Arguably the most famous dog in the country, and certainly one of very few canines with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Lassie was borne out of a story in the Saturday Evening Post entitled “Lassie Come Home.” The adventures of the rough collie with human-like intelligence, separated from her family and re-united after a long trek back home, gained instant popularity and inspired Lassie movies, cartoons, and of course a weekly Lassie radio show.

On this day, June 8, in 1947, The Lassie Show made its debut on ABC radio. Several dogs voiced Lassie’s part, but the fictional Lassie hardly changed for her two years.

Lassie on radio was soon replaced on Lassie on TV. For 19 years a destitute family on a farm, and audiences across the country, would be pulled together by Lassie. In 1957 “Timmy” joined the family, and inevitably in nearly every episode would get into some sort of a scrape, from which he escaped only with the help of Lassie.