Terry, The Terrier Behind Toto In The Wizard Of Oz
RedditTerry and her trainer, Carl Spitz, who made a career out of training dogs for Hollywood roles.
Toto from The Wizard Of Oz (1939) is one of the most famous dogs in cinema history. And the Cairn Terrier that played him, Terry, has a remarkable story all her own.
Born in 1933, Terry was raised by Carl Spitz. Spitz, who had once trained military and police dogs in his native Germany, had immigrated to the United States and transitioned to training dogs for Hollywood roles. Little Terry caught the eye of actor Clark Gable when he and some Hollywood executives visited Spitz’s Hollywood Dog Training School. Before long, Terry started booking acting roles of her own.
She starred in films with Hollywood big shots like Shirley Temple, Spencer Tracy, and Mickey Rooney. And at the end of the 1930s, she beat out hundreds of other dogs for the chance to star as Toto in the Hollywood adaption of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Public DomainJudy Garland, who played Dorothy, was so charmed by Terry that she tried to adopt her.
Terry earned $125 per week (or over $2,500 today) for her role as Toto, which was more than some of the human actors made. Terry embraced the iconic role with fearlessness, though she did tend to hide behind other actors when the wind machines were turned on.
Though Terry had to take a break from filming after one of the Wicked Witch’s soldiers stepped on her paw, she was able to return to set and see the film through. She so charmed everyone involved that Judy Garland reportedly wanted to adopt her, but Spitz didn’t want to part with his star.
By the time Terry died at the age of 11 in 1944, she had starred in 17 feature films, making her one of the most famous dogs of all time.
