Daisy: Blondie and Dagwood's Dog

When the popular comic strip Blondie started its long-running film series (1938-1950), Spooks played the part of the family dog Daisy.

Penny Singleton (Blondie), Spooks (Daisy) and Arthur Lake (Dagwood)

Spooks, a male cocker spaniel/poodle/terrier mix, was born around 1937 and belonged to Rennie Renfro. Renfro, an animal trainer, rescued the dog from an LA animal shelter and gave him the name Spooks because of his timidness. With the help of Rudd Weatherwax, the famous dog trainer who trained Lassie, the nervous dog went on to appear in over 50 films - Blondie being the most well-known. Spooks had a great personality and was able to express a number of emotions ranging from excitement to fear.

Spook did 27 of the 28 Blondie films, and became known as Daisy to Renfro and the world. In the episode Blondie's Blessed Event (1942), Daisy gives birth to five puppies. Daisy fathered many puppies, but none of the dogs portraying the puppies were claimed to be of relation to him. Other films Daisy appeared in include National Velvet (1944), Follow the Boys (1944), Hollywood & Vine (1945) and The Red Stallion (1947).

Daisy (Spooks) passed away in 1955 at about the age of 17, and his body was cremated.

Teddy: The Comical Great Dane in Early Silent Films

Teddy the Great Dane, who became known as Keystone Teddy, the Wonder Dog captured the hearts of Americans in the early 1900s, making him one of the most famous dogs at that time.

Teddy stood 42 inches tall and weighed almost 150 pounds. The giant dog began his acting career in 1913 at Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios. He started out as an extra in a short film called A Little Hero, and got his break in 1916 in Sennett's one-reeler The Nick of Time Baby. By 1917, his name appeared in the title of Sennett's most famous Keystone comedy short film called Teddy At The Throttle, where he starred alongside Gloria Swanson and Bob Vernon. In this silent film, Teddy sings with Gloria, dances with the maid and near the end of the film he saves Gloria who is chained to a railroad track from an oncoming train.

Teddy pulling Bob Vernon with his tail on "Teddy At The Throttle"

Because of his athletic ability and onscreen antics, Teddy - dubbed as "the dog with the human brain" -  became the most popular dog film star in America. He appeared in magazines, made public appearances, and even sold war bonds. Interest in Great Danes grew throughout the nation and the name Teddy became the most popular dog name. According to one magazine article, Teddy earned $50 a week and paid $25 in taxes, and he received six soup bones a week. At the peak of his career, he became one of Sennett's highest paid actors, earning $350 a week. The public adored Teddy, and soon he became known as Keystone Teddy, the Wonder Dog.

Teddy with Louise Fazenda and Mack Sennett

Teddy continued to appear in many comedies alongside all of Sennett's biggest stars like Chester Conklin, Marie Prevost and Louise Fazenda. He was featured or starred in at least 60 films, mostly all shorts. During one filming on the beach in 1918, he became a real-life hero when he rescued an actress from the water. His last film was The Extra Girl with superstar Mabel Normand. Teddy retired in 1923 and passed away in 1925 at the age of 14. According to a movie critic writing for Variety, Teddy's performance was "wonderfully interesting" and "this canine performer does many things better than some human beings."

Teddy at the Throttle

Skippy: Better Known as Asta

Skippy achieved fame after playing Asta in the hit film The Thin Man. Due to the popularity of the role, he was often referred to as Asta - was even credited in other films as Asta.

Asta

Skippy, a wire-haired fox terrier, was born into show biz. He was born in 1931 and his owner was Hollywood's legendary animal trainer Henry East. Training began early in the dog's life, and at the age of six months he made his first appearance in a Three Stooges picture. It wasn't until 1934 that Skippy became a huge hit playing the spunky dog Asta in The Thin Man. The film was such a success, four sequels followed. Skippy was in the first three films. The last two films credited the other dogs as Asta, and the last film starred his son Asta II.

The Thin Man stars: William Powell, Skippy and Myrna Loy

Skippy was a really smart dog, and was great at following both verbal commands and hand cues. For the film Bringing Up Baby, he had to learn how to leer. To teach him, East would sit Skippy in front of a mirror, curl the dog's lips with his fingers and say the word leer each time he curled his lips. In no time, Skippy could leer on command.

According to East's wife, "When Skippy has to drink water in a scene, the first time he does it he really drinks. If there are retakes and he's had all the water he can drink, he'll go through the scene just as enthusiastically as though his throat were parched, but he'll fake it. If you watch closely you'll see he's just going through the motions of lapping and isn't really picking up water at all. And, because he has a sense of humor, he loves it when you laugh and tell him you've caught him faking but that it's all right with you."

When other dog actors were making $3.50 a day, Skippy was making $250 a week. He had his own dressing room, was fed a vegetarian diet, and was given 12 hours a night to get a good sleep.

Skippy starred in several films throughout his career. It is unsure when he retired, but some film historians believe he appeared in the last Thin Man film with his son in 1947. It is also unsure when he passed away. The East's never released this information.

Very cute scenes of Asta in The Thin Man.

London: The Littlest Hobo

When the US had the famous Lassie capturing the hearts of children and adults alike, Canada had the Littlest Hobo.

London in the 1958 film The Littlest Hobo, sparing a boy's beloved lamb from slaughter.

London, a German shepherd with "reverse mask" markings (where areas on the dog that are normally dark are lighter in color) was owned by Charles Eisenmann. Eisenmann, a professional baseball player and dog trainer, named his dog after the city he was stationed at during the second world war.

London was allowed to travel with the team during Eisenmann's baseball days and even provided entertainment to the fans. He would bow to the crowd, bring equipment to the players and run the bases. London appeared in Life magazine, and it was this article that got him a starring role in the US film The Littlest Hobo.

The film, released in 1958, inspired the Canadian television series (also named The Littlest Hobo) that aired in 1963 for three seasons and was later revived in 1979 for six seasons. London and other dogs trained by Eisenmann played the part of the stray dog who traveled around helping others. The name London was always credited as the star. The show appeared in over 40 countries, and guest stars of the show included well known actors such as DeForest Kelley, Leslie Nielsen and Mike Myers.

London starred in three other films: My Dog, Buddy, The Marks of Distinction, and Just Between Us. He was also featured in the book London: The Dog Who Made The Team.

One writer described London as "the smartest dog that ever lived." Eisenmann, who preferred the word educating than training, taught London and his other dogs to understand three languages (English, German and French) as well as over 1,500 words.

Sam: The Shaggy Dog

Although he played in only one movie, Sam became famous for his role as Chiffon in The Shaggy Dog.

Fred MacMurray and Sam

Sam, an Old English Sheepdog whose official name was Lillybrad's Sammy's Shadow, was born in Denver, Colorado. He belonged to Mrs. Billye Anderson who paid $500 for him when he was two months old. At four months old, Anderson enrolled Sam in an obedience class with William Koehler. Koehler was impressed with Sam after his nine weeks of training, and about a year later when learning the Disney Studio was looking for a sheepdog for its next film Koehler felt Sam would be perfect for the part.

"Walt Disney Productions had viewed more than 20 Old English Sheepdogs for the title role in a picture to be called The Shaggy Dog," Koehler recalled. "Each of them had exhibited the contemporary curse of the breed: degrees of neurosis that varied from 'geared and dingy' to cowardly and emotionally unstable. It appeared that the dearth of qualified candidates would set the stage for Sam who qualified in temperament and had novice obedience training."

Sam was originally planned to do the principal work while other dogs were to be used as doubles doing specialized actions; however, Sam was so skilled he ended up doing just about everything - including the scene where the shaggy dog is racing down the road in a hot rod. A special bucket seat was designed for Sam to sit comfortably in the car, hair-covered mittens were tied to the steering wheel for him to slide his paws into, and a seatbelt covered with hair was used to secure him. Of course Sam couldn't actually drive the car so a stuntman was used, hidden from sight in the rigged up car. When the stuntman turned his steering wheel, Sam's wheel would turn, making it look like Sam was moving the wheel.

"Driving the car was the dog himself and it worked beautifully," said assistant director Arthur Vitarelli. "The dog would look over the top of the windshield and out the side. It looked like he was really driving."

The cast and crew loved working with Sam. According to Fred MacMurray, "Shaggy kept the whole cast and crew in stitches. He even broke me up a couple of times, and for an actor, believe me, that's no laughing matter. I knew I had to give everything I had to keep him from walking away with the picture. It wouldn't have been so bad if he'd been just a trick dog. I tell you he's an actor. I never saw any amateur catch on to the business so fast as this one did. He's a natural screen personality."

The Shaggy Dog was released in March 1959, and was more profitable than the movie Ben-Hur which was released the same year. Sam won the 1960 PATSY (Picture Animal Top Star of the Year) award from the American Humane Association for his performance, and his paw prints were immortalized in cement in the courtyard of the Burbank Animal Shelter in Burbank, California.

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Terry: Best Known as Toto

Terry was in several films, but her most famous was The Wizard of Oz. The audience loved her character so much that her name was officially changed to Toto.

Terry and Judy Garland

Terry, a purebred Cairn terrier, was born in November 1933 in Aalta Dena, California. She was soon taken in by a married couple in nearby Pasadena. Soon after, the owners brought the dog to Carl Spitz, who ran the successful Hollywood Dog Training School in the nearby San Fernando Valley, to be trained to stop wetting the rugs. Once trained, the couple had no intention of picking Terry up or paying the bill so Spitz kept the dog.

Terry was an intelligent dog and Spitz saw potential in her for acting. She appeared in several films before her role as Toto in The Wizard of Oz. Her first major appearance was in 1934 with Shirley Temple in Bright Eyes as Rags. When the choice of dogs for the part was narrowed down, it was up to Shirley (and her own dog who was not part of the film, a Pomeranian named Ching-Ching) to decide who would get it. Terry and Ching-Ching hit it off, and Shirley gave her approval: "She's hired."

Hundreds of dogs auditioned for the part of Toto, but Spitz prepared Terry well for the part. Judy Garland, who played Dorothy, took an immediate liking to Terry, as well as the other cast members. Terry was selected to play the part.

Terry did the part well and even performed all the stunts during the filming, including being put in a basket and withstanding three wind machines mimicking a tornado. According to American Girl Magazine in 1940 "The hardest thing this little dog ever had to do was during the drawbridge scene in the Wizard of Oz, when she was chased by the huge Winkie guards of the Wicked Witch. Toto had to come running out of the castle and was trying to cross the drawbridge. She had almost reached the middle when the drawbridge was pulled straight up. The only safety Toto had was by clutching the edge of the bridge with her little paws and balancing herself thirty feet in the air. One of a dog's greatest fears is the fear of falling, so it took a great deal of courage to follow her master's orders that time."

During the filming on the Witches Castle, a large Winkie accidentally stepped on Terry's paw causing the dog to squeal. Garland insisted Terry was given a few days off to recuperate. Terry's hard work paid off well. She received $125 a week, more than many of the human actors made. Garland fell in love with the little terrier as she worked with her, and even wanted to buy her from Spitz, but he refused to sell. Although a great actress, apparently Terry wasn't all that perfect. According to Garland's daughter, Lorna Luft, her mom said Terry had the worst breath in the world, making it hard to not wince when the dog would pant in her face.

In 1939 when the film was released, Terry was there at the premiere held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, CA. She became an instant star, began making public appearances, and was called Toto by all her fans. Spitz felt it was only right to officially change her name to Toto.

Toto went on to make more films, the last released in 1945, shortly before she passed away of old age on September 1 of that year. Spitz buried her on the kennel grounds which was later destroyed during the construction of the Ventura Freeway in 1958. On June 18, 2011 a memorial at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, CA was unveiled in memory of Toto - funded by an active group of Toto fans.

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Higgins: From Shelter Dog to Beloved Benji

Higgins made history after being discovered in a shelter. He started in TV then went on to the big screen with his most famous role as the original Benji.

Higgins was born on December 12, 1957. In 1960 animal trainer Frank Inn adopted the dog from the Burbank Animal Shelter in California - shelters were the first place Inn would go to when looking for future stars. The trainer took an immediate liking to Higgins and saw a real potential for acting in him. The mixed-breed dog ended up being his biggest star.

Higgins started his career in television. He first played the part of the uncredited and nameless dog in Petticoat Junction, having appeared in 149 episodes from 1964 to 1970. Inn trained many animals and told reporters that Higgins was the smartest dog he had ever worked with. He said Higgins had an expressive face and was able to convey many emotions, and could successfully master a new routine or trick, such as yawning and sneezing on cue, every week. Higgins also appeared as a guest on Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies. In 1967 he won a PATSY (Performing Animal Television Star of the Year) award, and was featured on the cover of TV Guide.

Higgins moved on to the movies. He starred in the TV film Mooch Goes to Hollywood with Vincent Price and Zsa Zsa Gabor in 1971, and in 1974 he starred in the first Benji movie Benji which was the #3 grossing movie of the year. This was Higgins' last role as he was getting up in age. His daughter Benjean took over the role of Benji in three movies.

When the word spread that the beloved original Benji was rescued from a shelter, the number of adoptions from the American Humane Society greatly increased. So not only did Higgins entertain us, he brought awareness to the need of helping thousands of abandoned dogs.

Higgins died on November 11, 1975, just a few weeks short of his 18th birthday, and his body was cremated. When Inn died in 2002 he had requested that Higgins' ashes be buried with him. It is said his request was not fulfilled and that his daughter has the urn containing the dog's ashes.

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