Toto-ly Unexpected Stardom for a Shy Cairn Terrier (reptile chameleons)

October 5th, 2008 admin Posted in pets |

By ONLY for PET LOVERS

When you think of the cast of characters from the legendary 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, you could certainly make the case that the most popular character is not Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow or the Cowardly Lion. For many movie buffs, the real star of the movie was Toto, Dorothys black Cairn terrier.

One things for sure, Toto was definitely the toughest character in the cast. The movies producer searched for months to find the exact dog described in L. Frank Baums vivid tale, which was first published in 1900. The films casting department was given copies of the illustrations drawn by artist W. W. Denslow for the books first edition and was told to go out and find that dog.

Numerous dogs, most purebred Scottish terriers, were brought in to impress Oz producer Mervyn LeRoy, but he wouldnt bite. He felt the dogs didnt look enough like Denslows drawings. The tale of the tireless search for Toto was even picked by the entertainment newspaper Daily Variety and thats where dog trainer Carl Spitz first saw the article. After examining Denslows illustrations, he knew the dog the artist had drawn was a Cairn terrier and he just happened to have one named Terry.

Spitz rushed right down to the studio and he was greeted like royalty, or at least Terry was. As Spitz came into the studio, with Terry trotting along at his side, people connected with the Oz film started yelling, “Theres the dog! We found Toto.” Terry was a five-year-old female. Toto was supposed to be a male. But, of course, thats what acting is all about.

Though a tried-and-true film veteran by the time she got the role in The Wizard of Oz, Terry did suffer from a bit of stage fright early in her life. Born in 1933, Terry was adopted by an elderly couple who lived in Pasadena, Calif. But when the couple first got the dog as a puppy, Terry was so shy that she hid under the bed for three straight weeks. The couple took the dog back to the breeder and demanded their money back. The breeder then took Terry to Spitz to try to train the dog out of her crippling shyness. Spitz met with some success, but the breeder never returned to pick up the dog. So, Spitz kept her, never thinking that the dog had a glittering future on the silver screen.

One day a director from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer came to Spitzs kennel looking for a dog for a film he was doing with Shirley Temple. The director liked Terry. Spitz didnt think it would work out, but went along with the challenge. To Spitzs amazement, Terry loved acting and appeared in the movie, Bright Eyes, in 1934. She went on to appear in other films before getting her big break with The Wizard of Oz.

Her shyness now a distant memory, Terry spent two weeks at Judy Garlands house to get to know the young actress before they began filming Oz. While on the movie set, Terry learned lots of new tricks, including escaping from picnic baskets, jumping through open windows, leaping from a closing drawbridge, and grabbing a hot dog off a roasting fork.

The clever Cairn terrier had no problem with most of the stunts, but Spitz later admitted that Terry never liked being confined to the picnic basket that sat on the back of Miss Gulchs (Margaret Hamiltons) bicycle. Terry was only too happy to jump out as the nasty neighbor rode down to the county sheriffs office.

But the canine star never got accustomed to the powerful wind machines used in the tornado scenes. When the machines were turned on, she was known to hide behind a number of the leading actors, quivering in fear. She also didnt like standing still when crew members needed to test the sound and lighting. So, during the technical rehearsals, a stuffed dog was used as an understudy to give the star a breather.

Terry enjoyed undertaking all sorts of tasks in the film, and she took a particular liking to pulling back the curtain on the great Oz to reveal the mere mortal who utters the signature line, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”

Terry earned $125 a week for her performance, and was a real trooper. During the filming of The Wizard of Oz, one of the Wicked Witchs soldiers accidentally stepped on one of Terrys paws while chasing her in a scene. The intrepid pooch ended up with a sprain, but soldiered on despite her injury and completed the film on schedule.

Treated as a full-fledged cast member, Terry even attended the films premier at Hollywoods Graumans Chinese Theatre in 1939. Her performance drew so many admirers that Cairn terriers surged in popularity during the 1940s. People identified Terry so strongly with the role of Toto that Spitz legally changed the dogs name to Toto. Talk about typecasting!

Toto went on to make many more films, and was reunited with the actress who played the Wicked Witch of the West, Margaret Hamilton, in a 1942 comedy called Twin Beds. Onscreen and in real life, Toto and Hamilton got along famously.

During her nine-year movie career, the worlds most famous Cairn terrier made 13 films, and her passing in 1944 left a tremendous void in Hollywood among the ranks of canine actors. Terry/Toto had become as popular as megastar Rin Tin Tin. Not bad for a shy gal from Pasadena.

Robert Grayson is a correspondent out of New Jersey for Only For Pet Lovers. Check out our site to view the rest of our articles and register for our online community for pet lovers like yourself. To keep up to date on what’s going on in the pet world, visit our site and check out the pet news section.

Ways You Can Crate Train Your Cat
By Jay Schindler

Taking care of a cat can both be a rewarding and frustrating experience.

The rewarding part is coming home to a cute, furry little creature whose antics can bring a smile to your face.

The frustrating part is trying to house-train and litter train them.

You can get over the frustrating part by starting them young.

Once you have a kitten that you plan to take home as a pet, you may start house-training them. Crate training is one of the most effective ways to do this.

Cats can be your best friend for life if you just care for them properly.

If you will train them at a young age, they will learn to follow “house rules” and not litter on your bed or scratch your furniture with their claws.

A cat needs proper care, time and attention. Here are some tips on how you can use crate-training work to your advantage:

1. Remember that crate training will take some time.

You need all the time and patience that you can muster as a cat owner to fully train a cat. This is why you have to start out while they are young.

Familiarize them with what they can and cannot do using the crate.

If you take your cat along with you when you travel and you are in a place where pets are not allowed to roam around freely, put them in a crate.

This would let your cat know that being outside is not that safe, so your pet will be content to stay inside the crate.

2. Select the perfect crate for your feline friend.

There are some materials that cats love to scratch with their claws. This would make the time that they spend in the crate more bearable despite being confined.

There are metal and plastic crates that your cat can fit into. Make sure that it can move freely when inside. Also, you can put your cat’s favorite toy in the crate, like a ball of yarn or a small stuffed toy.

3. Crate-train your pet cat slowly, but surely.

Start by spending time with them while inside the crate. Then you can introduce your cat to eating food inside the crate. Do not worry if they do not respond positively the first time, as they will get used to it eventually.

Later on, they will learn to spend time in the crate when you are not at home or during the night.

The key here is to not let your cat feel frustrated inside the crate and spend enough time with them to make them feel loved and cared for.

To learn about elephant facts and wolf facts, visit the Animals Facts website.

Gently And Carefully Train Your Cat
By Jay Schindler

Cats are trained and encouraged by treats or rewards. A clear illustration of such behavior is when cats come running when it hears the food bag rustle or the can opener’s sound. Cats often relate the sounds to food rewards.

Keep in mind that your cat must be closely examined on a regular basis by the veterinarian, to ensure that there are no unknown problems in your cat’s health that could be aggravated or intensified during training activities. To further encourage your cat to maintain a good behavior, the most effective way is to offer immediate treats, a full tasty meal, or a favorite toy as rewards.

When saying “good” and offering a treat all together, your cat will later relate the word with its positive act, even if later, food is not available and upcoming. In place of food rewards, you can give your cat an enjoyable playtime or a rub behind its ears.

With the use of positive emphasis and reinforcement, your cat will be willing to learn good behaviors and basic instructions or commands.

Here are training guidelines:

1. It is best to begin training with kittens. They will be more open and responsive to training. Bad behaviors have not yet been formed and not given a chance to develop.

2. Use positive emphasis and reinforcement at all times. A gentle hug, caress, or a whisper has a longer lasting effect than harsh or bitter words.

3. Limit the training time. Make it brief but frequent. Cats normally have short attention and interest spans; so it is much more effective to have four to six sessions of five minutes each, during the course of the day than an hour or two of continuous training.

4. Confine the training to indoors. This is essential so that your cat will not be distracted by other neighboring pets or be attracted to climbing trees instead.

Discipline should be instilled for a well behaved cat, but tough punishment must be avoided. In training your cat so to avoid negative acts, you need to approach it positively. Cats generally will not respond to certain punishments like hitting or yelling. They usually correlate the undesirable act with you rather than with their bad behavior. The outcome will be that your pet either stops loving you or will be afraid of you; not the result that will lead to a loving and warm relationship with your wonderful pet cat!

Visit the Animals Facts website to learn about lion facts and monkey facts.

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