Wednesday, November 4, 2015

King Tut Day. Honestly.





November 4.  It’s King Tut day.  I have no idea who celebrates King Tut Day, but obviously someone does.  But I decided to see if there was ANY connection between King Tut and dogs.  And of course, there is.  In fact, I found three different Tut-dog connections…



1.   Apparently King Tut, the boy king, did have a dog of his own.  There were even dog related items that came out of his tomb.  I’m not sure what they were – likely a tennis ball for fetching.  Also, the walls of tombs in Ancient Egypt often show dogs – that look kind of like Pharaoh Hounds.  I didn’t see evidence of PONs or Bernese.  But it’s cool to see evidence of canine buddies way back then.  Probably about when my human was born.


2.   In 1953, the mascot for the sports teams for Southern Illinois University was a Saluki called King Tut.  He was quite the star until he was hit by a car a year later.  Years later, a fraternity marked his grave with a pyramid, and in 2010 when the old stadium was torn down, they put up a big Saluki statue in his honor and they moved his pyramid to the stadium entrance.  That King Tut had a pretty short reign – but they sure did honor him.  Wonder if I could become a team mascot?


3.   The last King Tut was a Belgian Shepherd – who was owned by Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the US.  While King Tut used to patrol the grounds of the White House, apparently the job became too much for him and he had to be moved to a different home.  He never quite got over the stress of being a Presidential pet (no wonder) and he died at 8 years of age.  Politics will do that to you.



So those are MY stories for King Tut Day.  Hope your day is golden!



©  Linda Wozniak

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