Here's a little page dedicated to a famous 
dog:Lassie. You probably know her and seen her on TV there's no
doubt about that. I just tough it would be fun to have a brief
history of this wonderful dog.





The first screen Lassie almost never was. When the screenplay 
for the highly successful book "Lassie Come Home", by Eric 
Knight, was ready, young Rudd Weatherwax took Pal for an 
audition but was turned down. 



You see, Pal was not a show collie. Pal had belonged to someone else and had brought him to Rudd to be trained. Among his bad 
habits was chasing motorcycles. Rudd cured Pal of all his 
behavior problems except the motorcycles and Pal's owner had no 
use for him and could not pay the $10 fee and asked Rudd to take
him. Rudd placed Pal in a foster home, with the understanding he 
could get him back if he needed him for a movie. 


Rudd was no stranger to animal training, having trained Asta and
other famous acts. 



He knew Pal was Lassie but the studio had other ideas and wanted 
a show collie instead. 


Rudd went back home invigorated and began to work heavily with 
Pal, feeding him a special diet to bring out his coat and
teaching him all of the trademark Lassie "tricks". Again Rudd 
went back to the studio and was turned down, but they agreed to 
use Pal as a stunt dog. 



During filming, the script called for the collie to swim across 
a raging river, come out on the other side looking exhausted and 
near death. The show collie wouldn't go near the water. 


Here was Pal's chance! On cue from Rudd, Pal jumped into the 
raging river, swam desperately to the other side and dragged 
himself up on the shore, collapsing and lying still as if dead. 
Pal's performance was truly emotional. 



With that, the director said, "Pal may have gone into the water, 
but it was Lassie that came out!". The show dog was replaced by 
Pal and Pal went on to be the first of a long line of Weatherwax 
bred and trained Lassie's.


Rudd's son Robert carries on the tradition of Lassie, having 
started at an early age and continues to protect the Lassie 
image and amaze us all with Lassie's overwhelming performances.



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