Olympic Dogs!

Beacon the Therapy Dog at (Photo – Club Champion Gymnastics Pasadena)

A Pasadena golden retriever, Beacon, was an honorary “member” of the American women’s gymnastics team.

By Christopher Bonin

Since May 2023, a Pasadena golden retriever named Beacon has been an honorary “member” of the American women’s gymnastics team, their support dog and unofficial mascot.

Yves and Will, two French Gendarmerie K-9 officers, hoped they would meet Beacon in Paris. Unfortunately, he did not accompany the athletes to Paris for the Olympic Games. He stayed in Pasadena with his owner Tracey Callahan Molnar, former rhythmic gymnastics coach.

In 2021, 2023 and 2024, steles and a monument were built in Paris to pay tribute to war animals

In Paris, you might come across the patrol officers Yves and Will in the company of their dogs, Tirock and Rock. Yves regularly carries out missions in France as Fire Marshal with his dog Tirock. Will’s nickname is “Roll” because his dog is called “Rock”.

Dogs have made history in France and in the U.S.A.

• Sergeant Stubby, an American military dog, courageously carried out major missions alongside soldiers during the First World War in France. On his return to America, he became a celebrity and even met Presidents Wilson, Coolidge and Harding.
• Who was the first Warner Brothers canine movie star? A French dog named Rin Tin Tin!

During the First World War, in France, Corporal Lee Duncan adopted RinTinTin as a mascot. On his return to California, Duncan met with managers from Warner studios. The hero dog starred in about thirty films. When Rin Tin Tin died in 1932 in America, Duncan brought him back to France to be buried in the dog cemetery (founded in 1899) in Asnières sur Seine (Paris region). Rin Tin Tin also has his star on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.