Lassie's Lessons

“…My heart is not willing to part with the 55 year legacy of the Weatherwax Lassies until such time Bob decides he’s through with it…”

This statement was made by Joan Neidhardt on September 26, 1997, while she was head of a campaign to save Lassie from being replaced by a corporate fake Lassie.

Fast forward ten years and you will see Joan Neidhart make a 180 degree turn. She is now representing herself as the OFFICIAL Lassie everything on lassie.net. The dog she claims is the real Lassie 9 is an actual son of Lassie 8, but he is not the official Lassie 9, not as Lassies have been selected for the past 60 plus years. He is just a substitute, put in place by the corporate world that Joan was fighting in 1997.

In October, 2000, Lassie 8 was retired from show business. His final performances were made at the Louise Mandrell Theater in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Laddie, the son of Lassie 8, was on stage with him and officially took over the reins as Lassie 9, and as with each generation, first with Rudd and then Bob, was the dog personally chosen by Bob to continue the Lassie legacy. This dog satisfied all the criteria that a Lassie pup needs to rightfully take over the reign of Lassie, to make a flawless transition. Trainer Bob Weatherwax was there as Lassie’s owner and he is still the legal, rightful owner of the official Lassie, as the world recognizes every Weatherwax-selected Lassie.

Joan Neidhardt and Cathy Schmidt of Colliewoode Productions were in Tennessee, as was I, to see the changing of the guard. While it was sad to see Lassie 8 retire, it was comforting knowing that the legacy of Lassie would continue. Bob Weatherwax was there to oversee the legacy that his father Rudd had handed to him when he died.

“In a nutshell, Lassie fans are loyal to the Weatherwax legacy and will NEVER accept a non-Weatherwax Lassie as long as Bob will supply them!”

-Joan Neidhardt, September 23, 1997

The life of Lassie seemed so sweet and innocent in the early years, based on the stories of the television series so many of us grew up with. But for Rudd, and later for Bob, Lassie was also a business that included complicated licensing deals. Large corporations were often involved. Even though profit might have been a common goal, it was Rudd and Bob’s chief responsibility to protect not only their commodity, but the living creatures that embodied and represented the commodity. Both Rudd and Bob only agreed to participate when the arrangements – primarily the welfare and safety of each Lassie – matched up with their standards. In 2003, those arrangements did not match up. Bob did not retire, as has been misstated in press releases and on websites; he was looking out for Lassie, as the Weatherwaxes always did.

“No ordinary trainer can replicate the training bond, method, or performance that first Rudd and now Robert Weatherwax elicit from a collie.”

-Joan Neidhardt, September 14, 1997-

“For over 53 years, Rudd and Robert Weatherwax have not only provided the star of every Lassie movie and TV series, but have been the caretakers of the Lassie image. In being the caretakers of the Lassie image, they have also preserved the image of the collie. The Weatherwax style of training is unique and cannot be duplicated.”

-Joan Neidhardt, September 14, 1997-

These words state how Joan felt ten years ago. Why has she now abandoned the Weatherwax legacy to push Hey Hey as the official Lassie 9? Joan has gone so far from the Weatherwax legacy that she sent Bob Weatherwax a Christmas message gloating over the fact that the Weatherwax Lassie lineage was finally over. This is public information and has been previously posted on the Internet. This ugliness came from someone who ten years earlier was adamant that there never be a Lassie that was not one of Bob’s.

Does Joan feel justified in doing this because Hey Hey is a son of Lassie 8, and is owned and trained by her friend Carol Riggins, who once worked under Bob? In looking at this just on the surface, one would think that was fine, no problem. Yet, if a person pushed the top layer aside and dug a little deeper, one would find cracks in that logic. Things are not always as they seem.

Let’s look at Hey Hey first. Hey Hey was used for a few episodes of the Canadian-based Cinar Lassie series in the late 90’s. That was because Cinar had decided not to renew Bob Weatherwax’s contract and use an imitation Lassie, a collie that was not of the Lassie lineage. This dog was fired because it could not act. Bob then agreed to send his assistant trainer, Carol Riggins with Hey Hey, who was only partially trained, because a new contract was imminent. When the contract was signed, Bob returned to the set with Lassie 8 to complete the series.

Riggins had lived near Bob, and it was convenient for Bob to have her house Hey Hey, knowing if he ever needed a dog for a distance double, Carol could bring him to the set. Otherwise, Hey Hey was to remain as a family pet. None of the pups from Lassie 8’s first litter had enough qualities to become Bob’s choice for the next Lassie, including Hey Hey. Lassie’s successor was still to be born, so more litters were produced until the right Lassie was born. Laddie was from the fifth litter of pups sired by Lassie 8/Howard.

Now let’s dig a little deeper and look at Carol Riggins, Hey Hey’s owner and trainer. Carol started out by working as a part-time bookkeeper for Rudd and for Bob. After Rudd’s death, she approached Bob to see if he would take her on and teach her about dog training. She worked her way up and she eventually became an assistant trainer. Carol’s only previous training experience was with big cats, which is a far cry from training collies.

The lassie.net website lists a lot of credits for Carol Riggins for work that she has done, but what it does not do is break down those credits into which projects were Carol’s when she worked with the big cats, which doesn’t count in the Lassie world, and which credits were actually Bob Weatherwax’s with Carol as his assistant. If a true Lassie credit list was made for Carol, it would be much, much smaller than lassie.net makes it out to be.

Unfortunately, Carol’s style of training leaves us hungry for the real Lassie. Hey Hey does nothing but watch for cues and does not always respond to them. He doesn’t have the animation and life that the other Lassies brought to the screen and to public appearances. That brings out two truths to this whole Lassie topic – 1) Hey Hey doesn’t have what it takes to be Lassie, and 2) Carol does not know how to train the true Weatherwax way.

So, my question remains: Why does Joan Neidhardt take it upon herself to promote a Lassie that the “big corporation” put in place and no longer fight for the genuine Lassie? It is my opinion that the answer lies in the fact that she has burned too many bridges behind her and is no longer welcome in the real Lassie world.

If the big corporation depended on Joan for her website, then why would it have its own website, www.lassie.com, which is the true corporate Lassie website? It is hard to take a Lassie website and fan club seriously when there are less than 10 people worldwide on the mailing list – statistics directly from lassie.net. That sends a clear message the public has no interest in the site.

There is one other topic that needs to be addressed here. On lassie.net, there is written the information that Carol is breeding Hey Hey for the next Lassie- Lassie 10. Carol has no legal right to breed Hey Hey for this. Bob Weatherwax still has the only legal standing to breed Laddie for Lassie 10. The Lassie lineage will only continue through him. Joan is also advertising on her website the possibility that people can write in for a Lassie puppy when a litter is born. Perhaps Joan’s website should be called “The official Carol Riggins website” because she does not represent Classic Media or the Weatherwaxes.

“How many other dogs have you bred that are going to come out of the woodwork making this relative of Lassie’s claim for profit? I guess some people will do anything for money.”

-Joan Neidhardt, September 24, 1997

“Good people also get their facts straight…”

-Joan Neidhardt, September 25, 1997