Famous Dogs
Over the years there have been numerous amounts of famous dogs both fictional and real. These dogs have come to our attention in a number of ways, television shows, children’s comics, films, books and from being the pet of a famous owner!! Below we look at some of our most favourite and lovable canine friends.
Film dogs
Originally from the book Lassie Come home written by Eric Knight but know mostly known to all from the 1943 movie of the same name the Lassie dog is known to all generations. The original Lassie dog whose real name was Pal went on to star in 6 Lassie films with the company MGM since the first one in 1943, his owner Rudd Weatherwax, a Hollywood animal trainer, took the Lassie trademark and travelled around with his famous pet taking part in a number of fairs and rodeo events around America in the 50s. Then in 1954 a TV spin off series of the hit film was aired and lasted for 19 years winning an Emmy award, Pal starred in the first 2 pilots of the show and then retired and sadly died at the age of 18 in 1958. Pal has been described as having the most incredible canine career in film history. Since Pal’s death there have been a number of Rough Collie dogs who have taken on the famous role.
Pal was given to Weatherwax due to his owner being disappointed with him due to his love of chasing motorbikes; Weatherwax then gave Pal away to a friend but later heard about the making of the film Lassie and brought Pal back for $10.00. About 1,500 dogs auditioned for the part of Lassie and the part was originally given to an award winning collie, with Weatherwax as the trainer and Pal as the stunt double. However this all changed when Pal stood in for filming a scene in the flooding of the San Joaquin River in California. After his performance Pal was hired as Lassie and Weatherwax reported the director of the film had been so impressed and moved by Pal’s performance that he had tears in his eyes after. The Lassie film then got upgraded to an A film with advertising support, top publicity and it was also now going to be filmed in colour instead of the previous plan for black and white.
After Weatherwax and Pal left MGM having done 6 Lassie films they travelled around doing an 18 minute show, the Weatherwax and TV producer Robert Maxwell joined together to get Pal on TV. The TV series of Lassie was filmed with Lassie making the choice of who he’s fellow co-star would be, by spending time with the 3 finalist he picked 11 year old Tommy Rettig. After filming the two pilots for the series Pal retired and his son Lassie Junior stepped in, Pal still went to every filming and had a bed at the back of the studio, the actors recall how when Weatherwax was telling Lassie Jr what to do. Pal would be doing it in the background along with his son.
After Pals death in 1958 Weatherwax was said to have gone in and out of depression due to missing his canine friend but he later released a book about Pal’s life before and after the spotlight.
Toto is the famous pooch of Dorothy Gale in the film The Wizard of Oz, the film was also a book in which featured a number of other animals who all spoke, but Toto remained the only one who didn’t speak. However this is explained in the book Tik-Tok of Oz when Toto revels that just like the other animals he can speak, but he chooses not to, however in spin off books Toto does talk a lot. In the original book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Toto’s breed was never actually mentioned and it was only due to the pictures that people came to the conclusion that he was a Cairn Terrier, however some people argued he was a Yorkshire Terrier, Toto also appears as a Boston Terrier in later books, and has since returned to his original looks.
Toto was played by a Cairn Terrier called Terry in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz and was in fact a girl! Terry was 6 years old when she played the famous role of Toto and almost died during the filming due to a crew member standing on her paw and breaking it, during her time as Toto she spent 2 weeks living with co-star Judy Garland to grow close to her and it was reported that Judy offered to adopt Terry from her owner Carl Spitz because she had grown that fond of her, however the offer was turned down.
Terry was one of the highest paid in the film getting $125 a week and went along to the Hollywood premiere of the film due to its huge popularity, Spitz changed Terry’s name to Toto in 1942. Terry didn’t just star in The Wizard of Oz in fact she appeared in 12 other films and had a number of famous co-stars including Shirley Temple in the 1934 film Bright Eyes. Sadly the pooch died during the end to World War II and was buried on the grounds of Spitz’s house, however it was reported that dog was actually stuffed and auctioned off in 1996 for $3,680.
TV dogs
Since Blue Peter hit our TV screens in 1958 they have had a number of dogs that have become stars in their own rights. The first dog and in fact the first Blue Peter pet was a mixed breed pooch called Petra, she first appeared on our screens in 1962 and had her last appearance on the show in 1977. Petra was known for being a very nervous dog and so when presenter Peter Purves joined the show it was suggested that he became Petra’s full time keeper to help her relax, and so she went on to live with him. Petra lost her teeth at a young age and Peter was quoted saying that it was actually a good thing as she had a temper and would often ‘gum you to death’ if she got the chance. Petra had a number of pups with one of them, Patch being the pooch that took over from her when she sadly died after being with Peter for over 6 years. There is a tree of remembrance in the Blue Peter garden for Petra.
Shep is probably the most famous Blue Peter dog; he was a border collie and was brought in to replace Patch when she suddenly died in 1971. Shep was known for being inseparable from presenter John Noakes who became his owner. Noakes was often heard saying ‘Get down Shep!’ due to the dog being extremely excitable; this phase became a catchphrase of the show with the band The Barron Knights even releasing a song with that as the title. When Noakes left the show in 1978 so did Shep, although Shep did previously belong to the BBC he was given to Noakes as a parting gift and they then went on to appear in the show Go with Noakes. Shep sadly died in 1987.
Goldie, a golden retriever who was owned by presenter Simon Groom was the next dog to appear on the show and was given her name by the Blue Peter viewers. Through-out Goldie’s time on the show she appeared alongside 8 other Blue Peter presenters, and she was the first golden retriever to appear on the show. Goldie along with Simon Groom after given birth, with one of her pups Bonnie taking over from her. Goldie died at the age of 14 in April 2001.
Blue Peter current dog is an Irish SetterDachshun cross called Barney; he is 12 months old and first joined in September 2009 after he was given to presenter Helen Skelton by the Dogs Trust, making him the shows 9th dog.
Buster belongs to comedian and presenter Paul O’Grady; he is a Shih Tuzu/Bichon Frise crossbreed. Buster become extremely well know from his appearance on the chat show The Paul O’Grady Show, Buster would be on the show for the first 5 minutes alongside host and owner Paul O’Grady. Buster became so popular with the viewers that they even added a segment into the show where celebrities on the show would pick a name out of a tumbler and the winners would will a nodding Buster.
When the shoe moved over to channel 4 Buster was also joined by Pauls other dog Olga, a Cairn Terrier, the show’s production company is names ‘Olga TV’ after Pauls pooch. In November 2009 it was announced that Olga would now become the full replacement of Buster who was said to have gone into retirement from show businesses. Sadly it was then announced only a few weeks later that Buster had passed away after being put down due to having cancer, it was revealed that Buster was in so much pain that unfortunately this was the best thing to do for him. Paul was said to be completely gutted at the lost of his friend, and this was shown when on the show he spoke about his loss and when he introduced a video showing Busters best bits on the show he had to leave the set whilst it played due to it being ‘too upsetting’ for him to watch.