Award-winning canine historian Brian Patrick Duggan will share colorful stories about the famous Custers and their love of dogs at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West on Wednesday, June 19. The free talk begins at noon in the center’s Coe Auditorium in Cody and will be followed by a book signing.

Based on Duggan’s recent book, “General Custer, Libbie Custer and Their Dogs: A Passion for Hounds, from the Civil War to Little Bighorn,” the presentation reveals the little-known history of General George Armstrong Custer and his wife Libbie as wholehearted dog lovers. At the time of Custer’s death at Little Bighorn in 1876, the couple owned a rollicking pack of 40 hunting dogs.

Told from a dog owner’s perspective, Duggan’s biography not only tells the story of the Custers and their dogs during the Civil War, Texas, Kansas and Dakota Territory, and the aftermath of Little Bighorn — but is a fascinating look at Army life and dogs on the frontier. The re-homing of the Custers’ dog pack after his death was the first national dog rescue effort.

In addition to “General Custer, Libbie Custer and the Their Dogs,” Duggan has also published “Saluki: The Desert Hound and the English Travelers Who Brought It to the West,” as well as numerous articles on canine history. He has presented his canine research at international conferences. A retired university technology educator, Duggan is currently an American Kennel Club judge as well as an editor for McFarland Publishers.

Duggan and his wife, Wendy, live with their own hounds in California, and, in his words, “belong to that special brand of idiot who cannot turn a dog out of a chair even if we require it ourselves.”