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Famous Dogs Today -- and from Yesterday 

The ever loyal canine, man's (or woman's) best friend, wouldn't be given its proper due without a discussion about its place in history. Dogs have been part of our lives for centuries, and while most dogs live in relative obscurity, some dogs have been famous indeed, either because of their own deeds, or those of their owners.

Presidential dogs

Bo Obama
President Barack Obama may be the newest Commander-In-Chief, but he's also a father to young daughters. He kept a promise to them that he made on election night, one in which he said they could have a puppy.

To that end, he brought six-month-old Bo, a Portuguese Water Dog, to the White House in April of 2009. Bo was a gift from the late Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who had similarly owned water dogs and wanted President Obama and family to have one, too.

Originally named Charlie, Obama daughters Sasha and Malia decided to rename the puppy Bo, in honor of their cousin's cat Bo. Reportedly, the elder Obama's called the puppy "Diddley," no doubt an honorary nod to rhythm and blues great Bo Diddley.

Dogs who own celebrities

Poppy, BeBe and Ruby Bullock
Poppy and Ruby Bullock are the proud "owners" of Oscar award winning actress Sandra Bullock. Bullock rescued all three of her dogs, including Poppy and canine "siblings" Ruby and BeBe; all three of her dogs have special needs. Three legged Chihuahua-Pomeranian dog mix Poppy was rescued from a California shelter, and two-legged Chihuahuas Ruby and BeBe (blind in one eye) were adopted shortly thereafter.

Dogs who were celebrities themselves

Lassie
Last was actually a character that was created in 1938 by author Eric Knight. The first story to appear about a Collie named Lassie was called, "Lassie Come Home," a short story in the Saturday Evening Post. In 1940, the novel Lassie Come Home was published, and a 1943, it became a movie starring a young Roddy McDowell and Elizabeth Taylor. The Lassie story ultimately spawned a TV series, Lassie, which ran as an original series from 1954 to 1974, and then again in various incarnations in the 1980s and 1990s. The dogs who played Lassie were actually male; the first dog who portrayed Lassie on television, Pal, was the MGM film Lassie. Five of his descendants would ultimately play Lassie as well, including his own son, Lassie Jr., and grandson Spook.

Dogs made famous by their bravery and loyalty

The phrase "man's best friend" is truly underscored by this section, where dogs' brave actions saved humans -- and made them famous:

Balto
Balto was the lead sled dog on a delivery headed for Nome Alaska in 1925. The city was experiencing a diphtheria outbreak, and antitoxins were desperately needed to keep the already deadly disease from spreading even further. Unfortunately, there were no more doses of antitoxins in Nome, although there were some in Anchorage. How to get them from Anchorage to Nome? The harsh climate prevented most modes of transportation, but dogs pulling dogsleds might be able to make the trip.

In a run that spanned seven days, Balto and his team pulled the sled on through weather conditions so severe that the driver, Gunnar Kaasen, couldn't see in front of them. He had to rely on Balto as the team leader to guide the sled to its destination without any help from him. Balto got the sled, and its lifesaving cargo, to Nome. Barto became a local hero and later, a media star. A statue of him stands in Central Park in New York City, in his honor.

Dogs made famous for their service

Buddy Frank
Buddy's owner Morris Frank got into a fight when he was in school in 1916, and ultimately lost his sight. He wanted the same kind of independence he had had previous to losing his sight, and didn't like having to depend on people to get around. An article in the Saturday Evening Post, written by Dorothy Harrison Eustis, described how dogs were being trained at several German schools to guide the blind. Moore's contacted Eustis, wanting not only a dog for himself so as to regain his independence , but to establish a program whereby other people also could acquire guide dogs to guide them as needed. He met Buddy, a German Shepherd in Germany in 1928, and worked with her there before returning to the United States. Buddy is officially considered the first Seeing Eye dog, and she and Morris Frank, along with Dorothy Eustis, established The Seeing Eye, an institution in Nashville that trained guide dogs and their owners. Read more about Famous Dogs from Yesterday -- and Today

 

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