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The Lassie franchise is currently on its ninth collie. Raising Lassie is a family business -- the Weatherwax family has been breeding and training the collies since the first Lassie, Pal, made his big screen debut in 1943's Lassie Come Home. And yes, all the dogs that have portrayed Lassie have been male. There is a good reason for this -- while both sexes shed their fur in the summer (when TV shows shoot their episodes), male collies tend to have a thicker coat, which looks better on camera. The Lassie facts just keep coming:
it takes about two and a half years of constant training to prepare a fresh one. All Lassies must have four white feet, a full white collar, and a white blaze up the nose. The real name of the Lassie who played on the Animal Planet series and the 1994 movie? Howard. The collies who portrayed Lassie in the old television show were bred a little larger than normal, so that the child actors could grow without anybody noticing too much. And all the Lassies have had canine buddies on set to keep them happy -- during one film, two miniature poodles named Buttons and Bows kept the star canine company.
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