Mad Men Dog Names

While most famous canines receive a majority of their attention thanks to the accessibility of the Internet, film, or television, Don the Talking Dog preceded those technologies entirely and was still considered one of the greatest and most famous dog performers of his time. 

Don came about during the Vaudeville era, a time replete with traveling acts of all shapes and sizes, and happened to be one of very few in the world that possessed such a talent. Unlike other dogs who had been trained to perform a variety of different acts, Don had a skill set that few others in the world could match: the ability to “speak”. 

Although he didn’t speak English, Don still did well when he finally made it over from Europe to the United States in 1912, largely in part to the large German population that existed in America’s larger cities — German was his primary language (outside of dogspeak). While his vocabulary was quite limited compared to what we now know is possible for certain species of animals, his ability to speak eight different words was still exceptionally impressive for the time. In total, it was said that Don was able to say haben (“have” in English), kuchen (cake) and hunger (hunger), then soon picked up ja (yes) and nien (no), along with ruhe (rest or quiet) and Haberland (his owner’s last name), most of which he only spoke a word at a time and only when prompted. 

Don was certainly a hit as soon as he arrived in the States, which wasn’t a surprise to Vaudeville mastermind Willie Hammerstein, who took out a $50,000 bond ($1.25 million equivalent today) in case the dog died on his way over from Europe, despite the supposedly lush accommodations he had on the ship. When he arrived, he was received like a celebrity but apparently failed to speak to the news media because he was “too seasick on the way over to converse”. But his American career took off quickly, as evidenced by a shared billing with one of history’s most famous performers, Harry Houdini, in New York.

While some of Don’s abilities were written off as mere interpretations by his audiences, he was taken to several zoologists and experts who all seemed to come to the same conclusion that Don was a prodigy for his kind and was considered uncommonly intelligent. Unfortunately, likely due to a combination of lack of care or the technological abilities of the time, his breed was never determined. Reports of the time claim that he was some kind of German hunting dog, likely either some kind of Setter or Pointer. 

But even if the “interpretation” of his vocalizations weren’t taken seriously by all, he still captured enough adoration to be pick up as one of the first major canine celebrity endorsers, in this case, for Milk-Bone dog biscuits. 

After two years in the United States, Don finally retired and returned home, but not before amassing an average of today’s equivalent of $2,300 per word spoken. He died peacefully near his home of Dresden, Germany just a few years later. His last words were not recorded but he is still remembered fondly, if modern recounts are any indicator.