HAPPY NATIONAL DOG DAY! Aug 26 is all about dogs, so let’s look back at some of the dog-related museums and attractions featured on the blog over the years:
Remember they say there’s a museum for everything! The Dog Collar Museum at Leeds Castle has a fascinating collection of 130 rare canine collars that span over the last five centuries. The neckwear is quite different from your everyday Darth Vader adjustable dog collar sold at the local Petco. Now we use collars mostly for identification purposes, but five-hundred years ago they were used for protection. Hunters would fit the dogs with thick iron collars covered in impressive spikes so predators wouldn’t rip out their throats.
Sad to report that the antique mall Antiquibles in Waco, Texas, home to the World’s Largest Dog Museum, is now closed. But for nearly fifty years visitors could see case after case full of dog stuff from Greyhound bus memorabilia and dog salt and pepper shakers to puppy cast iron toys and doggie-decorated tin boxes. You name it and they probably had it. There was even a taxidermied bulldog, who dated from the late 1800s. I hope he found a good home!
Vermont’s Dog Mountain might bring a tear to your eye. The late folk artist Stephen Huneck built a chapel to celebrate the spiritual bond between humans and their furry companions. The steeple is topped with a winged-Labrador Retriever, while the interior is decorated with carved wooden pup pews and dog stained glass windows. The building is open to all. There’s even a doggie door! The chapel walls are covered in handwritten notes and photographs of dogs and other animals that have passed on. Various dog sculptures and canine heads decorate the rest of the mountain’s 150 acre property.
If it’s your dream to sleep inside a giant Beagle, and who doesn’t have such a dream, then you’re in luck. Located on Highway 95 near the Idaho town of Cottonwood is the Dog Bark Park Inn a two-bedroom Bed & Breakfast with a dog theme interior. Designed and built by Dennis J. Sullivan & Frances Conklin, it opened in 2003 and is loocally known as “Sweet Willy”. Woof!
