Possibly the very first dog training video was produced by Harry Lucenay who owned, “Petey,” a registered American Pit Bull Terrier. “Petey” was best known for being the moral center of the classic, “The Little Rascals.”
“Petey” was first played by Pal, the Wonder Dog, whose career and life was cute short when he was fed poison (or crushed glass, by some accounts, possibly by someone with a grudge against Lucenay). His son was his replacement, a dog known as “Lucenay’s Peter” who was put into films at around six months of age. “Petey” landed the role of ‘Tige’ in the Buster Brown comedies, and it was the role of “Tige” that gave Petey the now-classic ring around the eye. Because the ring was made with permanent dye, the head of the studio, Hal Roach, had no choice but to accept “Petey” the way he was. “Petey” was signed to a three-year contract in 1927 with six month options. His starting salary was $125 per week, and given that it was raised in increments of $25 a week in order to make him exclusive to Hal Roach Studios, it made “Petey”the second highest paid actor in the OG series (next to Farina). “Petey” was so well trained that he starred in his own instructional video.
Actor, Jackie Cooper remembered Petey decades later in his memoir. He’d been allowed to bring the dog home for an overnight stay and recounted that the time was his idea of glory and paradise combined. He was gentle and warm and playful.Photo taken in 1928 of Petey and “his gang,” bringing candy to St. Joesph’s orphanage.