Dog breed in 1971 film big Jake?

Answer 1

The dog "dawg" was actually two collies (named Silver and Laddie), trained by the Ken Weatherwax studio. According to one (possibly apocryphal) story they were siblings of the collie who portrayed Lassie.

Answer 2

Dog was a Rough Collie, trained by Robert "Bob" Weatherwax, who owned and trained all of the Collies that played Lassie. Two Rough Collies were used in Big Jake, and their coats were dyed to make them appear black. Throughout the film, you can see varying degrees of the black dye on their coats.

Quoted from Lassieweb.org: "Many movie information sites and books list "Lassie" in the cast of the classic John Wayne Western Hondo. Close, but not true, according to a correspondent who knows the Weatherwax family: the collies in Hondo and the later Wayne Western Big Jake were trained by the Weatherwax kennels and were Lassie siblings and children, but were not played by Lassie himself."

"In 1971 a rough collie starred in the John Wayne movie "Big Jake". The collies playing a dog named "Dawg" were actually 2 Weatherwax collies named Silver and Laddie. Their coats had been dyed for the part."