Yorkie Doodle Dandy

Bill Wynne and his Yorkies Meet World’s Smallest Working Dog

Jon Tabar — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:39:00 +0000

Bill Wynne and his Yorkies, Smoky Too and Sadie, had a wonderful meeting with the world’s smallest working dog, Lucy and her owner Sally yesterday. Lucy weighs in at just 2.5 pounds and was named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s smallest working dog for her work as a therapy dog. The meeting occurred at the Smoky and Dogs of All Wars memorial (and Smoky’s final resting place) in the Rocky River Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks. Lucy and Sally arrived in Cleveland, OH with a wonderful TV crew from British TV studio ITV, who were there to film the meeting for a TV show called “Super Tiny Animals.”

Head over to cleveland.com to read more about the meeting. Smoky and Lucy both have their own pages on Facebook, so please consider “liking” them to receive updates via Facebook!

Check back later for some photos of the event on this blog and Smoky’s Facebook page!

Yorkie Doodle Dandy Book Review

Jon Tabar — Fri, 04 May 2012 21:36:15 +0000

Dorothy from the St. Thomas Dog Blog posted a wonderful review of Bill Wynne’s book, Yorkie Doodle Dandy. You can buy the book on Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.

Thanks, Dorothy!

Smoky Memorial Featured on NPR Morning Edition

Jon Tabar — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:11:01 +0000

We’re pleased to share a story about the Smoky memorial in the Rocky River Metroparks (near Cleveland) that was broadcast nationally on NPR’s Morning Edition show on August 3, 2011! In the clip, Paul Cox of Cleveland NPR member station WCPN talks about Smoky and the memorial on NPR’s “Honey, Stop The Car!” series about roadside memorials across the country. Mr. Cox also interviews Bill Wynne (Smoky’s owner/trainer/companion) and his dear friend, Jim Strand, whose tireless efforts allowed the memorial to be created.

Listen to the clip below, or visit npr.org for a text transcript or to download an .mp3 of the clip. You can also see a few Smoky pictures and some other memorials featured on the “Honey, Stop The Car!” series.

Many thanks to the folks at NPR and Cleveland member station WCPN 90.3 for the Smoky memorial piece, and allowing us to post the audio and a link to the NPR website. And very special thanks goes out to Jim Strand, for everything he’s done.

TV interview with Smoky sculpture creator, Susan Bahary

Jon Tabar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:25:56 +0000

Below is a recent KTNV channel 13 Las Vegas interview with talented sculptor Susan Bahary. Susan Bahary created the Smoky sculpture for the war dog memorial in the Cleveland Metroparks (Rocky River reservation). The interview features the Smoky sculpture, as well as some of Susan Bahary’s other war dog pieces.

NOTE: 3/23/10: This video is currently unavailable, and we are working to obtain another copy if it to share with all of you.

Bill Wynne – Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame

Jon Tabar — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:39:34 +0000

Congratulations to Bill – he is now officially a member of the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame! Over 300 people have been inducted since 1977, including Bob Hope, John Glenn, Jesse Owens, Dr. Sabin, Lillian Gish, the Mills Brothers, Bob Feller, Woodie Hayes, three former Ohio Governers and Supreme Court Justices. This is quite an accomplishment for Bill, and he is very honored to receive this recognition.

The induction ceremony took place on May 26, 2009 in Columbus, OH. The keynote speakers for the event included:

Barbara Riley – Director, Ohio Dept. of Aging
Armond Budish – Speaker, Ohio House Representatives
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland
Alan Burnett – Director, Area Agency on Aging Region 9, Inc.

Below is a video of the induction ceremony, which also included the Elder Caregiver Awards Ceremony. The video has been set to start at Bill’s section at the tail end of the ceremony (with a last name starting with W, Bill has done a lot of waiting at events like this!) Governor Strickland speaks at 00:06:45 (that’s 6 minutes and 45 seconds) through the video for those of you that want to jump to that spot (after watching Bill of course!)

Credit for providing this wonderful video goes to The Ohio Channel. Thanks especially to Sarah Duffy. You can purchase a copy of this video on DVD or VHS tape here.

Westminster Dog Show video

Jon Tabar — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:50:13 +0000

Hi everyone – here is the clip that was played during the 2008 Westminster Dog Show on the USA network. Thanks very much to David Frei for permission to post this video clip on our web site!

Bill Wynne video – NYC 2007

Jon Tabar — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 00:28:36 +0000

Here’s a video of Bill Wynne (along with Susan Bahary – sculptor of the Smoky memorial in the Cleveland Metroparks) from a 2007 trip to NYC:

Welcome!

Bill Wynne — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:21:10 +0000

Welcome to SmokyWarDog.com – the official site for Smoky, the canine hero of WWII. This new blog format will allow us to keep everyone updated on the latest Smoky news!