Today the world’s most exalted collie is undoubtedly that wonder dog of TV and film, Lassie. But for a couple of decades at the dawn of the twentieth century, the most well-known member of this four-legged Scottish clan was a male, American-born purebred named Lad. His mostly true adventures were made famous by author Albert Payson Terhune, without doubt the greatest writer ever to devote himself almost exclusively to collies.
Terhune was born into a moneyed, privileged New Jersey family. Originally a newspaper journalist, he soon retired to Sunnybank, the family’s summer estate in Wayne, New Jersey. There he acquired Lad, the first and, by his own estimation, most remarkable of the many collies he would own during his life. Terhune wrote that his friend “had a heart that did not know the meaning of fear or disloyalty or of meanness. He was immeasurably more than a professionally loyal and heroic collie. He had the elfin sense of fun and the most humanlike reasoning powers I have found in any dog.”
Lad, who was born in 1902, lived for sixteen years before passing away in 1918. One year later, Terhune published a memoir of sorts—a collection of short stories called Lad: A Dog. The book became a bestseller, and remains in print today. Nowadays, with everything concerning collies overshadowed by Lassie, it’s interesting to recall that several generations of children were raised on tales of Lad. A Peanuts comic strip once mentioned that the only stories Snoopy wanted read to him were those by Terhune. And in the 1960s TV series Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, the family sheepdog was facetiously named Ladadog.
It’s safe to say that Terhune’s work helped elevate the rough collie from just another dog breed into the very symbol of canine heroism, intelligence, and fortitude. Even prior to Terhune’s death in 1942, Sunnybank had become a place of pilgrimage for dog lovers from around the world. Today, generations after its owner’s passing, the estate remains a public monument. Thousands of visitors stop by every year to visit the graves of Terhune’s beloved collies, including that of Lad. It sits off by itself, located on what was, in life, the dog’s favorite sleeping spot.
OTHER CANINES OF
DISTINCTION
SHARIK: The dog who befriended Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky during his imprisonment; he was described in Memoirs from the House of the Dead.
TOBY: The pet Rottweiler of artist Sandra Darling (a.k.a. Alexandra Day), he served as the inspiration (and the model) for the “Carl” series of children’s books.
LAUTH: A Newfoundland owned by Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie. He inspired the character of Nana the Newfoundland, who looks after the Darling children.
PIMPERL: Mozart’s Pomeranian, to whom he dedicated an aria.
MARTHA: Paul McCartney’s sheepdog and the inspiration for the song “Martha My Dear” on the Beatles’ White Album.
