Lassie's Lesson#2

“Please cease your campaign to libel those that continue to carry on the REAL legacy of “Lassie”, which is about a fictional character, a line of genetic dogs and qualities like truth, honesty, integrity, and doing the right thing…”

-Joan Neidhardt, in a letter to the author dated August 17, 2007, after the author stopped Joan’s attempt of copyright infringement-

Let’s look at the issues that Joan Neidhardt brought up in her email – truth, honesty, integrity, and doing the right thing. It is my opinion -- and what I feel is the sad truth -- that the two people who claim to be the world’s spokespersons for Lassie do not have a clue to what those words mean. It sounds good, and probably feels good, to preach them to other people, but it is a far cry from what is actually being practiced. I believe totally in the moral lesson “practice what you preach”, but I do not believe that either person has the ability to do that.

Let’s first look at the Lassie puppy contract that everyone who gets a Lassie puppy has to sign. Here are Joan’s words about the contract:

“…The very few that have been adopted outside of that circle have gone out with strict spay/neuter contracts to only very carefully screened homes. These pups are not free, and there are strict contract conditions that will be legally enforced if broken...”

-Joan Neidhardt on www.lassie.net

One question that I have for Joan is this: “Is your Lassie pup neutered?” You have been asked that question before and have conveniently not answered it.

It is my opinion that your silence speaks volumes.

Here is the actual wording of the contract regarding the dog being used for commercialization purposes by the new owner. Let’s look at Cathy’s use of the contract: “…It is also understood that this dog, being Lassie’s son/daughter shall not be used for any commercial purposes by you or anyone else.”

“I HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT I HAVE READ AND UNDERSTOOD THE ABOVE AND WILL KEEP THE DOG DESCRIBED HEREIN AS A PART OF MY FAMILY.”

-Adoption contract signed by Cathy Schmidt of Colliewoode Productions LLC, i.e. www.lassie.net, on December 8, 1996, when she adopted Gina, daughter of Lassie 8-

Cathy Schmidt’s collie, Gina, daughter of Lassie 8, is now being used strictly for commercial purposes, promoting Cathy’s book Gina Bina Ballerina, in which a collie pup wants to learn ballet. Cathy uses Gina to sell her book, apparel, pillows, mugs, coaster sets, boxes, mousepads, posters, bags, and buttons. Gina also goes to book signings when Cathy sells her book. This is nothing but commercialization and a deliberate violation of a signed contract.

I have come to the opinion that the Colliewoode Productions LLC owners, Joan and Cathy, have decided that the phrase “strict contract conditions” does not apply to either of them because of who they think they are. That is ridiculous! If it did not apply to them, they would not have had to sign the same contract that everyone else has to sign. If anything, since they pretend to represent to the world that they are the image keepers of Lassie, they should make sure that they were always within the guidelines of the legal requirements, because if anyone should be under scrutiny to lead the way, they should.

“…Lassie has never been about any person or ego…”

-Joan Neidhardt in an email, August 22, 2007

In my opinion, for Joan and Cathy, Lassie has always been about ego – theirs. They feed on all things Lassie in order to bolster themselves in the eyes of the public. If they think someone is doing anything in the Lassie world that might upstage them, they get very defensive and start slinging out threats. This has happened time and time again, especially to this author. One instance is the naming of my publishing business as Colliehaven Ventures, LLC. I was threatened by Joan because she decided that it was too close to Colliewoode Productions LLC and people might get my business confused with hers. I doubt it. I was threatened with court if I continued. Joan informed the author that she was in charge of looking out for Lassie’s image and the image of collies and I better not do anything to damage that image. Since I own ten collies, bred collies, worked in pet therapy with my collies, am active in collie rescue, and write about collies, it is very doubtful that I am out to damage Lassie’s image and that of collies in general. By the way, I disregarded her threats and my business is named Colliehaven Ventures LLC. My kennel has been named Colliehaven since 1995, before I ever became aware that Joan Neidhardt even existed. I am still waiting for those court papers.

“…you have attempted to copy us over and over and over, including the name of your “company”, which you wanted to name very close to ours to cause confusion (Colliehaven Productions LLC-remember?)”

-Joan Neidhardt, August 12, 2007, in an email to the author-

Speaking of copying over and over and over, it’s interesting now what is happening with the lassie.net website. As Bob Weatherwax’s website, www.weatherwaxtraineddogs.com, develops and expands, lassie.net changes on a daily basis, reacting to the presence of Bob’s site and the new material regularly posted. It is my opinion that someone who is constantly changing the Lassie.net website to attack another website that features Lassie and/or the Weatherwax place in Lassie history is no longer secure in her own standing. Joan needs to stand back and take a very hard look at herself before she accuses other people of doing what she is so guilty of herself. She will never do this and I believe that I will receive more threats from her in the days to come.

So, the whole point of this lesson is: if you do not possess the qualities of truth, honesty, integrity, and the ability to do the right thing in the Lassie world, please do not think that you can preach that to other people and be taken seriously. I just look at this as one more bridge burned on your trek toward anonymity.