The changing family
The dogs through the years
This is a visual guide to the dogs we can place in the Hobo-era story.
Chuck often reused names he liked, so the same name could belong to different dogs in different generations.
How to read it
What the dates show
The periods shown are documented appearances in Chuck’s story, not the dogs’ full lifespans. A missing year does not mean that a dog had died or was no longer with him.
Still tracing
Dogs we are still tracing
Cairo
Chuck mentions Cairo in Stop! Sit! and Think. In one undated account, Cairo shuts a gate or door, fetches a newspaper and brings it back. We have not yet found enough information to know when Cairo lived with Chuck, where Cairo fits among the other dogs, or much else about his life.
Lady
Chuck also mentions Lady and, in another account, says that London and Lady were Thorn’s parents. We have not found pedigree records to confirm this, and we do not yet know which London he meant in that particular account, but Lady clearly belongs somewhere in the family story.
Venus
Chuck wrote in 1968 of a Venus whom he described as a daughter of “London, The Littlest Hobo” and said had gone to live in Odessa, Texas. A dog called Venus was travelling with Chuck by 1970 and appeared with him on The Pet Set in 1971. These may well be the same dog, but we can’t be sure from the information we’ve found.
If you remember Cairo or Lady, know anything about Venus’s time in Odessa, or have photographs, programmes, newspaper cuttings or memories that might help, we would love to hear from you.
Share a memorySources used on this page
- “London Embroiled” LIFE, 25 July 1955, pp. 49–50
- “The Littlest Hobo” Dogs in Canada / Canadian Kennel Club, March 1967
- “Have Dogs, Will Bark” Dwight Newton, San Francisco Examiner, 24 June 1964
- Eisenmann touring-group report Waterloo Region Record, 19 August 1970
- “In the wings…” photograph and caption Al Dunlop / Toronto Star, 5 June 1981
- Roseburg reports on Chuck and four dogs Statesman Journal, Spokesman-Review and The Columbian, 1987
- Chuck Eisenmann later-life profile Mia Simpson, Roseburg News-Review, 18 August 2006