# Dog guards vehicle long after owner is arrested -- 100 years ago…

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/dog-guards-vehicle-long-after-owner-is-arrested-100-years-ago/200288>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Created:** [May 15, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dog-guards-vehicle-long-after-owner-is-arrested-100-years-ago/200288 "2025-05-15T14:56:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![LoudThunder](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/loudthunder/32/27769_2.png) [@LoudThunder](https://community.cartalk.com/u/LoudThunder)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dog-guards-vehicle-long-after-owner-is-arrested-100-years-ago/200288/1 "2025-05-15T14:56:13Z")

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My old Home Town Newspaper, the Times Union, in Albany New York publishes interesting stories from 100-years ago and this is for the CarTalk members. I wonder how long the dog guarded the “machine?”

 ![dog](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/5/1/51893b0250a6221b046bbf25733b60d53949d469.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dog-guards-vehicle-long-after-owner-is-arrested-100-years-ago/200288/2 "2025-05-15T15:09:17Z")

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I imagine that animal control existed back then (maybe called dog catcher) and they took the dog to the pound. I doubt that the driver would be out anytime soon, and maybe he had friends or family retrieve the dog.

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**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dog-guards-vehicle-long-after-owner-is-arrested-100-years-ago/200288/3 "2025-05-15T15:19:20Z")

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$250 was a _very_ substantial fine in those days, when median income was ~$5,400 per year.

Back then, $250 had the same buying power as $4,500 does today. Nowadays, if somebody was fined $4,500 and sentenced to 30 days of jail time for reckless driving, there would be accusations of “government overreach” or a money grab by the municipality where the violation(s) took place.

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**Author:** ![LoudThunder](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/loudthunder/32/27769_2.png) [@LoudThunder](https://community.cartalk.com/u/LoudThunder)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2025, 10:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/dog-guards-vehicle-long-after-owner-is-arrested-100-years-ago/200288/4 "2025-05-15T22:21:39Z")

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> [@jtsanders](#):
>
> I doubt that the driver would be out anytime soon, and maybe he had friends or family retrieve the dog.

This was 100-years ago and the story is short… The driver was from Adams, Massachusetts which is about 45-miles away; back then, in 1925, that might have seemed like “half a world away…” Also the driver received a 30-day sentence. Who knows, maybe this dog was the inspiration for “Hachiko”

> **[Hachikō](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D)**
>
> Hachikō (ハチ公, November 10, 1923 – March 8, 1935) was a Japanese Akita dog remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, Hidesaburō Ueno, for whom he continued to wait for over nine years following Ueno's death.
> Hachikō was born on November 10, 1923, at a farm near the city of Ōdate, Akita Prefecture. In 1924, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University, brought him to live in Shibuya, Tokyo as his pet. Hachikō would meet Ueno at Shibuya Station every day after his commu...