🐾 Muggs – The Dog That Bit People

James Thurber had owned many dogs, but Muggs, a sturdy, hot-tempered Airedale who loved to bite people, was by far the most troublesome. Muggs wasn’t even Thurber’s dog—he discovered that his brother Roy had bought him while he was on vacation—but from that moment, Muggs became “king of the household” in his own way: biting everyone except the family, with only a near miss on Thurber’s mother.

🐶 A Peculiar Dog

Muggs refused to catch mice, even when the house was overrun by unusually tame and friendly mice. Instead, he focused on humans. Thurber recalled a night when his mother laid out tiny dishes of food for the mice so they wouldn’t enter the dining room—Muggs lay in the pantry, growling not at the mice, but at the guests in the next room. When his mother tried to slap him, he snapped—but immediately acted remorseful. How she knew he was sorry remained a mystery.

🍬 Christmas Candy for His Victims

Thurber’s mother would send Christmas candy to everyone Muggs bit—over forty people in total—but the family never got rid of him. Some even tried to poison him, and Major Moberly once shot at him, but Muggs lived nearly eleven years. Even in old age, he bit a Congressman visiting Thurber’s father. Mother always defended him: Muggs had a quick temper but held no grudges, and “he could read a person like a book.”

😂 Hilarious Mishaps

Muggs’ antics provided endless comic moments:

• When Thurber grabbed Muggs’ tail after a light nip, the dog twisted and snarled, forcing Thurber to throw him into the kitchen.

• Muggs would chase people up and down stairs, cornering them in the living room. Once, Thurber ended up crushed under fallen clocks and vases while hiding on the mantelpiece.

• Mrs. Detweiler got bitten twice in one afternoon, the first time when Muggs was hiding under a sofa.

• Muggs occasionally “saw ghosts,” stalking imaginary figures like Hamlet following his father’s spirit, terrifying salesmen.

🏡 Living with Muggs

The family had to get creative:

• Feeding Muggs on the kitchen table instead of the floor to avoid bites.

• Making a “thunder machine” out of sheet metal to simulate storms and get him indoors.

• Limiting workers and visitors near the house because Muggs would not tolerate them.

🌩 His Only Fear

Muggs feared only electrical storms. Thunder and lightning would send him running to hide under beds or in closets. The family even built a makeshift thunder device to mimic the sound and lure him inside.

⚰️ The Legendary End

Muggs died suddenly one night. The family wanted to bury him in the family plot with a marble headstone, but local law prevented it. Instead, they placed a simple board by a lonely road reading “Cave Canem” – “Beware of the dog.” Muggs became a legend in the Thurber household—a dog both exasperating and endearing, impossible to forget.

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