---
description: Extraordinary animals aren't a new phenomenon
title: National Dog Day: Meet a Hero Dog of 1928
image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0f9220007af49e9/69885ef9196cf46f1d037851/1101280227_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9
---
* [History](/section/history/)
## History
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* [animals](/tag/animals/)
## animals
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# For National Dog Day, Meet a Hero Dog From 1928
by
[Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)
## Lily Rothman
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Rothman is managing editor at TIME.
Aug 26, 2015 3:00 PM CUT
The Feb. 27, 1928, cover of TIME
The Feb. 27, 1928, cover of TIMETIME
by
[Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)
## Lily Rothman
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Rothman is managing editor at TIME.
Aug 26, 2015 3:00 PM CUT
In honor of National Dog Day—celebrated on Aug. 26–allow us to look back at the the first nonhuman to be a TIME cover subject: a basset hound puppy who was a born show dog with champion parents. But the story, which was prompted by the 1928 Westminster Kennel Club dog show, took a much broader look at the state of dogs in America.
“It would be idle to suppose that the tiny fraction of the U. S. canine population which last week posed and strutted in Madison Square Garden was in any sense the most important,” TIME noted. “Other dogs did not pause last week, in the performance of their deeds and duties, to admire the antics of these prototypes.”
Among the canine feats highlighted by TIME was one particularly heroic pooch:
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> “”
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**_Read more stories of 1920s canine heroism in the TIME Vault:_** [Putting on the Dog](http://time.com/vault/issue/1928-02-27/page/28/ "undefined")
### Most Famous Dogs in Movies and Television
Lassie in Lassie MGM Studios/Getty Images
Toto from The Wizard Of Oz. MGM Studios/Getty Images
Snoopy in Peanuts. ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images
Rin Tin Tin from The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. The Frank S. Errigo Archive/Getty Images
Petey the dog from Little Rascals. Imagno/Getty Images
Santa's Little Helper from The Simpsons. FOX
Scooby Doo Warner Brothers
Brian from Family Guy. FOX
Beethoven and family from Beethoven's 2nd. Universal Pictures/Getty Images
Otis from The Adventures of Milo and Otis. Columbia Pictures
Shadow and Chance from Homeward Bound: the Incredible Journey. Walt Disney Pictures
Buddy from Air Bud Buena Vista Pictures
Charlie from All Dogs Go To Heaven. United Artists
Lady and Tramp in Disney's Lady and the Tramp Disney
Beasley Le Bordeaux, or Hooch, from the movie Turner & Hooch. Doug Griffin—Toronto Star/Getty Images
Benji from Benji: The Hunted. Dick Loek—Toronto Star/Getty Images
Gidget the Taco Bell dog. Vern Evans —Getty Images
Uggie from The Artist George Pimentel—WireImage/Getty Images
_Read next:_ [_21 Reasons This Dog Is the Best Dog in the World_](http://time.com/4005066/national-dog-day/?iid=time%5Freadnext "undefined")
[_Download TIME’s mobile app for iOS to have your world explained wherever you go_](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/time-mobile/id328218429 "undefined")
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