San Francisco's first celebrity dogs

• Police had permission to shoot dogs on sight that were in violation of the ordinance, and residents began putting poisoned meat scraps on the street.

Bummer and Lazarus, however, avoided the ire of the city — and even got an exemption from the ordinance.

• Bummer, a black and white Newfoundland mix, first captured people's attention with his daily itinerary patrolling businesses along Montgomery Street.
• He became acquainted with Lazarus, whom newspapers described as a mixed breed with terrier and hound features, after Bummer rescued him from a bigger dog's attack.
• They were inseparable thereafter, sleeping wrapped around each other every night.

Of note: The two became larger than life once reporters began writing stories about their adventures, which included killing rats, breaking into a jewelry store and stopping a runaway horse and cart.

• When the local dog-catcher picked up Lazarus in June 1862, local merchants and their customers quickly pitched in money to free him from the pound.
• Wanting to protect the pair permanently, their fans drew up a petition requesting that the city consecrate the dogs as property so they'd be "exempted from taxation or destruction."

• Carrying hundreds of signatures, the petition was quickly granted, giving them free rein in the city.

What they said: Bummer and Lazarus were "two dogs with but a single bark, two tails that wagged as one," the Daily Evening Bulletin later wrote in an obituary for Lazarus, who died in 1863 after eating poisoned meat.

• Bummer lived for two more years before he was kicked down a flight of stairs by a drunkard who was apprehended and later punched by his cellmate for his actions.