Boomer the dog
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Boomer was an acting dog who had an hour-long special in 1979 and a short-lived TV series on NBC in the early 1980s called Here's Boomer. Boomer was very similar to another acting dog named Higgins -- known as Benji in movies. Boomer was bigger and not as athletic as Benji, but was still widely loved. In real life, both Boomer and Benji were abandoned or lost mutts whose performing talent was noticed by animal lovers and trainers. On screen both played the parts of stray dogs that were smart, friendly, and loving of their human and animal friends. It is claimed that Boomer and Benji inspired families across America to adopt scruffy pound puppies.
There is copious information online about Benji/Higgins, but Boomer facts are hard to come by, most information in this article appeared at this site dedicated to Boomer (http://members.libcom.com/boomer). Among other tidbits on the site, Boomer once appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, and had a stunt dog that stood in for him on some of his more difficult tricks.
References
http://members.libcom.com/boomer Here's Boomer on The World Wide Woof