Newtown Crowns Dog Royalty: King Ellis And Queen Misty

By Shannon Hicks

After two and a half weeks of voting, Newtown’s two top dogs have been selected.

Misty, a 6½-year-old Blue Merle Shetland sheepdog, has been named Queen, and Ellis, a yellow Labrador retriever who will celebrate his third birthday on September 20, is the King.

Newtown will get to meet these two when they make their first official appearance on Monday. Dick Button will drive these two royal canines in the 43rd Annual Newtown Labor Day Parade, which steps off at 10 am. Mr Button won the men’s figure skating gold medal at both the 1948 and 1952 Olympic games and was the first skater ever to complete the triple loop in competition.

King Ellis and Queen Misty will ride, with their owners, in a 1966 Ford Mustang owned by Bee Publisher R. Scudder Smith, and they will be just behind this year’s Grand Marshal, Gordon Williams. The winning dogs will be followed by their royal court, made up of the remaining nine queen and nine king finalists. Those dogs will be walking the parade route with their owners.

This is the first win in any kind of contest for both King Ellis and Queen Misty.

Rules The Roost

Misty lives in Sandy Hook with her mistress, Maureen Donnel. Misty’s birthday is March 24, the same her mistress’s father. Misty was originally going to live with Mrs Donnel’s father in his condo in New York City, in fact, but a few weeks into that residence it was decided that she might be happier where she could run and be outdoors more. So Misty moved to Sandy Hook when she was 6 months old — becoming the first dog Maureen has ever owned — and has been happily living here since.

“She’s a dominant dog, but she’s really pretty gentle,” says Mrs Donnel. “She’ll keep an eye on everything that’s happening here. She chases deer, birds, and squirrels, but she wouldn’t hurt any of them.”

“She definitely rules the roost,” added neighbor and part-time dog-sitter Toby Bender.

Misty’s favorite food is Innova dog food with steamed fresh green beans. Her favorite treats are Nutro biscuits, although sometimes she gets her mistress to share pizza crust with her as well.

She enjoys playing Frisbee when she’s in the mood and the weather isn’t too hot. She also likes playing what her mistress calls “Gimme That Toy.”

“We’ll run from one end of the house to the other, trying to get a toy from each other,” says Maureen. Misty’s favorite toy is Red Dog, a stuffed animal.

“One of her pet peeves is seeing people leave,” said Mrs Bender. “As soon as you get near the front door, she starts barking.”

Misty, who has one brown eye and one blue eye, is very much people- and animal-oriented. She sometimes goes by the name of Misty Wiggly.

“She loves going to Petco,” says Maureen. “She sees all her friends there.”

Loves People,              Hates Squirrels

King Ellis is also a very people-oriented dog. He loves people, and hates squirrels.

Ellis is the canine member of the Mais family in Newtown. His owners are Chris and Steve Mais, and their children, Leah and Stephen. Born shortly after the events of 9/11, the Maises wanted their dog’s name to be something that would tie him to New York.

No one knows where his dislike of squirrels came from, but it’s something with which he is strongly identified.

“There are no long-tail squirrels around here,” laughed Chris Mais. “He’ll watch them in the backyard from inside the house, and then we’ll open the front door for him. He sneaks out the front door, goes running around the side of the house, and sneaks up on them when they’re in the bird feeder.

“He’s yet to catch one, but he keeps trying. Even the neighbors have been known to call out to him. They see a squirrel and we’ll hear ‘Hey Ellis, squirrel!’ and he goes running,” she said.

“Oh yeah, he hates squirrels,” confirmed Leah Mais. “And he eats flies.”

When he’s not controlling the squirrel and fly population, Ellis enjoys corned beef. His favorite treats are Cheweez, although Leah says he also enjoys biscuits from Stew Leonard’s. Ellis likes playing with a red Kong (a bone-shaped plastic toy), and he races cars when they drive past his house.

“He doesn’t chase them, he races them,” Chris said. “It’s hilarious to watch. He knows he’s in a race, and he keeps trying to win.”

Ellis also watches television.

“He’s smart,” says Stephen Mais. “He likes to watch TV, especially anything with dogs.”

“He loves Animal Planet,” added Chris.

While the Maises have nicknamed their dog Mookie and Stupie Duke, one neighbor prefers to call him Mayor.

“Ellis knows everything that’s going on around here,” swears Chris. “He watches everything, and he takes it all in.

“He’s always outside. He knows the FedEx guy and the UPS guy, and they know him. He keeps an eye on all of us.”

Keep an eye out for King Ellis and Queen Misty on Monday. They’ll be the ones in the white mustang wearing the gold crowns.