We bet you don’t need to be told the origin of our post title. Most of you can probably even conjure up the voice saying the words, too, but just in case you need a refresher, scroll down:

Dog loving film scholars still like to debate what breed Toto was intended to be, but here’s why we think that a Cairn Terrier was the perfect choice.

For starters, Toto’s name means “to make whole,” or “all-encompassing.” Those of us who’ve lived with Cairn Terriers can attest to how the fabric of the Universe (let alone the household) seems lifeless when the dog isn’t around.

In the book and movie, Toto is the instigator of all the plot twists. It is Toto’s escape from Elvira Gulch’s bicycle basket that gets the story really moving. It is Toto who barks at the scarecrow and reveals that this scarecrow can talk; It is Toto who unmasks the wizard’s true identity by pulling back the curtain. It is Toto who chases after a cat and causes Dorothy to chase miss her balloon ride back to Kansas. In fact, one source reports that Toto was in more scenes in The Wizard of Oz than Judy Garland as Dorothy. This hard to believe, but certainly Toto was in pretty much every scene that Dorothy was in, even if only for a few seconds. That said, Cairn Terrier owners can attest that all the aforementioned stunts sound exactly like what a Cairn Terrier is capable of.

Interestingly, the Wizard of Oz – and Toto’s role in it – has been the subject of many articles, papers and treatises dealing with spirituality and psychology, including this piece on the occult symbolism of the Wizard of Oz. It makes for fascinating reading, but when it comes to the Wizard of Oz, we prefer to adopt the stance of a line attributed to Freud: Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes a wonderful movie is just a wonderful movie,  in this case made even more wonderful by having the right breed portraying Toto. Just saying.

Image was a publicity photo of Judy Garland and the Cairn Terrier, Terry, promoting the Sunday April 18, 1971 NBC television broadcast of the 1939 MGM feature film The Wizard of Oz, by NBC Television Network – eBay item photo front photo back, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20838884