Must Love Dogs

I am a collector of small joys and as you may have guessed, snailmail is chief among them. So are dogs! Lexi, the wonder dog, brings no end of joy to Mr. Murphy and myself. Just imagine my joy when two of my favorite things combine! 🥰 

 A few years ago, I went to Washington DC to visit a friend. Being the true friend that she is, she took me to the most wonderful museum in all of the Smithsonian museum network...THE POSTAL MUSEUM!! During this fabulous visit I learned of Owney, the postal pup! 

Owney was a small, shaggy mutt who hung out at the Albany, New York post office back in 1888. It seems that Owney was very interested in the mailbags...perhaps someone was sending treats via post?...anyway he apparently really liked the mailbags and would follow them onto mail wagons and mail trains. He began to ride with the mailbags on the Railway Mail Service trains across the state and then throughout the whole country! The mail clerks adopted him and let him ride along as their unofficial mascot. The postal workers began to mark Owney’s travels by placing tokens, tags and medals on his collar. He eventually had to have a special vest made for him so he could display all of his tags, they were so numerous! I particularly like this one from Davenport, Iowa!! 

Owney’s Tag from Iowa

In 1895 the Tacoma, Washington, postmaster sent Owney on a trip around the world as part of an advertising campaign for the city. The dog traveled with mailbags on steamships and trains from Tacoma through Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the continental US before returning to Tacoma 113 days later!! 

You can see Owney at the Postal Museum...not a photograph or painting...the real Owney...stuffed! 😳 The postal workers collected funds to have him preserved and he was taken to the Post Office headquarters in 1897. In 1911 he was transferred to the Smithsonian. It’s nothing if not interesting! (And only a tiny bit creepy!🙃) 

Owney

I’ve been sending quite a bit of post during these days of social distancing. It’s a great way to spread some cheer to those people with whom we can’t get together. Apparently Lexi, the wonder dog, was inspired by my writing and those wonderful dog postage stamps, and decided to send a letter to a dog friend, Millie!  (See everyone’s going postal!) Hopefully Millie’s children will enjoy reading it to her. 😉 

Lexi’s Letter

I hope you are collecting small joys as often as possible! Try snailmail!! It’s one of the best!

Go postal, people! (And dogs!)

XOXO,

Mrs. Murphy

PS: National Pet Week is celebrated in May. 🐕  What a great time to celebrate dogs by sending some mail!