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Celebrating St. Patricks Day and dogs |
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Donnerstag, den 28. Mai 2009 um 16:27 Uhr |
Posted on Mar 17, 2008By Julia Szabo Every year,
New York's 69th Regiment proudly marches up Fifth Avenue in the St. Patrick's
Day Parade with a handsome pair of Irish Wolfhounds.
Today is an important day for the Army National Guard unit, which adopted St. Patrick as its patron saint and the Wolfhound as its regimental mascot. By decree of the Department of the Army, in 1963, March 17 was designated the official Unit Day of the 69th New York. Ten years earlier, two Wolfhounds joined the regiment for the parade, and they've been marching with the unit ever since. A pair of champion Wolfhounds are loaned out for the occasion each year by breeder Eileen Flanagan of Kennel Carrickaneena.
Known as the "colossal charmer," the gentle-giant Wolfhound is the tallest of all dog breeds and perfectly symbolizes the 69th Regiment's reputation for bravery, with imposing physical characteristics and a sweet temperament that inspired the 69th Regiment's motto, "Gentle when stroked, fierce when provoked."
Incidentally, the regiment's bravery is the stuff of legend: During the Civil War, it was dubbed the "Fighting 69th" by none other than Gen. Robert E. Lee. Appropriately, the regiment's coat of arms features two noble Wolfhounds standing on their hind legs.
In other Irish-pride news, FetchDog's favorite actress, Glenn Close, named America's Greatest Living Stage Actress in yesterday's Parade Magazine, appeared on TV today with her dogs Bill and Jake as guests of Martha Stewart. After Martha's first guest shared recipes for Jameson whiskey cocktails, Glenn introduced Martha and her viewers to the many draws of FetchDog.com, including the Lively Licks blog she hosts together with Bill and Jake (who jumped right into a Raised Donut Bed upon hitting the set) and Martha's Charitable Shop featuring her favorite FetchDog products. Dressed in festive green for the occasion, Martha mentioned that she needed to buy an elevated feeder for Paw Paw, her Chow Chow.
When Glenn's husband Dave Shaw joined the fun, the three joked about Glenn's acting history with animals. Dave shared a photo of himself as a boy with his family's pet Dalmatian and rabbit. "I had some explaining to do with my kids about loving Dalmatians vs. making coats out of them, and loving rabbits vs. boiling them," he said, "But I think they've come to understand."
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