Llewellyn Setter, Superb Pointer, Both Telepathic and Psychic. The antics of the animal's mystical abilities remain a secret to this day sealed forever after the death of the Setter and his owner, Sam Van Arsdale. Many have owned telepathic pets that seem to know what we are thinking but never to the degree of "Jim the Wonder Dog," a title bestowed as the result of a revealing newspaper article. He began his life as any other dog bred to be a hunter. Van Arsdale purchased the pup from a breeder and placed him in a kennel for training. The black and white canine required little instruction as he instinctively knew the location of his quarry and his duties. His master's pantry was always full as he would bag over 5,000 quail while using the dog on hunting trips being declared by Outdoor Life magazine the "Hunting Dog of the Century." The Setter's psychic abilities were discovered during a hunting trip as he anticipated his masters thoughts such as "Let's sit in the shade of that hickory tree and rest." Jim quickly ran to a nearby hickory tree and sat. Other suggestions followed and he found many familiar objects including a tree stump. Sam would permanently settle in Marshal, Missouri acquiring a hotel located on the town square from where Jim would receive national attention after hearing of the animals abilities while hundreds witnessed the feats. Jim would indicate the answers to his master's commands by physically giving a sign. Initially, the requests were simple and resembled tricks. Van Arsdale would tell Jim to pick out a lady in a red dress or to go find the car with a certain license plate number and the canine would perform flawlessly, going to the red dress lady and the correct car. Jim's talents soon reached the over the horizon level after developing the ability to predict the future. He would reveal the winner of the 1936 World Series, presidential elections and the ultimate, with complete accuracy, the winners of horse and dog races. With the depression in full swing across the nation, this quickly brightened the hope of cash strapped Americans. However, Sam would never use this information for his benefit or share this knowledge with others. Jim picked the correct winners in seven consecutive Kentucky Derbies. Many tests by experts were administered to ascertain the integrity of the dog and determine a reason for the phenomenon. Jim performed before the Missouri Legislature in Jefferson City to prove his integrity and the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri observed his performances then gave him a physical and found nothing unusual or abnormal. The end came in the parking lot while the pair were on a fishing trip to a nearby lake. As the dog jumped from the car, he collapsed and fell to the ground. With feeble breathing, Van Arsdale rushed his pet to a nearby veterinary hospital in Sedalia, Missouri where he passed away at age eleven from a stroke. Jim's legacy...He has made Marshall, Missouri, a destination for tourist wanting to visit his grave. The Canine was buried outside the front cemetery fence of Ridge Park Cemetery. The need for burial space caused the cemetery to surround the grave of the dog. Originally denied a burial place in the cemetery, Jim is now officially interred in Ridge Park, now the number one visited grave. The dogs owner during his lifetime refused to make money from his famous pet other than expenses. Sam Van Arsdale Sam turned down a $364,000 offer from Paramount Studios and many other lucrative offers including a dog food company. However, the town of Marshall has taken advantage of the legacy of "Jim." to expand it's attraction toward tourism. In 1999, the city constructed a small memorial park called "Jim the Wonder Dog Memorial Park." A brick walkway enables one to take a self guided tour. After transversal of a bridge over a bubbling brook, one then proceeds past many plaque stations which describes in detail the dog's many achievements. At the center is a much larger than life statue of Jim. Town merchants and an official Jim website sell every thing from the dog's biography to look-a-like stuffed dogs, T-shirts, mugs, and official doggie dishes. His elaborate portrait hangs in the Marshall Inn, a prominent town hotel. The dog had the distinction of having been featured in "Ripley's Believe It or Not." Note: Please view the images of his plaques taken from the Memorial Park now in the photo gallery for more details of his demise and odyssey.∼Following information from:
jimthewonderdog
Jim the Wonder Dog was born in the Taylor Kennels in Louisiana on March 10, 1925. That year, Jim was sent as a gift to Samuel VanArsdale, of Marshall, Missouri, who operated the Ruff Hotel in Marshall. So what makes Jim such a "Wonder Dog"? Jim displayed signs of extremely high intelligence.
* Jim was able to pick out colors a person was wearing, although dogs are apparently color-blind.
* He could pick out a car by its owner, color, make, or license plate number.
* He could pick out a variety of trees or shrubs, name of a business, or the occupation or home of a stranger.
* As Jim could not speak, a variety of answers were written on slips of paper even in different languages and Jim would always pick out the correct one.
Jim became a hunting dog who knew which fields contained birds and which ones didn't. Mr. VanArsdale would let Jim choose the field in which to hunt and he was never disappointed.
Jim was examined at the University of Missouri by a group of veterinarians and scientists. Results of the examination were normal. He responded to their requests given in Italian, French, German and Spanish.
* Jim was taken before a Greek class and given several requests in Greek which he successfully answered.
* Jim picked the winner in the 1936 World Series.
* He correctly predicted that Roosevelt would be re-elected in 1936.
* He also correctly picked the winner in the Kentucky Derby for seven years.
* And most amazingly, he could predict accurately the sex of an unborn infant.
Sadly, Jim died at Sedalia, Missouri on March 18, 1937 and was buried in a specially built casket at Ridge Park Cemetery in Marshall. A small white stone was erected over his grave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also see:
jimthewonderdog
wikipedia /wiki/Jim_the_Wonder_Dog
roadsideamerica /story/3603
facebook /pages/Jim-the-Wonder-Dog-Marshall-MO/314752328539733
Also on YouTube∼When Jim died, his owner Sam Van Arsdale requested that the remarkable Lewellyn setter be buried in Ridge Park Cemetery. The request was denied. However, he was buried just outside the cemetery fence. The future changed the interment's circumstance when the cemetery enlarged. Now Jim, the inexplicably psychic setter, is just inside the cemetery fence. His grave is reported to be the most visited in Ridge Park Cemetery. It is more than rare for a cemetery to have a well known dog with gravestone.
Some owners of supposedly psychic animals inadvertently and unknowingly cue their animals to give the right response. Such was the case of "Clever Hans," the horse that could do arithmetic problems. Yet some of Jim's accomplishments were beyond human cueing - things like predicting future events and apparently understanding Greek and French when his owner did not.
Jim's heritage became part of a Missouri legislative dog fight in 2012 when Johnson County's Old Drum was proposed for recognition as Missouri's Historic Dog. Old Drum was the inspiration for George Graham Vest's famous Warrensburg courtroom speech interpreted as demonstrating that a dog was a man's best friend. (Vest was at that time a lawyer in practice in Sedalia and later as a U.S. Senator kept a summer home in Sweet Springs.) Next, in defense of Jim's heritage, a bill favoring Jim was proposed in the 2012 legislature. A third dog bill was introduced, honoring Seaman, the Lewis and Clark expedition dog. The main fight was a stalemate between Johnson County backers of Old Drum and Saline County backers of Jim, and no dog bill passed that session.
More dog fighting in the legislature was averted later when legislation passed and was signed by the governor in 2017 designating Old Drum as the state historic dog and Jim as the Missouri wonder dog.
jimthewonderdog
Jim the Wonder Dog was born in the Taylor Kennels in Louisiana on March 10, 1925. That year, Jim was sent as a gift to Samuel VanArsdale, of Marshall, Missouri, who operated the Ruff Hotel in Marshall. So what makes Jim such a "Wonder Dog"? Jim displayed signs of extremely high intelligence.
* Jim was able to pick out colors a person was wearing, although dogs are apparently color-blind.
* He could pick out a car by its owner, color, make, or license plate number.
* He could pick out a variety of trees or shrubs, name of a business, or the occupation or home of a stranger.
* As Jim could not speak, a variety of answers were written on slips of paper even in different languages and Jim would always pick out the correct one.
Jim became a hunting dog who knew which fields contained birds and which ones didn't. Mr. VanArsdale would let Jim choose the field in which to hunt and he was never disappointed.
Jim was examined at the University of Missouri by a group of veterinarians and scientists. Results of the examination were normal. He responded to their requests given in Italian, French, German and Spanish.
* Jim was taken before a Greek class and given several requests in Greek which he successfully answered.
* Jim picked the winner in the 1936 World Series.
* He correctly predicted that Roosevelt would be re-elected in 1936.
* He also correctly picked the winner in the Kentucky Derby for seven years.
* And most amazingly, he could predict accurately the sex of an unborn infant.
Sadly, Jim died at Sedalia, Missouri on March 18, 1937 and was buried in a specially built casket at Ridge Park Cemetery in Marshall. A small white stone was erected over his grave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also see:
jimthewonderdog
wikipedia /wiki/Jim_the_Wonder_Dog
roadsideamerica /story/3603
facebook /pages/Jim-the-Wonder-Dog-Marshall-MO/314752328539733
Also on YouTube∼When Jim died, his owner Sam Van Arsdale requested that the remarkable Lewellyn setter be buried in Ridge Park Cemetery. The request was denied. However, he was buried just outside the cemetery fence. The future changed the interment's circumstance when the cemetery enlarged. Now Jim, the inexplicably psychic setter, is just inside the cemetery fence. His grave is reported to be the most visited in Ridge Park Cemetery. It is more than rare for a cemetery to have a well known dog with gravestone.
Some owners of supposedly psychic animals inadvertently and unknowingly cue their animals to give the right response. Such was the case of "Clever Hans," the horse that could do arithmetic problems. Yet some of Jim's accomplishments were beyond human cueing - things like predicting future events and apparently understanding Greek and French when his owner did not.
Jim's heritage became part of a Missouri legislative dog fight in 2012 when Johnson County's Old Drum was proposed for recognition as Missouri's Historic Dog. Old Drum was the inspiration for George Graham Vest's famous Warrensburg courtroom speech interpreted as demonstrating that a dog was a man's best friend. (Vest was at that time a lawyer in practice in Sedalia and later as a U.S. Senator kept a summer home in Sweet Springs.) Next, in defense of Jim's heritage, a bill favoring Jim was proposed in the 2012 legislature. A third dog bill was introduced, honoring Seaman, the Lewis and Clark expedition dog. The main fight was a stalemate between Johnson County backers of Old Drum and Saline County backers of Jim, and no dog bill passed that session.
More dog fighting in the legislature was averted later when legislation passed and was signed by the governor in 2017 designating Old Drum as the state historic dog and Jim as the Missouri wonder dog.
Llewellyn Setter, Superb Pointer, Both Telepathic and Psychic. The antics of the animal's mystical abilities remain a secret to this day sealed forever after the death of the Setter and his owner, Sam Van Arsdale. Many have owned telepathic pets that seem to know what we are thinking but never to the degree of "Jim the Wonder Dog," a title bestowed as the result of a revealing newspaper article. He began his life as any other dog bred to be a hunter. Van Arsdale purchased the pup from a breeder and placed him in a kennel for training. The black and white canine required little instruction as he instinctively knew the location of his quarry and his duties. His master's pantry was always full as he would bag over 5,000 quail while using the dog on hunting trips being declared by Outdoor Life magazine the "Hunting Dog of the Century." The Setter's psychic abilities were discovered during a hunting trip as he anticipated his masters thoughts such as "Let's sit in the shade of that hickory tree and rest." Jim quickly ran to a nearby hickory tree and sat. Other suggestions followed and he found many familiar objects including a tree stump. Sam would permanently settle in Marshal, Missouri acquiring a hotel located on the town square from where Jim would receive national attention after hearing of the animals abilities while hundreds witnessed the feats. Jim would indicate the answers to his master's commands by physically giving a sign. Initially, the requests were simple and resembled tricks. Van Arsdale would tell Jim to pick out a lady in a red dress or to go find the car with a certain license plate number and the canine would perform flawlessly, going to the red dress lady and the correct car. Jim's talents soon reached the over the horizon level after developing the ability to predict the future. He would reveal the winner of the 1936 World Series, presidential elections and the ultimate, with complete accuracy, the winners of horse and dog races. With the depression in full swing across the nation, this quickly brightened the hope of cash strapped Americans. However, Sam would never use this information for his benefit or share this knowledge with others. Jim picked the correct winners in seven consecutive Kentucky Derbies. Many tests by experts were administered to ascertain the integrity of the dog and determine a reason for the phenomenon. Jim performed before the Missouri Legislature in Jefferson City to prove his integrity and the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri observed his performances then gave him a physical and found nothing unusual or abnormal. The end came in the parking lot while the pair were on a fishing trip to a nearby lake. As the dog jumped from the car, he collapsed and fell to the ground. With feeble breathing, Van Arsdale rushed his pet to a nearby veterinary hospital in Sedalia, Missouri where he passed away at age eleven from a stroke. Jim's legacy...He has made Marshall, Missouri, a destination for tourist wanting to visit his grave. The Canine was buried outside the front cemetery fence of Ridge Park Cemetery. The need for burial space caused the cemetery to surround the grave of the dog. Originally denied a burial place in the cemetery, Jim is now officially interred in Ridge Park, now the number one visited grave. The dogs owner during his lifetime refused to make money from his famous pet other than expenses. Sam Van Arsdale Sam turned down a $364,000 offer from Paramount Studios and many other lucrative offers including a dog food company. However, the town of Marshall has taken advantage of the legacy of "Jim." to expand it's attraction toward tourism. In 1999, the city constructed a small memorial park called "Jim the Wonder Dog Memorial Park." A brick walkway enables one to take a self guided tour. After transversal of a bridge over a bubbling brook, one then proceeds past many plaque stations which describes in detail the dog's many achievements. At the center is a much larger than life statue of Jim. Town merchants and an official Jim website sell every thing from the dog's biography to look-a-like stuffed dogs, T-shirts, mugs, and official doggie dishes. His elaborate portrait hangs in the Marshall Inn, a prominent town hotel. The dog had the distinction of having been featured in "Ripley's Believe It or Not." Note: Please view the images of his plaques taken from the Memorial Park now in the photo gallery for more details of his demise and odyssey.∼Following information from:
jimthewonderdog
Jim the Wonder Dog was born in the Taylor Kennels in Louisiana on March 10, 1925. That year, Jim was sent as a gift to Samuel VanArsdale, of Marshall, Missouri, who operated the Ruff Hotel in Marshall. So what makes Jim such a "Wonder Dog"? Jim displayed signs of extremely high intelligence.
* Jim was able to pick out colors a person was wearing, although dogs are apparently color-blind.
* He could pick out a car by its owner, color, make, or license plate number.
* He could pick out a variety of trees or shrubs, name of a business, or the occupation or home of a stranger.
* As Jim could not speak, a variety of answers were written on slips of paper even in different languages and Jim would always pick out the correct one.
Jim became a hunting dog who knew which fields contained birds and which ones didn't. Mr. VanArsdale would let Jim choose the field in which to hunt and he was never disappointed.
Jim was examined at the University of Missouri by a group of veterinarians and scientists. Results of the examination were normal. He responded to their requests given in Italian, French, German and Spanish.
* Jim was taken before a Greek class and given several requests in Greek which he successfully answered.
* Jim picked the winner in the 1936 World Series.
* He correctly predicted that Roosevelt would be re-elected in 1936.
* He also correctly picked the winner in the Kentucky Derby for seven years.
* And most amazingly, he could predict accurately the sex of an unborn infant.
Sadly, Jim died at Sedalia, Missouri on March 18, 1937 and was buried in a specially built casket at Ridge Park Cemetery in Marshall. A small white stone was erected over his grave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also see:
jimthewonderdog
wikipedia /wiki/Jim_the_Wonder_Dog
roadsideamerica /story/3603
facebook /pages/Jim-the-Wonder-Dog-Marshall-MO/314752328539733
Also on YouTube∼When Jim died, his owner Sam Van Arsdale requested that the remarkable Lewellyn setter be buried in Ridge Park Cemetery. The request was denied. However, he was buried just outside the cemetery fence. The future changed the interment's circumstance when the cemetery enlarged. Now Jim, the inexplicably psychic setter, is just inside the cemetery fence. His grave is reported to be the most visited in Ridge Park Cemetery. It is more than rare for a cemetery to have a well known dog with gravestone.
Some owners of supposedly psychic animals inadvertently and unknowingly cue their animals to give the right response. Such was the case of "Clever Hans," the horse that could do arithmetic problems. Yet some of Jim's accomplishments were beyond human cueing - things like predicting future events and apparently understanding Greek and French when his owner did not.
Jim's heritage became part of a Missouri legislative dog fight in 2012 when Johnson County's Old Drum was proposed for recognition as Missouri's Historic Dog. Old Drum was the inspiration for George Graham Vest's famous Warrensburg courtroom speech interpreted as demonstrating that a dog was a man's best friend. (Vest was at that time a lawyer in practice in Sedalia and later as a U.S. Senator kept a summer home in Sweet Springs.) Next, in defense of Jim's heritage, a bill favoring Jim was proposed in the 2012 legislature. A third dog bill was introduced, honoring Seaman, the Lewis and Clark expedition dog. The main fight was a stalemate between Johnson County backers of Old Drum and Saline County backers of Jim, and no dog bill passed that session.
More dog fighting in the legislature was averted later when legislation passed and was signed by the governor in 2017 designating Old Drum as the state historic dog and Jim as the Missouri wonder dog.
jimthewonderdog
Jim the Wonder Dog was born in the Taylor Kennels in Louisiana on March 10, 1925. That year, Jim was sent as a gift to Samuel VanArsdale, of Marshall, Missouri, who operated the Ruff Hotel in Marshall. So what makes Jim such a "Wonder Dog"? Jim displayed signs of extremely high intelligence.
* Jim was able to pick out colors a person was wearing, although dogs are apparently color-blind.
* He could pick out a car by its owner, color, make, or license plate number.
* He could pick out a variety of trees or shrubs, name of a business, or the occupation or home of a stranger.
* As Jim could not speak, a variety of answers were written on slips of paper even in different languages and Jim would always pick out the correct one.
Jim became a hunting dog who knew which fields contained birds and which ones didn't. Mr. VanArsdale would let Jim choose the field in which to hunt and he was never disappointed.
Jim was examined at the University of Missouri by a group of veterinarians and scientists. Results of the examination were normal. He responded to their requests given in Italian, French, German and Spanish.
* Jim was taken before a Greek class and given several requests in Greek which he successfully answered.
* Jim picked the winner in the 1936 World Series.
* He correctly predicted that Roosevelt would be re-elected in 1936.
* He also correctly picked the winner in the Kentucky Derby for seven years.
* And most amazingly, he could predict accurately the sex of an unborn infant.
Sadly, Jim died at Sedalia, Missouri on March 18, 1937 and was buried in a specially built casket at Ridge Park Cemetery in Marshall. A small white stone was erected over his grave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~~
Also see:
jimthewonderdog
wikipedia /wiki/Jim_the_Wonder_Dog
roadsideamerica /story/3603
facebook /pages/Jim-the-Wonder-Dog-Marshall-MO/314752328539733
Also on YouTube∼When Jim died, his owner Sam Van Arsdale requested that the remarkable Lewellyn setter be buried in Ridge Park Cemetery. The request was denied. However, he was buried just outside the cemetery fence. The future changed the interment's circumstance when the cemetery enlarged. Now Jim, the inexplicably psychic setter, is just inside the cemetery fence. His grave is reported to be the most visited in Ridge Park Cemetery. It is more than rare for a cemetery to have a well known dog with gravestone.
Some owners of supposedly psychic animals inadvertently and unknowingly cue their animals to give the right response. Such was the case of "Clever Hans," the horse that could do arithmetic problems. Yet some of Jim's accomplishments were beyond human cueing - things like predicting future events and apparently understanding Greek and French when his owner did not.
Jim's heritage became part of a Missouri legislative dog fight in 2012 when Johnson County's Old Drum was proposed for recognition as Missouri's Historic Dog. Old Drum was the inspiration for George Graham Vest's famous Warrensburg courtroom speech interpreted as demonstrating that a dog was a man's best friend. (Vest was at that time a lawyer in practice in Sedalia and later as a U.S. Senator kept a summer home in Sweet Springs.) Next, in defense of Jim's heritage, a bill favoring Jim was proposed in the 2012 legislature. A third dog bill was introduced, honoring Seaman, the Lewis and Clark expedition dog. The main fight was a stalemate between Johnson County backers of Old Drum and Saline County backers of Jim, and no dog bill passed that session.
More dog fighting in the legislature was averted later when legislation passed and was signed by the governor in 2017 designating Old Drum as the state historic dog and Jim as the Missouri wonder dog.
Bio by: Donald Greyfield
Inscription
JIM THE WONDER DOG
1925 ~ 1937
JIM
THE WONDER DOG
MAR. 10, 1925
MAR. 18, 1937
Sponsored by Ancestry
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