# A scruffy dog who rode the mail everywhere.

- Series: [Miu Animations](https://miu.fm/miuanimations.md)
- Published: 2026-10-14
- Page: https://miu.fm/miuanimations/a-scruffy-dog-who-rode-the-mail-everywhere

## Story

A scruffy dog who rode the mail everywhere.

From 1888 a terrier called Owney rode with the Railway Mail Service clerks out of the Albany, New York, post office, on mail wagons and then on the mail trains across the country. Clerks along the lines hung tags and medals on his collar, so many that the Postmaster General, John Wanamaker, had a harness made to carry them. In 1895 the Tacoma postmaster sent him round the world by steamer and train, and he was back 113 days later. He died in 1897; the clerks had him preserved, and he is now at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum.

Told the way Émile Cohl's Fantasmagorie (1908), the first fully animated film, tells its story: one line that never stops, every shape turning into the next.

Did an animal ever follow you to work?

Sources: the National Postal Museum's story of Owney; the US Postal Service's history of Owney; Smithsonian Magazine; Wikipedia on Fantasmagorie and the Pacific Film Archive record for Émile Cohl.

Film and music: ours, an homage made independently of the makers of Fantasmagorie. Sounds: recordings by chungus43A, Bidone, FunWithSound, AKFeniks, moai15, krnash, ted, slv1, wubitog, I.fekry, Ali_6868, Soojay, coalcon, kyles, nvmbky, Joseph Sardin and others (CC0), iainmccurdy, YleArkisto, pfranzen and chris5s (CC BY 4.0) on Freesound and BigSoundBank. Piano samples: Apple Logic; orchestra: Apple GarageBand; cello: University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios. Fonts: Sacramento and Courier Prime (OFL).

## Watch

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dee_p9Vj6Z7/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/kyYZt71eRNs

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© 2026 Miuradio, https://miuradio.com