Famous fundraising pooch Muggins just moved into his forever home.
The taxidermized Spitz, which helped raise money for the Red Cross during the First and Second World Wars, is now on display in the lobby of the Trafalgar/Pro Patria Legion in Victoria.
“We’re more than happy to have him here,” said Alice Ross, the Legion’s membership and honours and awards chair, who helped welcome the 111-year-old dog on Friday, Aug. 30. “People can come in and ask questions, and we can try to answer as many as we can.”
In 1914, Muggins, who was owned by a wealthy Victoria philanthropist, began raising money for the Red Cross to help those affected by the fighting in Europe. With two donation boxes strapped to his back, he would wander around downtown, collecting donations from passing pedestrians.
After the patriotic pup died in 1920, his owners had him stuffed, then the Red Cross used him for fundraising efforts in the Second World War.
In today’s dollars, he raised $400,000 between 1914 and 1945.
“And then he disappeared," said Paul Jenkins, a volunteer historian for the B.C.-Yukon Red Cross History Project, who was at the legion to answer peoples' questions about the dog. "We assumed ... he had just deteriorated and was probably disposed of.”
Nobody knew for sure where he was being kept, until 2021, when a View Royal couple found the dog in their attic. They immediately called Jenkins, who they had seen discussing Muggins on the news.
"I knew it was definitely Muggins because we had photographs of him exactly like that and there was a stamp on the base from the taxidermist on Pandora Street," said Jenkins.
Ross hopes Muggins will help raise awareness about the work the Trafalgar/Pro Patria Legion and others like it do for veterans across the country. She also hopes he will educate people about the world wars.
“He did a lot for the veterans in both world wars, and now he’s here and he will hopefully bring history to people who don’t know it,” she said.
The legion will show a short film about Muggins on Friday, Sept. 20.
