Dog Team Profile

Remembering Huey

Huey Potato the Frenchie — March 3, 2016 to July 31, 2026. A beloved SitStayRead reading dog, remembered with love by the Finnegan family. 

In Loving Memory

Huey Potato the Frenchie

Huey worked as a SitStayRead reading dog, helping kids in Chicago classrooms build confidence and comfort through reading. He is remembered by the Finnegan family, and by the students and volunteers who read alongside him.

Blue animal paw prints of various sizes scattered on a plain white background, with the largest print on the left and smaller prints trailing to the right.
A cream-colored French Bulldog wearing a blue bandana looks at the camera, head slightly tilted, against a gray wall and carpeted floor.
A woman and a boy smile at the camera while petting a white bulldog wearing a blue bandana. They are indoors, sitting on the floor.
A woman and a girl sit in a classroom petting a French Bulldog that is sitting on a colorful blanket. Books, backpacks, and classroom materials are visible in the background.
A light-colored French bulldog in a blue bandana stands over an open picture book showing a dog illustration, inside a classroom.

A Letter from Huey’s Family

August 2, 2026
 
Dearest family and friends,
 
On Friday, our beloved dog, Huey Potato the Frenchie, passed away after a brief illness brought on due to complications from cancer treatment.  The Finnegan family is devastated by the loss.  Huey joined our family in 2016. At the time, we were starting to think about having kids. Little did we know how hard that would be. Huey was the constant in our lives throughout this period of doctors’ appointments, treatments, hospital stays. He dursed (dog-nursed) Tara back to health in 2021 and he was a constant presence with each baby, always keeping guard.  
 

Huey was born to be a show dog; this might have been the one thing he failed at in life as he was far too large to fall within the weight limit of the French Bulldog breed standard. Instead, Huey lived a life full of love and service. He served as a therapy dog for SitStayRead; a program that brings dogs into Chicago classrooms to help build reading confidence. He was also an original Instagram Influencer,  bringing smiles to his 12,000 followers around the world.

 
If Huey had one downfall, it was his predilection for “dietary indiscretions”. Simply put, Huey ate everything and anything – edible or not – that was within his reach. Most famously, Huey decided to partake in 3 separate Lego sets. We stopped counting Legos passing through him well after surpassing 100. While Huey was hardly a scent hound or a sight hound, he did have the uncanny ability to hear the opening of a banana peel (banana was his favorite food) from more than 2 floors away while soundly asleep. We always marveled at how fast he got to the kitchen after hearing that. He could even peel his own banana, despite lacking opposable thumbs.  
 
Finally, a note on dogs. It is a mystery as to why we as humans choose to love another thing so deeply that is so mismatched in terms of lifespans. Why not a mini-donkey (25-40 years), a parrot (50-80 years), a Galapagos Tortoise (150+ years)? Alas, it is a great unknown.  Though we are grieving, one thing holds true; a timeless truth from Winnie the Pooh: “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” Please hug your dogs, cats, pets, or people in memory of Huey for us today. And enjoy a banana in his honor.  
 
With love, Sean, Tara, J.J., and Josie 

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