Americans have always been enchanted by the rough collie, thanks in large part to all the Lassie movies filmed throughout the years. Lassie became a star of both television and the silver screen and everyone fell in love with the beautiful, majestic collie breed because of her. Lassie also had books and memorabilia created with “her” image, and her very own comic book series. (A little trivia, the collies playing Lassie in the movies and tv shows, were always male.) People became avid collectors of all things Lassie, and for many, a deep rooted desire to one day have a collie of their own was born. It’s really not a surprise, Lassie was a hero collie, portrayed as brave, compassionate and highly intelligent.
But how do the real life collies compare to this icon? Well, some of the capers that Lassie found herself embroiled in were highly improbable. No collie could perform such daring rescues, such harrowing escapes, or such problem solving feats…could they? I have to say no, at least not with the regularity portrayed in the movies, books and television shows. But that doesn’t mean they are incapable of greatness, I have read many stories of the countless acts of heroism and of the intelligence of the collie breed.
Albert Payson Terhune wrote one such true story about his collie Wolf. In his book, entitled Wolf, Terhune writes of how his brave collie saved a stray dog from being hit by an oncoming train, only to be struck and killed during the rescue.
In 1954 a collie named Tang was honored by being awarded the very first annual Ken-L Ration Hero Award. On five separate occasions this hero collie saved children from death or life threatening injuries. On four of the occasions, people witnessed Tang pushing a child out of the path of oncoming cars. And for the fifth rescue, he placed himself in front of a milk truck, barking to alert the driver that a two year old little girl had climbed on the back, saving the child from a serious fall.
In 1957, a sable collie named Blaze won the Hero award for saving his family’s two year old daughter from an enraged mother sow who was trying to protect her piglets. In 1964, another collie named Buddy, guided a herd of goats out of a burning barn, and kept all 70 goats safe until his family could arrive to put out the fire. In 1966, a collie named Hero lived up to his name. He won the annual award for saving his family’s three year old son from an attacking horse. The blue merle collie was a show dog, and had a sweet, friendly temperament. But at the time of the attack, the normally affable collie, prevented the horse from trampling the young boy by fighting off the crazed animal. Hero suffered multiple injuries during the rescue, including four broken ribs and a skull fracture. He fully covered, and returned to competing at dog shows a couple months later.
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| Buddy, with two of the goats he saved |
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| Hero, and his boy |
There are many other stories, of collies saving their families from house fires, drowning, and finding lost children. One of our own collies showed an uncanny ability, when he escaped my sister’s yard. He somehow found his way across town, and arrived at our Grandmother’s house, and alerted her to his presence when he barked to be let inside. What made this even more remarkable, Reggie was still a puppy and had only been to her house once before!
In the book, The New Collie by the Collie Club of America, there is a story of how my Uncle Fran’s collie, Dove, helped find my cousin when she was lost. It was in August of 1967, on Cape Cod, where my Uncle was working as a naturalist, when two year old Martha wandered away. Dove, using one of Martha’s stockings, was able to track Martha by scent, and led Uncle Fran to her just as the sun was setting.
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| Martha and Dove, Blackrobe Snow White Dove, CD |
In my writing, I have extolled the collie’s compassionate and sweet temperament, which enables them to excel at therapy dog visits. And I’ve also written of my collies countless antics, which show both their intelligence and their innate sense of fun. So while they may not perform heroic acts on a daily basis like Lassie, I think there is a heroic heart inside every collie.
