Rudd Weatherwax

Rudd Weatherwax

Ruddell Bird "Rudd" Weatherwax (September 23, 1907 – February 25, 1985) was an American actor and animal trainer. He and his brother Frank Weatherwax are best remembered for training dogs for motion pictures and television. Frank's collie, Pal, became the original Lassie, handled by Rudd for the 1943 MGM film Lassie Come Home. He also handled the dogs for the Lassie television series which ran from 1954 to 1974, and trained Spike for the 1957 feature film Old Yeller.

Weatherwax was responsible for training Homer, the unofficial New York Mets team mascot in the 1960s. Homer was born in Hollywood, California.