Albert Terhune lived next door to my grandmother in New Jersey. When I was little, mom read us Lad --I was so excited to visit Lad’s home --Sunnybrook? --it sounded so lovely --imagine my surprise when Lad’s home was “just a house” with a backyard like my grandmothers --Terhune’s descriptions were apparently not based on his own home, but a summer place he or his parents’ had (can’t remember). Of course as a child, one doesn’t “get” fiction as a concept --and I thought I’d see the same place illustrated in the book and meet Lad! But Terhune had died by then, and there were no collies at all . . .but I still remember the disappointment when I was shown the house and yard!
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I believe the big Sunnybank house on the lake was torn down many decades ago? The old pictures look like a nice rambling old place. Maybe they built a smaller one there after that, or maybe it just looked bigger in pictures than it was.
http://www.sunnybankcollies.us/place.htm
ETA: Here’s a neat picture of Lad by the lake.
http://www.sunnybankcollies.us/image…ad_by_lake.jpg
And the collie graves on the ground, including a map:
http://www.sunnybankcollies.us/sunnybank2.htm
Maybe they only lived there at Sunnybank part time and stayed in a little house in a town the rest of the time?
That’s just wonderful. I really loved those books and short stories. Wasn’t there also a novel or movie. With a character actually called Ladadog? All one word? Sort of an homage , I guess.
Homer’s Odyssey, the true story of a writer adopting a blind kitten.
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So cool! I had no idea that site existed. Despite looking through all the bloodlines and whatnot, it does not appear that Lad himself sired any registered litters. Or did I miss it? The stories talk some about him going to shows and being a champion, but maybe that’s fiction.
It also looks like there was a fair amount of in-breeding… fathers mating with daughters and whatnot.
I noticed that. Maybe he stopped trying with Lad because Wolf was a throwback and not a show specimen. He sure did like breeding Bruce to everything.
The pics of Wolf were interesting. I’m not a collie person at all, but he doesn’t look that bad to me. Maybe it was magnified for fiction, but he was Lad’s only pup. There had to be some reason not to try again with Lad.
Looking through the pics, I think Thane is a gorgeous collie. Now that one really looks like a champion. Like some horses you see, where even without knowing anything about the breed, you can tell they know they are all that and a bag of chips.
