The Scottish Terrier's sense of loyalty has been famous for more than a century. In the mid 1800s, a Scottie named Bobby began garnering a lot of public attention in the town of Edinburgh. Bobby had belonged to a policeman by the name of John Gray, who was well known throughout Edinburgh due to his frequent nightly patrols on which Bobby invariably accompanied him. John eventually contracted tuberculosis and died, at which point Bobby began to visit his master's grave every night regardless of often harsh weather. This unbroken streak was to continue to fourteen years until Bobby himself died in 1872. A statue was resurrected in tribute to the faithful dog and can still be seen today.
Many Americans' first introduction to the Scottie was when they saw the one infamously owned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fala. Fala became something of a celebrity in her own right. Rumor has it that, following a trip to the Aleutian Islands in which Fala was mistakenly left behind, Roosevelt paid the sum of $15,000 to divert the course of a US Navy destroyer in order to have her picked up and safely escorted home. The tradition of Scotties in the White House continues today with two being owned by current President George W. Bush.
The Scottie was the most popular family dog in the United States during a period extending from the late 1920s to the 1940s. It was such a staple of suburban America at that point that it was chosen as one of the icons of popular culture that became tokens for the board game Monopoly when it was first created, right alongside contemporary marvels such as the iron and the top hat.
One of the figures most directly responsible for popularizing the Scottie was George IV, Earl of Dumbarton. He owned a pack of Scottish Terriers that were supposedly so skilled and adept at hunting that he dubbed them with the nickname that is used universally for all Scotties today, the "Diehard". Later on, he would also apply this name to the regiment of Royal Scots under his command in 1633.
Famous New York poet Dorothy Parker was among the first of the cosmopolitan set to own and prominently display her affection for the Scottish Terrier. Her frequent appearances in town with her dog Daisy may well have helped to spark the interest in the breed that met its peak during that age.
During World War II, one of the most successful teams of pilots had close ties to the Scottish Terrier. The pilots of the mobile fortress "Memphis Belle" (considered the first of the heavy bombers to enter the conflict in Europe) had at their base something of a mascot in the form of a Scottie named Stuka. The faithful dog was said to wait for the return of each and every pilot at the end of every mission, not moving from her spot until all had returned.
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