Canine Canard

In his rich, full dog's life, Tobey, a small white French poodle, achieved fame of a sort. The last of a succession of Tobeys owned by rich, eccentric Miss Ella Virginia von Echtzel Wendel, he slept on a little bed in Miss Wendel's own bedroom in her house on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, and ate delicate meals of sliced liver on a tiny table. When Miss Wendel died in 1931, aged 78, Tobey was looked after by two servants. Newsmen dubbed Tobey "the richest dog in the world." But, while Miss Wendel left an estate of $40 million, her will made no mention of Tobey. Two years later, the executors of the estate decided that Tobey, having reached a sickly and snappish nine years, should end his life painlessly at the veterinarian's.

Last week the late, long-forgotten Tobey achieved new fame. Moscow Radio Commentator Berko told listeners about "the little dog Tobey who lives in a very beautiful, richly decorated house, built by the best architects in the country . . . His mistress, a mad American woman, left it $75 million . . . The dog sleeps on a golden bed. It is attended by a staff of 45 servants and six lawyers." Moral for Moscow: "While the millionaire dog lives in a beautiful private house, the children of the workers, dressed in tatters, roam the streets begging for a piece of bread. Like stray dogs, they sleep in the open . . . searching for food in the rubbish."

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