Kentucky has been electing dogs as mayor since 1998

2020. The mayoralty of Rabbit Hash, a Kentucky village of some three hundred people, is won by a French bulldog called Wilbur Beast, with more than thirteen thousand votes. There is no rigging: each vote costs a dollar and you may buy as many as you like.

2016. Brynneth Pawltro, a pit bull, wins. That year the general store burns down, an 1831 timber building that was almost the whole town centre. The money from the canine elections helps put it back up.

2008. Lucy Lou takes office, a border collie who lasts eight years in the job and retires announcing that she is running for President of the United States.

1998. A mutt called Goofy becomes the first dog mayor of the village. The idea was to raise funds for the local historical society.

The post is honorary and carries not one single power, which is exactly what reassures the neighbours most: they have had twenty-eight years of mayors who have never signed a by-law.