Bobbie the Wonder Dog
Frank and Elizabeth Brazier were residents of Silverton, a small Oregon city near Salem. They owned and operated a restaurant called the Reo Café. Business was brisk enough that they purchased an Overland Red Bird touring car, which sold for $750 in 1923. That year, with their two daughters, they traveled by automobile to visit relatives in Wolcot, Indiana (an impressive feat in itself in 1923). The family dog, Bobbie, a collie mix, accompanied them on their journey.
When Mr. Brazier stopped for gas near the house where they were staying, Bobbie was stretching his legs when he was attacked by three large, evidently stray dogs. Bobbie evidently decided that withdrawal was a better option than combat and fled. Mr. Brazier (a wonderful name for a restauranteur) believed that Bobbie would be able to find where they were staying on his own. When Bobbie didn’t turn up, they started searching for him.
When they were readying to leave for their return home Bobbie still hadn’t reappeared, and the now concerned Mr. Brazier left instructions on how he could be contacted when the dog did show up. They also advertised the dog as lost in the local newspaper, and posted descriptions of the missing animal around town, all to no avail. When it came time to leave, they left without Bobbie. They left behind instructions to ship the dog home by rail and were off.
The following year, six months after Bobbie had avoided a fracas with the three Hoosier dogs, Mrs. Brazier’s daughter from a previous marriage spotted a collie mix on a Silverton street. The dog’s coat was matted and filthy, it was walking gingerly from badly worn pads on its feet, and it was thinner than it should have been. And it was Bobbie, who had walked the entire distance, except those places where it had had to swim, more than 2,800 miles. After it was confirmed that the dog was indeed Bobbie, the Humane Society endeavored to retrace his trip. While traveling the Braziers had left the Red Bird at service stations when stopping overnight, a frequent behavior in an era when parking lots weren’t common.
Bobbie had, according to station owners, visited each of the stations where the Braziers had left their car on his journey home. The Humane Society also confirmed that Bobbie had stopped at a hobo camp, and several private homes, including one in which the owner kept the dog long enough for an injured foot to heal. Bobbie was famous overnight, at least locally, and the newspapers bestowed the title The Wonder Dog upon him.