Archive-News
Column
10-12-2020
Column: Living with Dogs - TOTO: FROM FICTION TO FILMS
Column: Living with Dogs - TOTO: FROM FICTION TO FILMS
In the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz ,Toto was played by a female Cairns brindle terrier called Terry. She was paid $125 a week which was a very good wage back then for a human, let alone a dog. She was born during the great depresssion in 1933, owned and trained by Carl Spitz, a Hollywood dog trainer who had trained military and police dogs in Germany.

Terry started out life abandoned and rescued by a German couple living the USA. She was a nervous and shy wreck that would urinate on the carpet. That is when Spitz adopted and worked with the dog; he was apparently a kind and gentle man and soon gained her confidence.
Her first film was Ready for Love in 1934. Then she appeared with Shirley Temple in Bright Eyes as a dog called Rags.
Terry did her own stunts and had her foot broken in the middle of making the Wizard of Oz and there had to be found a stand-in, which Spitz managed, but they needed Terry back.
Terry’s name was changed to Toto in 1942 and she had a total of 16 film appearances. She became the mot

BE SOCIAL & SHARE THIS PAGE

MORE SCENIC NEWS

LOCAL BUSINESS

COLUMNS

Share by: