The Weatherwax family no longer owns the Lassie name, selling it to Classic Media in 2000. While Rudd, then Bob owned the trademark, Lassie lent her name to various products over the years, including Heartguard. Classic Media has lent the Lassie moniker most recently to food.

No longer able to claim Lassie, Bob Weatherwax regularly shows up at various events accompanied by collie Laddie.
From Bob Weatherwax’s blog comes the news that the Lassie dynasty has been fed raw since the beginning, referencing his grandfather’s philosophy that was passed down to his father Rudd.

We all know that dogs are derived from wolves. Just look at their teeth, and you’ll realize that they’re basically carnivorous. Wolves don’t roast their meat over a fire pit. They eat their prey raw. Occasionally, my parents would create a stew and cook it for the dogs. But the usual fare started with raw meat…

Dad also knew that the first part of a kill a wild animal would go for is the intestines and stomach where the greens were being digested. Dogs need some complex carbohydrates along with meat, but they’re not inclined to graze for them as cows and sheep do. To accommodate this part of the diet, Dad would add some greens to the meat, along with eggs, eggshells for additional calcium, and goat’s milk as well. My dad called this natural formula “the basic meal”, which supplied all our
dogs with what they needed for strength, energy, quick reflexes, great coats, and sparkling eyes…

Bob now feeds Bravo Raw Diets. While I’m happy to hear that he’s a proponent of raw diets, it’s simply marketing. The Weatherwax dogs were not fed raw.

In his blog post Bob infers that the dogs have been fed a form of raw diet since the beginning… but in the news clippings, it’s evident that the dogs had not been eating raw.

Bob and Laddie have just returned from SUPER ZOO 2007, the national show for pet products. Bob and Laddie were the special guests of BRAVO!, which features raw diets and all-natural treats for dogs and cats.

BRAVO happens to be the food that Laddie and Throttle eat and thoroughly enjoy. In fact, when Bob started the big guy and the little guy on the various BRAVO protein and vegetable blend products, he saw a difference in the dogs within a week and a noticeable change within two
weeks. Laddie in particular exhibited more get-up-and-go, more energy, more vigor, more enthusiasm than he had in quite a while. Bob says the food knocked two years off Laddie’s age. As for Throttle, who already had plenty of youthful vitality, improvements in his coat and overall body conditioning were soon evident.

I’m happy to know that the dogs are reaping the benefits of raw feeding, but I should have remembered that everything is marketing.