Page 63 - Issue 2_2018

Australian Terriers in the Spotlight

By Diana Fenton

There are three Australian Terriers who have made it on the news in The Actors
Australia this year.
In the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, Toto was played by a female
Rusty the intrepid traveller and Trouble and Flick, the Australian terri- brindle Cairn Terrier whose real name was Terry. She was paid a $125
ers who share the role of Toto, in the stage production of The Wizard salary each week, which was more than some of the human actors
of Oz. (Wikipedia.)

The Intrepid Traveler For the 2018 Wizard of Oz production a duo of Australian Terriers has
been ‘hired’ namely Trouble and Flick. They were trained by Luke Hura
Rusty lives on a a leading film, television and theatre dog trainer. They are unfortu-
cattle property in nately referred to in the press as, Australian Cairn Terriers. (A grave
Goondiwindi, Qld misnomer.)
with the Scuda-
more family and However, they are described as ‘clever and confident’ (which aussie
their children, Eliza isn’t) and their ‘acting role’ includes travelling in a ‘flying’ house and
and Sam. When being carried in Dorothy’s basket.
the family took
a holiday Rusty
decided that he
should join them
and stowed away
in a truck driver’s carriage. Upon discovery the truckie Paul McDowell
took Rusty home with him to Snowtown, South Australia, some 1500
kilometers away until he could be returned to his owners.
After returning from their holiday and being notified of Rusty’s where-
abouts, his owner, Laura placed a call over social media to try and have
Rusty returned. The call was heeded by JetPets an animal transport
service who offered to return Rusty at no cost. They also donated
a state of the art pet travel crate which allowed plenty of room to
stretch his legs, complete with a stay dry fleece matt.

He flew from Adelaide to Brisbane and after enjoying the comforts of
the stopover lounge joined a road transport for the 4-hour drive to
Goondiwindi.
This completed his extraordinary 3000-kilometre journey.

Photo courtesy of : https://www.wizardofozthemusical.com/creatures-great-
small-rejoice-toto-partnership-rspca-announced
Photos: Scotty Williams, of Jetpets, with Rusty at their Brisbane transit lounge.
Picture: Ric Frearson/AAP

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