Tonight at 9 MPT airs a one-hour special, Citizen Schaefer, that relates the extraordinary political career of William Donald Schaefer. While Baltimore Sun TV critic David Zurawik praised the documentary for its satisfying telling of Schaefer's 50-year political career, there's one side of Schaefer the biographers left out: William Donald Schaefer, the pet owner.

Today I visited the former governor in his home at the Charlestown  retirement community to find out about his newest animal companion, an orange and white long-haired mixed breed cat named Willie IV.

It should be noted, that Willie I, II and III were dogs. In fact, according to Schaefer, all the dogs and cats he had were named Willie after his father. Schaefer took Willie IV in to live with him after the cat was abandoned at Charlestown several months ago.

"I mostly had dogs," Schaefer confides, "I'm more of a dog person." Ceramics of dogs, a decorative plate with a picture of a black lab and a photo of Schaefer holding one of his dogs are on display in his living room. 

He fondly remembers his black labs, including the one that lived with him in the governor's mansion in Annapolis. Willie the dog loved to charge out of the mansion and frighten pedestrians walking nearby, Schaefer said.

Willie IV, however,  turns out to be more ferocious. Schaefer says the cat has scratched him several times. "Cats don't like me," the governor says.

Two-year-old Willie IV enjoys sleeping and looking out the sixth-floor window of Schaefer's apartment. Schaefer says the cat sleeps with him, and eats "everything."

Schaefer said he appreciates how clean and pretty his cat is, but after being in charge of running Baltimore and Maryland, the former governor seems a bit perplexed as to how to deal with the independent-minded Willie. "She never does anything I say," he says.

Check back here tomorrow to see a video of Willie and hear Schaefer talk about his pets.

Top Photo: William Donald Schaefer and Willie IV. Photo by Ken Lam, Baltimore Sun Staff

Bottom Photo: Mayor Schaefer bids farewell to his dog before leaving for City Hall in 1971. Baltimore Sun file photo.