Dog catchers generally are as unpopular as a repo man, and that was often the case in the capital city when Eleanor "Ellie" Bartels held that post.
Bartels, 83 and now living in Phoenix, served from 1961 to late 1968, and she has some fond and not-so-fond memories of the experience.
"I would get beat up by (little children) with all the kids climbing on my back and swatted by baseball bats," when removing dogs from school playgrounds, she recalled. "It was a nightmare."
Bartels noted that the youngsters just wanted to play with the animals and conceded if she had been their ages she would probably have done the same thing.
I spoke by telephone with Bartels recently and learned she has retired from her highly successful longtime career breeding and showing boxers. She also served as handler at dog shows.
When Bartels first became dog catcher - she had been working for the state and was drafted for the position - there was a new city ordinance requiring that all dogs be licensed and controlled. The impetus for that law was incidents of bands of dogs, sometimes as many as 20, running down Carson Street. About four years later the somewhat controversial leash law was enacted.
Bartels didn't play favorites. She caught and impounded two dogs belonging to one of our governors that were running away from the Mansion grounds.
"I'd just kind of catch them by the tail as they ran by," she said.
At the beginning, Bartels had to make do with a "lousy old panel truck with just one cage in it, and it was a challenge trying to round up a number of dogs without losing some out," she recalled.
Bartels was a one-woman show who worked 24/7 and eventually got a helper a few years into the job.
While the dog catcher didn't earn any points with residents who objected to having their pets picked up, her caring, gentle treatment of those canines made many of them her biggest fans.
Often, she said, dogs would run after her vehicle in the hopes of getting a ride in what she referred to as "the puppy wagon" or maybe to be with her. She said she didn't want to "penalize them because that would have been entrapment" so she would just drive them home.
Other times she would find dogs waiting to greet her when she arrived at the pound, curled up on the front step.
Carson City was well served by the humane, dedicated and hardworking Ellie Bartels.
• Sue Morrow is a longtime journalist and member of the Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame. She may be reached at soozymorrow@yahoo.com.