The tail of Medicine Bow

"I gave him title of Town Ambassador not only because he greeted people, but because if someone came in a little upset, Bo would run to the door and people would start petting him," Medicine Bow town clerk Karen Heath recounted. "And any anger that they had would go away."

Bo was a dog owned by Public Works Director Charlie George, although it could be argued the town of Medicine Bow had a stake in this community canine. If people didn't see Bo with his master during the day, they knew he was probably greeting people as they came into the Medicine Bow Town Hall office.

"Bo was a good looking dog," Heath said. "Plus he was a smart dog, probably the smartest dog I have ever met. People just liked to be around him."

He was a mix of a blue heeler and a collie.

Heath remembers back in 2006 when Bob Wellbourne brought Bo to the town hall to give to Charlie.

"He put this little puff of fur with a nose on the counter and I said, 'Oh what a cute puppy' and Wellbourne said the little creature was for Charlie," Heath said. "And Charlie was getting the dog for his son Jeremiah, but I remember Charlie telling me that because Jeremiah was going off to school, it was probably going to end up being him taking care of Bo. Well, he was half right, but Bo ended up having a lot of people in this town that loved taking care of him too."

Heath said Bo would wait by the door for Charlie to return when he was waiting in the office.

"People would have to step over him when they came in if Bo was waiting for Charlie," Heath said. "But nobody minded because everyone knew and loved him."

Bo came to be the town ambassador by circumstances that unfolded slowly.

Both Charlie and his wife Mary had jobs and Bo would have been left alone at the house, eventually Bo went with George to work.

"As often as not, if you saw Charlie out and about doing work around town, you saw Bo," Heath said. "But sometimes Bo couldn't be with Charlie because of the type of job it was, so Bo would stay at the town hall."

Mary can remember her husband saying residents wouldn't miss him if he wasn't around, but that people would miss the pup.

"People would ask him 'where is Bo?"' Mary said. "The town loved him. His mailbox would have soup bones and treats all the time."

Bo wasn't just a dog people liked. He was titled the town ambassador and had his own mailbox labeled exactly that. It was with all the other town officials' mail boxes.

Heath said Bo really was a special creature to the town.

"He had ways of looking at you that just made him seem like he understood what your feelings were," Heath said. "He knew a lot of tricks too."

Heath said a lot of the tricks were done to hand signals, but he also had some words he reacted to.

Mary remembers Charlie asking if Bo would rather be a Bronco fan or dead. Bo would roll on his back. His master roots for Jacksonville.

Health has a similar memory.

"Charlie was speaking to the water works vendor here in the office next to the counter," Heath said. "Charlie turned to Bo who was sitting there next to him and said, 'Bo would you rather work for water works or be a dead dog' and Bo dropped to Charlie's feet and lay there, not moving a hair."

Bo didn't like doing all the tricks he knew.

"When Charlie would twirl his finger indicating for Bo to roll over, Bo would complain with dog talk and do it only halfway at first," Heath said. "Charlie would say 'all the way' and Bo would roll all the way. Once he did the trick all the way, he ran over to the treat drawer."

Bo had a drawer dedicated to treats and a mailbox that saw a lot of treat action.

"He really did endear himself to so many residents in town and treats flowed through the office. Wyoming people love dogs in general, but a dog that an entire town loves is really unusual," Heath said. "It is still sad that he is gone."

At nearly 15, Bo succumbed to old age.

In truth Bo isn't entirely gone. There is an 8 X 10 picture on the counter in the town hall of Bo looking up. It is marked Town Ambassador with the dates 2006 to April 2021.

Bo may have passed on, but in Medicine Bow he is not forgotten and won't be anytime soon.