Lassie’s Original Owner Was 83

Robert Weatherwax, a professional dog trainer for film and TV productions who took on the trade of his father, Rudd, the original owner of Lassie, died Thursday. He was 83 years old.

Weatherwax was born June 4, 1941 in Burbank, Calif. — exactly one year before the birth of Pal, the dog that portrayed Lassie across seven MGM films and the pilot of the “Lassie” TV series. Growing up, Weatherwax and his sister, JoAnne, were tasked with assisting their father with his professional work, including teaching new routines to their pets. Their grandfather, W.S. Weatherwax, was an animal trainer during the silent era.

The Weatherwax family’s furry clientele included such seminal canines of the screen as Skippy a.k.a. Asta, who appeared in Golden Age comedies such as “The Thin Man” and “The Awful Truth”; Terry, who portrayed Toto in “The Wizard of Oz”; and Spike, the lop-eared dog known to audiences as Old Yeller.

As a young adult, Weatherwax apprenticed under his father on the “Lassie” series following his service in the U.S. Army. The CBS program ran from 1954 to 1974 and, naturally, saw numerous Weatherwax dogs playing the eponymous role over those two decades.

Returning to Southern California, he worked across various productions with his father before founding his own business, Weatherwax Trained Dogs. Notable credits over his career included “Back to the Future,” “Nickelodeon,” “The Thing,” and “Dennis the Menace.”

His book, “Four Feet to Fame: A Hollywood Dog Trainer’s Journey,” was published in 2017 and co-authored by Richard Lester. Weatherwax’s last collie was a descendant of a Lassie actor.