Bum (dog)

San Diego's town dog reportedly stowed away on a steamer from San Francisco in December 1886 and spent the next 12 years riding streetcars, joining parades and sleeping across busy pavements. In 1891 the city council put his picture on its first dog licences and exempted him from needing one. Treat the colourful anecdotes with care: much of his fame came from the journalist James Edward Friend, who may have mixed fact with fancy. He died on 10 November 1898. A statue of Bum now stands in Edinburgh, near Greyfriars Bobby's old haunts, and Bobby has one in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter.