佚名/Anonymous
All those who travel to Juneau, Alaska, by water are welcomed at the dock by a dog named Patsy Ann. She doesn‘t bark. She doesn’t wag her tail. She doesn‘t even respond when you call her. That’s because Patsy Ann is a bronze statue that sits imposingly and silently in the middle of Patsy Ann Square, which borders Juneaus Gastineau Channel.
The real Patsy Ann was a Staffordshire bull terrier who arrived in Juneau as a newborn pup in late 1929 with her human family. Her family didnt keep her once they realized she was deaf and could not bark.
The dog was taken in by a second family, but for unknown reasons was later abandoned by them as well. Patsy then became an orphan who freely roamed the streets of Juneau. Patsy Ann limited her daily wanderings to the downtown area, where local merchants and residents grinned at the sight of her happily loping from business tobusiness. Though Patsy Ann was an orphan, the Longshoremens Hall became her nightly home. For her, it was the most logical place for warmth and sleep because she spent so much of her time on the docks.
The deaf dog possessed a most remarkable ability. Whenever a ship neared Gastineau Channel, Patsy Ann was somehow able to“hear”its whistle, even if the ship was as much as a half-mile away. At once, the terrier would scamper down to the wharf to await the ships arrival.
Juneaus residents had no idea how Patsy Ann was able to sense the imminent approach of a ship, anymore than they could fgure out how the dog knew at exactly which dock she should wait. But they learned to trust her unerring judgment.
One afternoon, townspeople gathered at the appointed dock to await an incoming ship. Patsy Ann joined the expectant crowd and then suddenly ran to a different dock. Everyone was perplexed by her behavior until they realized they had been given misinformation. The ship entered the channel and berthed at the very dock where the terrier was waiting！