Petey (Pete the Pup) from “Our Gang” was one smart dog

Growing up, I was a nuts for the Our Gang series of films. They would run on local TV on a Sunday and I would be glued to the adventures of the The Little Rascals. From week to week my favorite character would change. After all why pick just one favorite character when you had a whole gang to choose from? Consistently though, one character always pleased me when he was on the small screen. That was their faithful canine companion Petey or Pete the Pup.

This dog could seemingly do anything, and was always in on the action like any other member of the gang. He is what I wanted my dogs to be like. Rarely were they. Probably because unlike Pete the Pup, my dogs were not very well-trained.

Of course, I had no idea how well-trained he was until I became an adult and started re-watching Our Gang. To my grown-up eyes it was obvious that this dog could do just about anything. Last week I stumbled upon this video that demonstrates just what Pete the Pup was cable of doing. In it, his trainer Harry Lucenay, demonstrates just what his amazing dog was capable of doing.

Watch Pete the Pup show his stuff on YouTube (embed disabled)

About Pete the Pup

The Petey you see in any film could be any number of dogs playing the role. But the original Pete, the one you see above was actually the second Pete. The first one worked with both Harold Lloyd and in the Buster Brown films before dying from poison in 1930. It was at this point that his offspring, who also had the distinctive eye ring, would take over.

Second Pete would live a long life. Almost making it to 17 years of age. Unfortunately most of the Petes we see in the Our Gang films were other nameless dogs.

Harry Lucenay was fired by the studio in 1932 and he took his famous dog with him. Eventually turning up in Atlantic City, NJ to pose for pictures with children for cash.