Spike (dog) Spike (dog) Spike (1952-1962) was a lop-eared yellow Mastador (Mastiff/Labrador Retriever mix) and a dog actor best known for his performance as Old Yeller in the 1957 Disney film of the same name co-starring Tommy Kirk, Dorothy McGuire, Fess Parker, and Kevin Corcoran. Spike was rescued as a pup from a shelter in Van Nuys, California and became the pet and pupil of animal trainer Frank Weatherwax. Spike also appeared as Patrasche in 20th Century Fox's "A Dog of Flanders" with Donald Crisp and David Ladd in 1959 and as King in the 1956 film, "The She-Creature". In 1961, Spike
A Boy and His Dog a graphic novel. Ellison began the cycle with the 1969 short story of the same title, published in "New Worlds", and expanded and revised the tale to novella length for his story collection "The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World" the same year. The cycle begins chronologically with "Eggsucker", which chronicles the early years of the association between the young loner Vic and his brilliant, telepathic dog, Blood. Ellison bookended the original story with two others in the same world, in Vic and Blood: The Chronicles of a Boy and His Dog (St. Martin's Press, 1988),