Black Dog has passed, but his memories live on
2004, MARK GORMUS/TIMES-DISPATCH
Black Dog, a drifter in Windsor Farms and environs, was a curiosity and beloved.
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Black Dog columns by Mark Holmberg
Black Dog has died.
The scruffy black canine with dreadlocks on his chest roamed tony West End neighborhoods for many years. He had nearly 700 friends on Facebook, but untold more followed his travels.
Black Dog was found dead Thursday morning near the intersection of Cary Street and Maxwell Road, apparently struck by a vehicle.
"It's a sad day," Linda Staples, a resident of the Windsor Farms neighborhood off Cary Street, said yesterday.
"I would hate to think that is how he met his demise," she said. "He was so street-smart. We never worried about him getting hit."
Black Dog would appear out of nowhere, Staples said. "You would never know when you would see him, but it was magical when you did. He was always very respectful."
Staples said the chow almost looked like a bear. "We would tell new folks to the neighborhood about him so they wouldn't be afraid or call animal control on him."
Hardly anyone could get near Black Dog. But his friends in Windsor Farms and surrounding neighborhoods would leave food for him and open their garage doors in winter so he could find refuge. He was even credited with scaring off an attacker. "We wanted to keep him feral," Staples said. "That was part of his charm."
Staples has lived in Windsor Farms for 17 years, and Black Dog has been part of the neighborhood throughout that time, she said. He often appeared when the children got out of school and he would watch them walk home, she said.
A group called Friends of Black Dog monitored his comings and goings.
"This group was formed to bring together all friends of that ever-elusive, sometimes almost mythical canine who roves Richmond's near West End," according to its Facebook site.
Black Dog's fame was spread locally by Mark Holmberg, a former Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist who now works for WTVR and wrote often about Black Dog.
Black Dog was buried on private property in Buckingham County, Holmberg reported in a newscast.
"You will not be forgotten," Molly Dellinger-Wray wrote on Facebook. "We learned a lot from you, Black Dog, and your spirit will remain with this community and in our hearts forever."
Contact Carol Hazard at (804) 775-8023 or
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Reader Reactions
Just like the RTD, nothing more important to report like the poor road conditions THROUGHOUT the METRO RICHMOND AREA, THE CROOKS within the leadership roles in richmond ( City HALL), crime rates….so on and so forth….but a story on a ownerless dog that roamed the streets ...GIMME A BREAK!
No rant on Windsor Farms at all—but a very accurate analogy as to how unrealistic people care more about a mutt than they do their own kids in a town where residents rarely know what end is up esp between WF and the last block of Carytown—land of the sots. If the dog was a “shamanistic” Spirit—then they must be coming in human form as well since there are plenty of dreg locked john the baptist types wandering around there and all over Richmond who need a bowl of food as well. Good luck with your new religion.
As someone not from the West End or involved with BlackDog,I get it.The dog was smart,aware and knew what he was and was not.A ferrel animal can’t be tamed and made a pet and even if you gain it’s trust it’s still wild.If BlackDog was close to 17 years old he lived a long and full life as a wild dog.I suspect if he did get hit it was because at that age he had lost his edge and had slowed down enough that life caught up to him.And it was his time plain and simple.If you view him in his own terms he had a better life than most of us will ever have.
A very touching story & thanks to all those who looked after him over the years. I especially like the story about him appearing when the kids were gettong off the school buses, as if he were watching over them, shows the loyalty that K-9’s have for humans, even when they’re not owned by them. If he had wanted to be tamed, there seems to have been plenty of opportunity for him to have a loving home. The fact is, he had MANY loving homes and maybe he couldn’t decide which one to pick! For those judgmental & ignorant people, such as ‘shroom, good grief, get a life!
Never knew black dog. But…have seen many disenfrachised pooches throughout my Fan residency. Ode to the “black knight”...*RIP*
He was wise to stay shy of humans and stay a “traveler”. Seems he was treated with more deference in death than he was during his life span. What made him leave his “people pack” and roam? Hmmmnnnn?
Lesson to be learned from that!
Black dog was and is a great story—anybody who ever saw the mutt knows that. He was like a shamanistic spirit—and roamed all over Richmond’s west end. Please save the rants about Windsort Farms for some other story.
WINDSOR FARMS: DRUNKS & HOMELESS DOGS
Published: April 23, 2009 (TD Bill Mckelway):
A Richmond woman angrily confronted police, used racial slurs, made cop-doughnut jokes and needed to be pushed to the ground and handcuffed when she was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving……
She also described the Windsor Farms resident’s conduct as immature and lacking judgment in the hours after a shopper found her slumped over the wheel of her Mercedes with her 2-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son strapped in car seats in the back…..
http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/crime/article/WOOD23_20090422-222302/263033/
Now don’t get me wrong, I know that not all residents of that posh neighborhood treat their kids this way; the same neighborhood where the a guy back in the 1970s blew the head off of his psychiatrist (the Vale case)… Hey, we are not in Kansas anymore. This is Richmond—where “real” things happen.
The residents probably thought it cute and cozy to have their fluffy homeless dog friend around…(a corollary to the homeless person). They didn’t want to get too close. They didn’t want to be too too friendly with the dog. These are the same people who religiously recycle their trash and jog every day—and periodically are caught with their pants down or drunk at the wheel—But in our rush to judgment—we must be remember: but for the grace of God—we could be just like them.
TO ALL THOSE COMPLAINING THAT BLACK DOGS FRIENDS DIDN’T DO ENOUGH. LISTEN UP. THEY ALL TRIED TO ENTICE HIM INSIDE, PROVIDE SHELTER, BUT HE WAS LIKE A STREET PERSON. HE REFUSED TO BE CONFINED. HOW DARE YOU LASH OUT AT HIS FRIENDS. THEY ARE UPSET ENOUGH AS IT IS. THEY DID ALL THEY COULD TO MAKE HIS LIFE A BETTER ONE.
This is so sad that Black Dog is gone, especially the way he passed. I have heard stories for years about him . Although some think this is frivolous to alot of people he was part of the family and it doesn’t seem inappropriate to let others know via TD that he is gone. RIP Black Dog.
Mushroom02 and avm,
You cannot capture and keep a dog that doesn’t want to be a pet. If you would have read any of the articles over the years, you would realize that many people tried to take him in. Very few could get near him and I don’t think anyone could ever get really close to him. Find something else to complain about, you sound too ignorant here.
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