He would have been excused from a show ring in for being oversized.
But in the world of children’s cinema, “Digby’s” enormity was the point. Check it out:
The Biggest Dog in the World, a movie released in 1973, was based on Ted Key’s 1960 novel. The plot is simple enough: Digby’s owner, Jeff, is an animal behaviorist working at a NATO research facility where Project X, a secret growth formula for plants, is being developed. Jeff steals a little to help his girlfriend Janine’s aunt, who is struggling with her vegetable garden, but some of the liquid accidentally gets into Digby’s food, causing the dog to grow to enormous size. The bulk of the movie sees innocent Digby causing mayhem while authorities and scientists scramble to find a way to shrink him back to normal size.
The star of the British children’s fantasy-adventure comedy film was Old English Sheepdog, Fernville Lord Digby, aka Digby. Bred by Fernville Kennel, Digby was already famous for being the iconic Dulux Paint brand mascot. AkzoNobel (Dulux’s Parent Company) stated: “All our Dulux dogs... have been breed champions, with five of them proudly taking home Best in Show prizes.” We found evidence that Digby earned his championship title in the UK on July 1, 1970, and while four sources (City of Canada Bay Heritage Society, AkzoNobel, Dulux UK, and The Mirror) claimed that he had won a Best in Show, we weren’t able to find evidence of it. Still, Digby became the most famous of the Dulux dogs, and that made his owners, Cynthia and Norman Harrison, famous too.
After some 4 or 5 years, Digby’s tenure as the Dulux dog ended in 1974 when King Hotspur of Amblegait took over. To our knowledge, The Biggest Dog in the World was his only film credit. He likely retired to sire puppies, which, according to the Old English Sheepdog Database, he did.
Digby died in 1978 at the age of 10 (some say 12 years old); tragically, Cynthia Harrison died by suicide in 1979, reportedly tied to Digby’s passing.
Photo (not of Digby) by Meredith Bannan/Public Domain