Lad, A Dog (film)

Lad A Dog is a 1962 American dramatic film based on the 1919 novel Lad A Dog written by Albert Payson Terhune. Starring Peter Breck, Peggy McCay, Carroll OConnor, and Angela Cartwright, the film blends several of the short stories featured in the novel, with the heroic Lad winning a rigged dog show, saving a handicapped girl from a snake, and capturing a poacher who killed his pups and injured one of his owners. Warner Brothers purchased the film rights for the novel from Vanguard Productions, and acquired the film rights for the other two Lad novels from the late Terhunes wife.

Purebred rough collie Lad and his owners, Stephen Peter Breck and Elizabeth Tremayne Peggy McCay, are visited by their wealthy neighbor Hamilcar Q. Glure Carroll OConnor and his 8yearold daughter Angela Angela Cartwright, who is crippled from polio. While Lad befriends the girl, Glure invites the Tremaynes to show the prizewinning Lad at his upcoming dog show. However, Glure is jealous of Lads success and has rigged one event to have such specialized rules that he believes only his recently purchased highpriced, Englishtrained collie can win. During the competition, which involves directing the dogs through a tricky set of a maneuvers, Lad is able to complete the course, while Glures champion does not recognize the hand signals Glure makes while holding a cigar.Later, Lad saves Glures daughter Angela from a poisonous snake by knocking her backwards to get her out of harms way, then fighting and killing the snake, getting bitten in the process. Her nurse Alice Pearce initially does not see the snake, and begins beating Lad for attacking the little girl. Distraught, Angela stands and walks for the first time since her illness to stop the nurses abuse of her friend. Lad disappears for three days, reappearing covered in mud but cured of the poison. ........

Source: Wikipedia