Did a dog really walk the whole Lewis and Clark expedition?
Yes. His name was Seaman, a Newfoundland bought in Pittsburgh in 1803 for twenty dollars, and he was the only animal to complete the entire journey to the Pacific Ocean and back. In this episode of Our Next Collar, Seaman tells the long walk himself: the night patrols, the swimming antelope, the buffalo he turned away from a sleeping camp, and the honest fact that nobody ever wrote down how his story ended.
History remembers the famous. Their pets remember the person. On Our Next Collar, a brown tabby cat named Prince MoRee reaches the pets of history. One of them tells what they really saw. Tonight, a very large, very tired dog who walked from the middle of the country to the ocean and back, and stayed the whole time. True, surprising, and funnier than history has any right to be. Great for curious kids and the grown-ups listening with them.
This episode is fully scripted and has passed the Talking With Pets accuracy review. The recording is in production. The audio player and the full transcript will appear right here the day the episode goes live. Join the founding list below and we will write to you when it does.
From the episode
Roxie: (steady, not rushing) Wait. Go back. You turned a buffalo.
Seaman: I turned a buffalo. I am a very large dog and I was extremely motivated.
Roxie: (a small pause; letting it sit) That is a real thing you did.
[Prince MoRee makes a note, then underlines it.]
Seaman, the twenty dollars in Pittsburgh in 1803, the whole journey to the Pacific and back, the night patrols, and the buffalo he turned away are real. The telling is ours.
Sources and further reading
- Seaman the Newfoundland: purchased by Meriwether Lewis in Pittsburgh, 1803, for twenty dollars; the only animal to complete the entire expedition. National Park Service; Discover Lewis & Clark. nps.gov
- Documented work: retrieving squirrels, geese, deer, and a swimming antelope; night patrols of camp; turning the buffalo that charged through the sleeping camp. The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition; National Park Service.
- The beaver bite that cut an artery and the captains' care until Seaman recovered; the 1806 taking and recovery on the return journey. Lewis's journal; National Park Service.
- The dog's true name, Seaman, established by Donald Jackson (1984) from the Seaman's Creek place-name.
- Seaman's fate after the expedition: unknown. The record ends, and no specific ending is documented.
All historical claims above were checked in the Talking With Pets accuracy review, most recently the full editorial pass of July 2026.
Did a dog really go on the Lewis and Clark expedition?
Yes. Seaman was a Newfoundland dog purchased by Captain Meriwether Lewis in Pittsburgh in 1803 for twenty dollars, about half a month of a captain's pay. He traveled with the expedition all the way to the Pacific Ocean and all the way back, and he was the only animal to complete the entire journey. Source: National Park Service; the expedition journals.
What did Seaman do on the expedition?
He worked. The journals record him retrieving squirrels, geese, deer, and once a swimming antelope for food, patrolling the edge of camp at night, and turning away a buffalo that charged through the sleeping camp in the dark. Source: the Lewis and Clark journals; National Park Service.
Was Seaman ever hurt on the journey?
Yes. A beaver he was retrieving bit through his leg and cut an artery, and he nearly died. Both captains cared for him until he recovered. In 1806, on the return journey, he was taken, and Lewis sent men to recover him. Source: Lewis's journal; National Park Service.
What happened to Seaman after the expedition?
Nobody knows. The record simply stops, and the honest answer is that his fate was never written down. The episode says so plainly, because sometimes the brave thing is to say we do not know instead of making something up.
What is Our Next Collar, and is it good for kids?
Our Next Collar is an educational history podcast for curious kids ages 6 to 10 and the grown-ups listening with them. A brown tabby cat named Prince MoRee reaches the pets of history, and one of them tells the true story of the person they knew. Every episode lists its sources and says plainly which parts are real and which are ours, which makes it a quiet lesson in how to weigh sources. It is a podcast from Talking With Pets.
Our Next Collar Ā· the true stories only the animals saw.
Chaco, Roxie, Moose, Prince MoRee, and Armando are getting the pilot ready. Join the founding list and we will write to you when the first episodes go live. Listen with someone you like.