One of the best things about writing Happy Dog Phoenix was that I got to research some Arizona history. Believe me, stories about dogs in Arizona history are few and I think I got all of them!

Here’s one of my favorites and it comes from the Medicine in Territorial Arizona.

How did they treat rabies around the time of Arizona statehood?

Put the rabies patients on the first train for Chicago. Thirty-three patients from Arizona made the trip to the Pasteur Institute of Chicago for 18 injections each of rabies vaccine. Some people could not afford the trip; others simply refused. There was no record of how they fared.

While rabid dogs were to be feared; rabid skunks were more deadly.

Going cross country for medical care – a good reminder of how tough our Arizona pioneers really were.