Dog Names Ending in se

Bamse is the Scandinavian word for giant teddy bear, which really fits this huge Saint Bernard hero. Bamse grew up on the Northern tip of Norway on Mageroy, North Cape Island. The Hafto family, who lived in the little village of Honningsvag, owned Bamse and he enjoyed living with the Captain and his family of four children and Mrs. Hafto. The Captain had a whaling ship that was drafted into the service of the Royal Norwegian Navy in WWII where Bamse spent a lot of his time. 

The gentle giant became an official war dog in 1940 when the ship was turned into a minesweeper and stationed in Montrose and Dundee. At almost 200 pounds, Bamse practically lived on the ship and spent a lot of time with the sailors whether they were on the ship on duty or off the ship on leave. If he did not get invited along with the shipmates, he would just walk to the bus stop and catch the bus to the Bodega Bar in Dundee, where the sailors always hung out. In fact, the sailors bought him a bus pass that he wore around his neck.

There were many times on the ship and off that Bamse would help keep the sailors out of trouble by calming them down and leading them back to the ship when they had too much to drink. There are many stories of bravery and heroism from the sailors such as the time Bamse stopped a mugging of one of his shipmates by jumping on the man and pushing him into the water. In 1942, one of the sailors fell overboard, and nobody saw it but Bamse. The tide was high, and the man was intoxicated, so he was having trouble getting out of the water, and Bamse jumped in and kept him afloat while he barked until help came. 

But Bamse was a hero a long time before he got onto a ship. When he was still living at home with the Hafto family, one of the children got sick, and Bamse stayed with her day and night for 12 days. He would not let anyone near her except her parents and stayed there the whole time watching over her. Bamse lived on the ship until his death in 1944. His coffin was draped with the Norwegian flag with his sailor’s hat placed on top and he was buried in the sand dunes on the banks of the South Esk River with full military honors. In 2006, the Duke of York had a bronze statue of Bamse placed on Wharf Street to honor him, so he will never be forgotten.