Famous Dogs – Raised Dog Beds and Liners

Here are some incredible stories of famous dogs over the last century. They involve saving lives, travelling hundreds of miles to reunite with their owners, and remaining loyal through hard times and even death.

Bobbie

In 1923, Frank and Elizabeth Brazier took their daughters to Indiana to visit relatives. Their Scotch Collie/English Shepherd mix called Bobbie was attacked by three other dogs and ran away. After an exhaustive search, the family couldn’t find Bobbie and were forced to return home to Oregon knowing they would never see him again. Over the next 6 months, Bobbie would cover 14 miles a day totalling 2,551 miles across deserts, mountains, and rivers to make it back home, reunited with his family. He showed all the signs of making the journey; he was manky, scrawny, and had next to no toenails left when he arrived. Many doubted the validity of the story until the Human Society of Portland was able to establish a relatively precise route that he had taken, accompanied by recounts of people who had sheltered and fed Bobbie along the way. He had initially followed them into Northeast Indiana before striking out in several directions, eventually heading West. He stopped at each of the service stations the family had stayed at during their initial journey to Indiana and a few homeless shelters. An Irish woman in Portland was his longest stop when she helped him recover from serious injuries to his legs and paws.

Bobbie the Wonder Dog

Swansea Jack

Swansea Jack was a black retriever who lived near Swansea in the 1930s and became famous for rescuing a drowning 12 year old boy. The story went unreported until a few weeks later when he rescued a swimmer from the docks, this time in front of a crowd. His picture was taken and the local council awarded him a silver collar. He went on to save a further 26 people from the River Tawe and the docks. In 1936 he was awarded ‘Bravest Dog’ of the Year by a local newspaper.

Black Labrador Swimming

Folly

Tomos ap Rhys was rendered blind in the First World War, shortly after this 20^th birthday. Even more painfully, his sight had been lost due to a faulty gas mask provided by his own side. In 1931 he was selected to take part in a new trial that aimed to pair the blind with dogs to act as their eyes. Muriel Crooke and Rosamund Bond had been inspired by similar movements abroad and paired Tomos with a German Shepherd named Folly. In 1931 Tomos and Folly walked confidently over the cobbled streets of Garth in Bangor, Wales and became a shining example of hope for the blind to return to normal life after injury. Today, over 22,939 guide dogs are in use worldwide.

Gelert

In Wales during the 1900s, King Llywelyn returned home, annoyed to find his dog, Gelert, who had disappeared from a hunting excursion. Even more concerningly, he noticed blood around the wolfhound’s mouth and rushed to his infant son’s room where he found more blood and an upturned cradle with no baby in sight. Assuming the worst, he instantly killed Gelert with his sword. The dying yelp of his loyal companion was followed by a baby’s cry which he followed to the cradle. Underneath he found his son alive next to the body of a dead wolf who had tried to take the infant but had been stopped and killed by Gelert. Although many have questioned the authenticity of the popular tale, Gelerts story serves as a warning in Welsh Culture against acting rashly in times of anger.

Grave of Gelert, Snowdonia

Canelo

Canelo was the mixed breed companion of an old man in the 1980s who had kidney problems in Cadiz, South West Spain. They would walk together to the hospital where the man would receive dialysis treatment and Canelo would wait outside until he was ready to walk home again. One day there were complications and the man sadly passed away, leaving his dog outside still waiting. Despite various attempts by locals to rehome him, Canelo would return to the hospital entrance where he would spend the next 12 years until his death in December 2002. To this day you can find a plaque and alley way in Cadiz named after Canelo.

Canelo

Hachikō

Hachikō was a Japanese Akita who waited every day for his owner, a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University, to meet him after work at the train station. After the professor passed away Hachikō continued to wait in same spot and would do so for the next decade. Since then he’s been regarded in Japanese culture as a symbol of loyalty and fidelity and has been honoured by statues, movies and books in his name.

And there we have it. How wholesome.

Raised Dog Beds and Liners

With energy prices increasing and the colder months rolling in we’ll all be stocking up on cosy jumpers for winter. Your dog is in the same boat and will need some help keeping warm, particularly in October/November when their winter coat may not have fully come through yet. The main thing is to give them something to lie on that creates a barrier between them and a cold floor, especially if you have tiles or laminate which will pull heat away from underneath them. A thin dog bed doesn’t do the job so either go for something thick *cough, Tuffies Mattress Bed, cough*, or get something with tall sides that eliminates cold drafts *cough, Tuffies Nest Dog Bed, cough*. The other option is a Raised Dog Bed that keeps them high off the floor and also has sides. It’s unbelievable how much heat a dog’s coat can trap once you deal with these two factors.

Oh yeah and there’s this guy too

Greyfriars Bobby