Owney: The Mail-Pouch Pooch

One rainy night in 1888 a stray dog wandered into the U.S. Post Office in Albany New York. Workers found him the next morning asleep on a pile of mail pouches. The dog seemed to like the post office and the smell of the mailbags and the mens wool uniforms. When no one came to claim him they named him Owney and made him their pet. However Owneys loyalty and sense of adventure soon made it clear he wasnt just an average mutt. Over the course of nine years Owney guarded the mail―not only in Albany but on mail trains that traveled all over the United States.