PORTLAND, Maine — The theme of the November issue of “Down East” magazine is straightforward: Mainers and their pets. It’s a simple phrase, but one that covers a lot of ground.

Consider Governor Percival Baxter, whose Irish setter Garry is included in the magazine’s Pets Hall of Fame. How attached was Baxter to this dog? Well, when Garry died, Baxter directed that flags across the state be lowered to half-staff.

Another inductee in the Pets Hall of Fame, Togus the coon cat, first achieved fame while padding around in the background — and sometimes the foreground — as Don Carrigan did live shots from his kitchen for Storm Center.

Weighing in at 26 pounds and sporting a luxuriant coat, Togus was hard to miss. As his fame grew, he became the subject of his own Facebook page and made publ

See Full Page