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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFf0I...eature=related
One of their opening statements claims that the German shepherd was the original canine movie star.
While Strongheart and Rin Tin Tin were two of the first canine movie stars and Rin Tin Tin is almost as wel known as lassie, the GSD was NOT the first canine movie star.
That honor goes to Jean, the Vitagraph dog. Most likely (from the pictures) Jean was a border collie and she was the first canine movie star.
http://dogactors.com/2009/07/the-vitagraph-dog/
Jean died the year before Rin Tin Tin was born and the same year Strongheart was born.
You can see from her resume:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1255970/
She did 18 films, all years before Strongheart and Rinty were born.
Edit:
The viddeo also says "and in recent years, white" (in reference to color). This is also false. The grandfather of the original German shepherds was a white shepherd and there have been white GSDs since day one. For a long time, and even today, it is considered a fault (mostly political reasons today) so they were not promoted as much (even in earlier days, all white GSD puppies were culled at birth to hide the genes).
One of their opening statements claims that the German shepherd was the original canine movie star.
While Strongheart and Rin Tin Tin were two of the first canine movie stars and Rin Tin Tin is almost as wel known as lassie, the GSD was NOT the first canine movie star.
That honor goes to Jean, the Vitagraph dog. Most likely (from the pictures) Jean was a border collie and she was the first canine movie star.
http://dogactors.com/2009/07/the-vitagraph-dog/
Jean died the year before Rin Tin Tin was born and the same year Strongheart was born.
You can see from her resume:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1255970/
She did 18 films, all years before Strongheart and Rinty were born.
Edit:
The viddeo also says "and in recent years, white" (in reference to color). This is also false. The grandfather of the original German shepherds was a white shepherd and there have been white GSDs since day one. For a long time, and even today, it is considered a fault (mostly political reasons today) so they were not promoted as much (even in earlier days, all white GSD puppies were culled at birth to hide the genes).