Patsy Ann of Alaska ─ The True Story of a Dog

It’s Alaska in the 1930s. A family has just brought home a purebred English bull terrier pup to be the new pet for its daughters. But this dog is different. She doesn’t want to be babied and tethered in the yard. She wants to explore this bustling new town of totem poles, salmon, and fascinating people. She never answered when her name was called--it turns out she was born deaf. Eventually, Patsy Ann found her way to the town’s docks where the longshoremen were happy to feed her and share their bunkhouse with the dog. And even though she was deaf, Patsy Ann would run to the docks to meet incoming ships--eventually becoming the town’s official greeter. In that way, she went from nobody’s dog to everybody’s dog. Today, a bronze statue of Patsy Ann stands in the town square of Juneau, Alaska.

Tricia Brown first came to Alaska in 1978 and lived in and traveled the state for more two decades. She has been an editor for the Fairbanks Daily News-Minder, the Anchorage Daily News, and Alaska magazine. The author of four children’s books and more th