The Littlest Hobo (French: Le Vagabond) is the Canadian television series based upon a 1958 movie of the same name directed by Charles R.

[1] The series first aired from 1963 to 1965 in syndication, and was revived for a popular second run on CTV, spanning six seasons, from October 11, 1979, to March 7, 1985.

The German Shepherd dogs featured in both 1960s and 1980s series were owned and trained by Chuck Eisenmann.

[2] He promoted his education method by touring with his dogs to offer live demonstrations,[3] appearing on TV and radio shows and by writing books.

[4] Eisenmann recounts many stories from the filming of the series in his 1968 dog training book Stop!

He bred particularly for the reverse mask, that is commonly seen on all of his dogs, and is unpopular with breeders of the German Shepherd, as it is not in the breed standard.

[5] The concept was well-suited for series television offering a variety of different settings for a road program, with an undemanding "star" and new slate of supporting human players every week.

Some notable Hollywood guest stars included Pat Harrington Jr., Nita Talbot, Ellen Corby, Henry Gibson, and Keenan Wynn (the last two of which would also guest-star in the 1979–1985 revival series).

In the course of its run, a mixture of well-known Canadian and Hollywood guest stars appeared such as Al Waxman, Carol Lynley, John Ireland, Megan Follows, Ted Follows, Rex Hagon, Alan Hale Jr., Jack Gilford, August Schellenberg, DeForest Kelley, Ray Walston, Morey Amsterdam, Jeff Wincott, Michael Wincott, Michael Ironside, Patrick Macnee, Abe Vigoda, Saul Rubinek, John Vernon, Wendy Crewson, Keenan Wynn (who also previously appeared in the original 1963–1965 series), Chris Makepeace, Karen Kain, Vic Morrow, Andrew Prine, Lynda Day George, Nerene Virgin, Tedde Moore, Sammy Snyders, Henry Gibson (who also previously appeared in the original 1963–1965 series), John Carradine, Leslie Nielsen, Anne Francis, Geraint Wyn Davies, and Jayne Eastwood.

In two-part, fifth-season episode "The Genesis Tapes" a scientist and a reporter theorized that Hobo was a type of superior canine.

The VCI Entertainment DVD release of the series featured the colour versions of the episodes, except for the opening and closing credits which have only recovered in black and white.

The release features the colour versions of the first three episodes, except for the opening and closing sequences which have only recovered in monochrome.

In the United Kingdom, the series premiered on the BBC on April 8, 1982, but only the first three seasons were shown and repeated until 1989.