Mayor of Eugene Kaarin Knudson says, “‘The fifth member of our family,’ is probably the best way to describe him.” 

Running a city is no easy task, but sometimes coming home from City Hall to a loving pup or cat — mostly pups, as it turns out — makes being a mayor a little easier. Eugene Weekly reached out to mayors of cities around Lane County for their pet tales.

Knudson’s dog, Marten, is a German shepherd and Lab mix her family rescued from a humane society in Northern California during the first year of the pandemic. 

She calls Marten a “super mutt,” and says he is an interesting blend of different dog breeds. 

“He has some of the vigilance of the German shepherd, and he’s got the kind of goofy, ready-for-anything quality of a Labrador. And he’s ready to run as long as we want to go.” 

Before getting Marten, Knudson and her family were eager to get a family pet. When she and her daughters drove out to the Modoc County Humane Society, she explained that if Marten didn’t seem like a good fit, they would make sure he got a good home. Upon seeing Marten, Knudson and her daughters knew he was the dog for them. 

“I’m sure everyone feels this way about their dogs, but we really feel like we found a family member when we found him, and he’s perfect for us,” she says.

Sean VanGordon, mayor of Springfield, has an almost 2-year-old silver Labrador named Marcus who is around 93 pounds. VanGordon says he is a big dog for his breed and that they probably picked the biggest dog from the litter of around 10 silver Labs. One of VanGordon’s friends from college adopted another pup from the same pack, so they still have puppy play dates. 

VanGordon and his family call Marcus a variety of nicknames, but their favorites include “the Destroyer” or “the Monster.” 

VanGordon says Marcus is full of class clown energy, and helps his family be more active in their day-to-day lives. “If the Ducks could recruit somebody with his level of energy for middle linebacker, they would do it in a heartbeat,” VanGordon says. 

Maureen Weathers, mayor of Lowell, has a 10-year-old black Lab named Whitney and a fox terrier mix, around four years old, named Sadie. Whitney has been low energy ever since she was a puppy, so Sadie is always the life of the party — high-strung, always chasing butterflies and checking who is at the front door. 

Weathers’ favorite everyday activity to do with her dogs is going on walks around Dexter Lake. “Nature is important to me, and they like it, too. So that’s good for the soul,” she says.

Weathers met her husband, Warren, when she was the mayor of Springfield and he was the mayor of Lowell. When they met, she had a yellow Lab, and he had a chocolate Lab. That birthed a long tradition of them having Labs, and Whitney has been a loving companion to her since Warren passed around four years ago. 

She says, “My favorite part about having a dog is coming home and they greet you like they haven’t seen you forever, even if it was five minutes ago.”

Bryan Cutchen, mayor of Oakridge, has a rescue Boston terrier mix named Bella, who is around six. Cutchen and his wife rescued Bella from euthanasia around three years ago when he found out someone with health complications was planning on putting down the dog because they could not take care of her. 

Cutchen characterizes Bella as a bodyguard and particularly protective of his spouse. Cutchen also currently looks after Pablo, a 6-year-old beagle-chow mix who is staying with Cutchen until his daughter comes back from the Navy around December, and Mika, a Catahoula leopard from Louisiana, who will stay with Cutchen for the next four years while his son attends language school in Europe. 

Bella is the athlete of the family, and Pablo is more of a detective. 

“It’s wonderful because number one, I’m in my 60s, and they get you out every single day on a walk, so that’s healthy,” Cutchen says. “You can take them and be in the middle of nowhere, and it’s great. You can let them off the leash, and they can have such a great time. So they help in my exercise routine, and then they’re just a pleasure to have at home and be able to connect with.”

Richard Watson, mayor of Westfir, has a 16-year-old Jack Russell terrier named Jax. Watson characterizes Jax as a “little professor,” saying, “He’s very inquisitive. He’s always wanting to know what you’re doing, and especially me, because we’re pretty close. He follows me around almost lockstep. Always on attention, always looking, trying to see how he can help.”

Watson and his family have had Jax since he was around three. He says he and his wife had reservations to stay at Diamond Lake Resort and they brought Jax to enjoy the adventure. On the way there, they had car issues, and needed to pull off to the side of the road. 

After working on it for a while, Watson and his wife realized Jax got untied from the tree in all of the commotion. They searched for Jax, driving around for what Watson says felt like two hours before he came out from the clearing where they had originally broken down, just before it was getting dark.

Once everything had settled down, they finished their drive and started unloading the car when Jax ran away again. Diamond Lake’s policy stated that dogs weren’t allowed off-leash or out of their owner’s supervision. After not being able to find Jax again, the camp supervisor came by and let Watson and his wife know that the dog was in the lodge’s kitchen making a mess. Watson says after retrieving Jax, they went to bed and left early the next day to avoid getting a black mark next to their names. 

Edward McGuire, mayor of Dunes City, has a 17-year-old dark tortie calico cat named Susie and a 7-year-old white and black cat named Colbert, inspired by Stephen Colbert. Susie is independent and doesn’t like a ton of outside attention, while Colbert is more of a snuggler. Since McGuire retired and became mayor, having animals fills his day-to-day life with more activity. “They keep you motivated,” he says. “You got to get up, you got to feed them.” 

McGuire also has Lily, an almost 13-year-old Chihuahua-terrier mix named Lily. One day, McGuire saw a dog eating out of his neighbor’s trash can around 6 am. “I knew the neighbor didn’t have a dog, and then the next day she was up the street, and the next day, she was in the backyard next door to my house,” McGuire says. 

The house next door was vacant and being renovated, and after seeing Lily running around, McGuire and his family decided to capture her. “At first she was very nervous, but as soon as we got her, she was totally calm, and has been here ever since.” 

Eugene Weekly also reached out to Nick Smith, mayor of Creswell, who said he lacked time and pets. The pet status of Candace Solsbee, mayor of Cottage Grove; Rob Ward, mayor of Florence; Robbie McCoy, mayor of Veneta; Ken Wells, mayor of Junction City; and Nancy Bell, mayor of Coburg is unknown as they didn’t respond to the Weekly’s Pets Issue interview request.