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 didn't keep her once they realized she was deaf and could not bark.
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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 Juneau's Gastineau Channel.
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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 to business. Though Patsy Ann was an orphan, the Longshoremen's 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.
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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!
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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 ship's arrival.
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Juneau's residents had no idea how Patsy Ann was able to sense the imminent approach of a ship, anymore than they could figure out how the dog knew at exactly which dock she should wait. But they learned to trust her unerring judgment.
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Patsy Ann may have loved the local people who fed her and fondly patted her. She may have felt cared for by the longshoremen. But Patsy Ann's primary happiness came from sitting on the docks as she waited to welcome the ships.
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It was appropriate, then, in 1934, for Juneau's mayor to proclaim Patsy Ann "the official greeter of Juneau, Alaska".
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The same year, the city passed an ordinance stating that all dogs must be licensed. After an animal-control worker impounded Patsy Ann and threatened to euthanize the stray, several of the locals chipped in to pay for her license and to buy a bright red collar for her. She was again free to continue her lookout duty.
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For thirteen years, nearly all the days of her life, the wagging tail and the happy-go-lucky presence of the little dog brought a pleasant constancy to the lives of Juneau residents. She could not hear them say "good girl", but she saw their smiles and felt their affection.
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Then, in 1942, Patsy Ann died of natural causes. Members of the saddened community placed Patsy Ann's body in a small wooden casket and lowered it into Gastineau Channel. Now she would forever be tied to the hearts of Juneau's people and to the tranquil waters she loved to watch.
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Nearly fifty years after Patsy Ann's death, a campaign was waged to memorialize the terrier. A small patch of land at the Gatineau wharfside was converted into what is now Patsy Ann Square, and a larger-than-life bronze statue was commissioned -- complete with a bronze collar that rests at its base.
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Today at the foot of the square, gaily-colored flowers bloom, and people sit on benches and gaze out at the horizon, just as the bronze Patsy Ann does.
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Patsy Ann, adopted and loved by all the residents of Juneau, is still the official greeter for her city. The statue of the little dog who could not hear sits forever next to a wooden sign, her bronzed presence echoing the words printed there: Welcome to Juneau, Alaska.
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