Patsy Ann: her history

In Juneau during the 1930's, ships arriving in town could count on being met at the dock by Patsy Ann, a small white English bull terrier brought as a puppy from Portland, Oregon, in 1929 by local dentist Dr. E.H. Kaser. Though loved by the Kaser family and later by The Rev. C.E. (Dean) Rice's family, she preferred roaming through shops and offices around town, where she was welcomed and given treats. Deaf from birth, she somehow sensed when an incoming ship was about a half-mile away and had an uncanny ability to determine the dock where it would moor. She eventually chose to live at the Longshoremen's Hall on Willoughby Avenue, where Centennial Hall now stands. In 1934, after a city ordinance required the licensing of all dogs, several people bought her the first license and a bright red collar, but after she wore them briefly they disappeared, and the city donated her annual license fee thereafter. Because of her unerring sense of each ship's imminent arrival and her faithful welcome at the dock, Mayor Isadore Goldstein dubbed her the Official Greeter of Juneau, Alaska, in 1934. Patsy Ann died in the Longshoremen's Hall in 1942, and the following day a small crowd watched as her coffin was lowered into Gastineau Channel.

Juneau, Alaska · United States