unofficial mascot, marking his travels by placing medals and tags on his collar. Each time Owney returned home to Albany, the clerks there saved the tags."

Thanks for sharing this information

I own a Owney!

I hope you enjoy reading the article I wrote about Owney. What a dog!! www.associatedcontent.com/article/2904166/owney_americas_...

What a wonderful story, and a wonderful dog!

dog is human's best friend! I like this photo&story,and I will remember oweny.

great story :-)

Aaah what a great story :-)

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Almost Anything BRIDGES COMP... Get entering., and we'd love to have this added to the group!

Cool Dog! But looks weighed down.

"Postmaster General John Wanamaker was one of Owney's fans. When he learned that the dog's collar was weighed down by an ever-growing number of tags, he gave Owney a jacket on which to display the "trophies. "On April 9, 1894, a writer for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that 'Nearly every place he stopped Owney received an additional tag, until now he wears a big bunch. When he jogs along, they jingle like the bells on a junk wagon.' "Each time Owney returned home to Albany, the clerks there saved the tags."

– from the National Postal Museum

Beautiful description, photo, and dog. I love stories of animals like that.

a great archive... thank!