Rin Tin Tin. The unique rags-to-riches tale of German shepherd Rin Tin Tin began when Corporal Lee Duncan rescued him from a bombed kennel in France on September 5, 1918. Duncan brought Rin Tin Tin back to LA, where the dog impressed a film director at a dog show by jumping 13.5 feet. In 1922 he appeared in his first movie, The Man From Hell’s River. He went on to star in no less than twenty-six movies and, in the process, saved Warner Bros. Studios from bankruptcy. At the height of his career, Rin Tin Tin received 10,000 fan letters a week.
Jofi. One of psychologist Sigmund Freud’s many dogs, a sweet-tempered Chow-Chow, who became a fixture at his sessions with patients during the 1930s. Freud recorded in his notes the remarkable difference the dog’s presence made, particularly to his work with children and adolescents. Uncommunicative patients spoke more readily; painful memories were more easily recounted. He put it down to dogs’ ability to project “affection without ambivalence,” and his notes on the subject served as inspiration for the subsequent training and use of dogs in human therapy.
Laika. The first animal to travel into space, Laika, a terrier-mix stray, was the sole passenger on Sputnik 2, which launched on November 3, 1957. Scientists of that time doubted humans could survive the launch into space and thought animal tests a necessary precursor to human spaceflight. Sputnik 2 was non-retrievable, so Laika’s journey was known to be one-way. Until 2002, however, the Russians claimed she was euthanized once she successfully entered orbit around the Earth. The sad truth is that she died from overheating within hours of the launch—and the least we space-age humans can give her in return is a permanent place in the annals of our history.
Charlie. John F. Kennedy was a lifelong dog lover, and his favorite was the rascally Welsh terrier, Charlie. Though famously boisterous, Charlie owes his place in the history books to his calming influence on the President during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. A staff member described the chaos in the Oval office at the height of the crisis: Aides running, phones ringing. War seemed to loom. Then the President asked for Charlie. After petting the dog for a long time, JFK reportedly said, “I suppose it’s time to make some decisions.” What passed between him and his dog remains unknown, but he went on to defuse the situation, and most likely prevented a nuclear conflict.
