About That Dog Blog

Her real name was Terry, and—yes—she was a girl dog playing a boy dog in her most famous movie, The Wizard of Oz.

At first, it was just one Dalmatian, given to British writer Dodie Smith by her husband. But in that mysterious place where writers get their ideas, one dog blossomed into 101, and a classic was born.

Her fictional self was born in Yorkshire, England, but her worldwide fame began in the United States.

His name is Jimmy, and he is training to become the next Boston Marathon Dog.

If you are a bug, and you live at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and you are trying to decide which painting to damage next, you are in big trouble.
Why?
Because the Museum has a dog who will find you.

He was a black Scotch Terrier, given to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt by a cousin in 1940. From the moment they met, Fala was FDR’s constant companion. He became well-known, popular in his own right, with a film and books about him widely distributed.

In the fall of 1960, John Steinbeck, having lived abroad off and on for many years, decided to reacquaint himself with his native country. He bought a small RV/truck and had it fitted out with bed, desk, kitchen, and other necessities.

And, for company, he took his dog, Charley, “an old French gentleman Poodle.”

He was a war orphan born in a ruined kennel at Verdun, one of the bloodiest, deadliest battlefields of World War I.

Brought home by the American serviceman who found him, he became the most popular actor in the country. That human, Lee Duncan, taught him to perform amazing feats, matched by the dog’s innate ability to show human emotions — joy, sorrow, and many others.

He’s a little Beagle with a big imagination.

His first space trip was on Apollo 10 in 1969. Not quite to the moon, but close enough. He wasn’t actually on the craft, but NASA nicknamed the flight for him because it was “snooping” for a landing site for the real moon mission, the flight of Apollo 11 in July, 1969.

Since then, Snoopy has been associated with NASA and its space flights.

His name was Spencer. He was a Golden Retriever, a therapy dog, 13 years old. His honorary title, given to him as Official Dog of the 126th Boston Marathon in 2022, was Grand Barkshal. He lived in Ashland, Massachusetts, a town along the Marathon route, with his humans, Richard and Dorrey Powers.