Muggins, a purebred Spitz, lived a short seven years, but the floofy white dog was a giant among fundraisers for military members and the Red Cross during the First and Second World Wars.
But his contributions (raising some $21,000 or about $400,000 in today’s terms) — and his taxidermied remains — were largely lost to history over the last century.
The Royal Canadian Legion’s magazine called him an “expert fundraiser.”
“By the mid-1950s, however, Muggins was largely forgotten and had been shuffled between so many hands that by the time historians tried to locate his likeness, Muggins had disappeared,” the Legion Magazine reported earlier this month. “Until recently.”
Muggins, born to a wealthy Calgary family, became a common sight in downtown Victoria, B.C. during the 1910s and received numerous medals (and international fame) for his war efforts to support veteran associations.
Grant Hayter-Menzies, author of Muggins: The Life and Afterlife of a Canadian Canine War Hero, said the dog would display his upset when the tins on his back weren’t full of coins while he was out canvassing at the wharf or near the famed Empress Hotel in Victoria.
“He was a war hero even though he never went on the battlefield,” Hayter-Menzies told the magazine.
By 1920, Muggins died of pneumonia, but was stuffed by a “skilled taxidermist” in memory of his war efforts.
Muggins went on tour during the Second World War and put on a display. But then he vanished.
The Red Cross put a call out to find the lost dog. And it worked.
“Discovered in the shed of a resident in Victoria’s View Royal suburb, Muggins’ mount was restored to its former glory,” the magazine said.
Displayed this summer at B.C.’s Government House, the official residence of the province’s lieutenant governor, Muggins is next destined for the Legion 292 branch in Victoria on Aug. 30.
“I’m thrilled to announce that Muggins will be coming to Legion 292 this coming Friday at 1:00 p.m. Please join us as we welcome this cherished hero to his new home,” wrote Legion West Kildonan Branch #30 Winnipeg, which had a hand, er rather paw, in getting Muggins a proper residence.
Finally, Muggins has a fur-ever home.
