How Terry The Terrier Became Toto

It was the kind of moment that has defined the lives of many young performers and future stars. Abandoned by her birth parents, Terry had spent the better part of three weeks hiding under the bed of the German couple who had taken her in. Crippled by anxiety and shyness, life seemed like one big rug stretching endlessly ahead, and Terry — a 1-year-old cairn terrier — was a carpet-wetter. But Terry refused to be defined by a weak bladder. She came out from under that bed, channeled her insecurities into her training, and just five years later she was on top of the world. No longer an insecure carpet-wetter but Toto, with a career-defining role in The Wizard of Oz, which opened in theaters across the country 75 years ago Monday and turned Terry into perhaps the most beloved animal in Hollywood history. continue