The silhouette is unmistakable. The long head ending in a square jaw and a plum of a nose, an elongated body wrapped in a black shaggy coat and a quarter-moon tail extended in the air. It is the Scottie dog, and it kept nudging into my presence at practically every auction house I went to.
I’ve seen the dogs’ images in prints – singly and in pairs – as ceramic figurines and carved metal bookends, on plastic serving trays and even on a vintage child’s potty seat. When I first started to see their images at auction, I ignored them.
Then they kept intruding, and I started to take notice. They were ending up on the auction tables in much the same way as old family photos are discarded after a loved one dies. I saw the most recent Scottie memorabilia at auction this week inprinted on trays. There were four trays, and they seemed to be someone’s collection. They, obviously, belonged to a person who owned and loved a Scottie.
I’m not a dog person, but there must be something so endearing about these little animals that people go ga-ga over them. On the web, I found sites for Scottie dog news, Scottie dog gifts, Scottie dog collectibles, Scottie dog clubs and Scottie dog lovers.
What was it about Scottie dogs that they had their own fan clubs? I knew little about them – wasn’t Toto in the “Wizard of Oz” movie a Scottie? – so I was compelled to find out more. Here’s what I found:
Their real name is Scottish Terrier.
They are self-assured, playful, lovable, intelligent and loyal. They need to get their daily constitution around the block, in other words, “they love walks.”
They were first identified in the Highlands of Scotland in the 1700s, and were bred to hunt rats and other vermin. A Scottish earl first nicknamed them Diehard because of their ruggedness, a name that has stayed with them. Scotties found their way to the United States in the late 1800s, and became very popular in the 1930s. Interest in them has waned over the years.
They were beloved by at least four presidents: Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose statue at his memorial site in Washington, DC, includes his Scottie Fala, who is buried near the former president; George W. Bush (Barney), Teddy Roosevelt (Jessie) and Dwight D. Eisenhower (Telek). The Roosevelt family had a Scottie named Maggie before they moved into the White House.
Some celebrities chose them as pets, including Joan Crawford, Shirley Temple, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart (here’s a circa 1946 photo of Bogie with his Scotties as he’s cleaning guns apparently from his collection). Comedian Bill Cosby gave Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, a Scottish Terrier as a mascot in 2008.
The dog was a popular game token in Monopoly and was a character named Jock in Walt Disney’s “Lady and the Tramp.”
They are prone to certain health ailments, including bleeding disorders and cancer, as well as a benign hereditary disorder called Scottie cramp.
They have been the best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club Show far more than any other breed except one.
They have quite a pedigree. I also learned that Toto was not a Scottish Terrier. The animal that played the role in the 1939 movie was a Cairn Terrier named Terry.
