1997 Cinar "Help Save Lassie" Campaign - Once in a lifetime event!

In 1997, after shooting 26 episodes of the Cinar "Lassie" series, the Canadian company did not renew the contract of Bob Weatherwax to supply a line dog for the series. There are reports of everything from money disputes, to lack of cooperation on the set, creative differences, and others, as being the reasons Cinar took this bold action. Whatever the reasons were didn't matter, a legacy had been broken. Cinar purchased two collie pups from another source and hired their own trainer to continue the show. It was the first time in Lassie history that the role of Lassie had not been played by a line dog.
	The Lassie Network took action to organize a campaign to let fans know what had happened. Loren Gates responded and offered his help in designing part of the site that would allow fans to let Cinar, Golden Books, Animal Planet, the media, and sponsors know how they felt with the click of a button. The combination of skills brought together between this trio was perfect, but few people realize that at that time none of them had ever met! .The campaign was run entirely by the internet via email and chat sessions. Night after night Cathy, Joan and Loren worked on strategy, contacting media, keeping fans advised, adding new ways the fans could voice their concerns and responding to various threats. At one point Cinar had the site shut down because we had used logos but we were able to resolve that less than 24 hours and be back up and running. At another Cinar's webmaster thought it might be deter the fans to put an automatic response to anyone's email sending the message back to each person, at least 20 times and flood the users mailbox. All of their efforts backfired.
Within just 2 weeks, the Kansas City Star's Dru Sefton picked up the story and put it out on AP. Cathy, Joan and Loren were then being interviewed in print, magazines and live segments on TV. The fact that it was the first time a line dog had not been used was news worthy and before we knew it media from around the world was calling us. Within just 2 months, all of the companies were waving the white flag, and had reopened negotiations with Bob Weatherwax. A contract agreement resulted, but Bob Weatherwax did not return to Canada to complete the series. Instead, he asked Carol Riggins, who had worked as assistant trainer on Lassie since "The New Lassie", to take her line dog HeyHey to complete the series. Fans were thrilled a line dog and son of the current Lassie was going to be in the role. Bob Weatherwax was credited as script consultant and Weatherwax Trained Dogs was listed as the supplier of the dog. Carol Riggins was credited as Head dog trainer and owner. This campaign worked because it was a once in a lifetime event, the first time in history a line dog had not been used.

Here are just a few of the press articles that were written during the campaign. Many more will be posted in the months ahead.

http://www.lassie.net/press/kcstar.pdf Kansas City Star

http://www.lassie.net/stpetetimes.pdf St. Petersburg Times- Lassie Come Home!

http://www.lassie.net/seattletimes.pdf Seatle Times - Electronic dogfight

http://www.lassie.net/press/dogandkennelcampaign.pdf Dog and Kennel magazine

http://www.lassie.net/press/savelassiecca.pdf Collie Club of America Bulletin Save Lassie campaign article - interview with Robert Weatherwax follows below

http://www.lassie.net/press/ccainterviewwithbob.pdf Collie Club of America Bulletin interview with Robert Weatherwax

http://www.lassie.net/campaign.pdf Dogs Day by Day Calendar with info on campaign

This campaign was highly successful in restoring a line dog to the series. However in the years to come Golden Books would begin using collies from Universal Studios Animal Actors show for commercials (Verizon), and at various appearances, such as New York's Macy's Petacular and the US Postal Service 100th Anniversary. By the time Classic Media purchased Golden Books, and completed the purchase of the trademark in 2000 from the Weatherwax family, many times non-line dogs had played the role of Lassie.

In 2003 Bob Weatherwax's contract ended with Classic Media, and neither side pursued a renewal. Bob called us each personally and told us that he was retiring and would no longer be involved with Lassie. Between 2003 and 2005, Classic Media did not have a line dog under contract and was forced to use the same collies from Universal Studios for appearances. There were no campaigns, as there were no line dogs and trainers under contract to play Lassie.

The 2005 Lassie Movie Controversy

In 2004 Charles Sturridge began work on the film, "Lassie", which was a remake of "Lassie Come Home", shot in the originally settings of the UK. The same company that had been supplying the dogs for Universal, and the appearances up until then, were cast in the film. But Classic Media realized the fans emotional connection with the line dogs . They began contracting Carol Riggins and HeyHey for appearances in the US and tried to get the line dog in the movie, but quartantine laws kept this from happening. There was not a line dog available anywhere that was trained and could meet the needs in the timeframe of shooting. A cameo was shot in Hollywood for the line dog that appears in the movie for just a few seconds, but the lead role was done by a beautiful dog named Mason, who unfortunately was not a line dog. There were some fans that spoke out about a non-line dog in the role, but again, no campaigns were waged as the precedent had been set too many times that a line dog had not been used to play Lassie. . (Editor note: In 2005 Classic Media negotiated a long term contract with Carol Riggins and HeyHey and restored a line dog as the official Lassie and fans of Lassie were thrilled to see the legacy of line dogs continuing.)

Some of the media about the 2005 movie controversy are on the links below:

http://www.lassie.net/press/cca0906.pdf Collie Club of America Bulletin Review of 2005 Lassie movie noting the dogs were not line dogs.

http://www.lassie.net/press/battle2005.pdf The Mail on Sunday/London Battle of the Lassies June 2006

http://www.lassie.net/press/btirelandonline.pdf BT Ireland online - Lassie boycotted by angry fans

http://www.lassie.net/press/btireland2.pdf BT Ireland online - Fans up in arms over Lassie star

http://www.lassie.net/press/sundaymirrorbanda.pdf Sunday Morning London interview with trainer of non-line dog Mason

http://www.lassie.net/press/latimeslassiemovie.pdf LA Times review talking about new dog Mason

http://www.lassie.net/press/sundayexpress.pdf Sunday Express Talks about using makeup on non-line dog.

http://www.lassie.net/press/lassiescholastic.pdf Scholastic review noting the non-line dog.

http://www.lassie.net/press/mason.pdf Mason's story

In 2005 Classic Media negotiated a long term contract with Carol Riggins and HeyHey and restored a line dog as the official Lassie and fans of Lassie were thrilled to see the legacy of line dogs continuing.