Ruddell Bird "Rudd" Weatherwax (September 23, 1907 – February 25, 1985) was an American actor, animal trainer, and breeder.

He also handled the dogs for the Lassie television series which ran from 1954 to 1974, and trained Spike for the 1957 feature film Old Yeller.

[2] Weatherwax was also responsible for training the official New York Mets’ team mascot in the 1960s, a beagle named Homer.

MGM, which had decided to use a show collie trained by Frank Inn in the movie, took advantage of a massive flooding of the Sacramento River in northern California to obtain some spectacular footage for the film.

According to legend, after seeing the first prints, MGM head Louis B. Mayer stated that "Pal had entered the water, but Lassie had come out," and a new star was born.