Dog Names Meaning Thick

Sometimes stray dogs come into our lives, changing them forever.  While you can build love and dependence upon those canines that you intentionally bring into your life, stray dogs are equally as valuable.  This bonding and dependence actually occurred when a stray dog with a stubby tail wandered into a military training camp located on the grounds of Yale University, where troops were training for deployment during World War I.  Named especially for his stubby tail as well as his squatty, thick build, our pop culture spotlight meandered into the life of Cpl. John Robert Conroy, and into the military fray which would earn him multiple medals, and winning the audience of three Presidents before he became the official mascot of Georgetown University.

Sgt. Stubby is considered the most decorated military dog in history, a reputation which is well-deserved. Cpl. Conroy “adopted” Stubby when he found his way into the camp, sneaking him along when the troops shipped out to France.  Conroy and Stubby stayed together, seeing a fair amount of military action, even surviving a gas attack at the hands of the Germans.  After the two of them got through the gas attack, Stubby developed a super sense of smell that allowed him to sniff out and detect gas way before the human soldiers could, enabling him to alert them to incoming attacks.  Sgt. Stubby was responsible for locating allied soldiers wounded in “no man's land” as well as catching German infiltrators in some of the trenches.  As one might imagine, the exploits of our pop culture spotlight were well published back at home in the various methods of news media in use at that time.  

Not only was Stubby the most decorated canine soldier in history, but he also had the honor of being the first dog ever to receive the rank of Sergeant in the U.S. Army.  Cpl. Conroy kept his faithful friend, Sgt. Stubby, by his side, even unto Sgt. Stubby’s death in 1926.  

Sgt. Stubby can still be found, doing his courageous military things in an animated version of his life, released in April 2018.  Sgt Stubby: An American Hero,  a computer-animated movie based on Stubby’s real-life story, provides a non-bloody way for elementary-aged kids to see real history in a way that is non-threatening and educational.  It is a way for Sgt. Stubby to live on for future generations.