*Photograph © Buccacio Sculpture Services
His name is Jimmy, and he is training to become the next Boston Marathon Dog.
Like Spencer, the much-loved original Marathon Dog who died of cancer in February 2023, Jimmy is a Golden Retriever. Like Spencer, also, he belongs to Richard and Dorrie Powers of Holliston, Massachusetts, a town near the start of the world-famous race. GOFI Dogs of Walpole, Massachusetts GOFIdog.org, a service dog training program, gave Jimmy and his little sister, Jade, to Powers so that another Marathon Dog could continue to cheer on the runners—and give the marathoners the pleasure of greeting him.
Spencer always stood along the route holding a Marathon Boston Strong flag in memory of the bombing of the Marathon in 2013, and Powers is training Jimmy to do the same. Jimmy is one year old; his sister, Jade, is three months old. Jimmy, like Spencer, will be a trained therapy dog.
“He can hold the flag while I’m training him in our driveway,” says Powers, laughing. “I’m not sure if he will hold it when he sees 20,00 runners go by.”
There is now a statue of Spencer along the Marathon route. The Morris Animal Foundation is conducting research to help cure cancer in dogs. https://morrisanimalfoundation.org/golden-retriever-lifetime-study
Spencer will always be in our hearts, and soon Jimmy will be there too.