Petticoat Junction

Higgins was one of the best-known dog actors of the 1960s – 1970s. Most people remember him either as "Dog" or as "Benji," two of the most popular roles he played during a 14-year career in show business. The animal trainer Frank Inn found the famous canine at the Burbank Animal Shelter as a... puppy. A fluffy black-and-tan mixed breed dog, he was marked like a Border Terrier and Inn believed him to be a mix of Miniature Poodle, Cocker Spaniel, and Schnauzer. Higgins's career was facilitated by Frank Inn, who also trained Arnold Ziffel and all the other animals used on the Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres sitcoms. His on-set assistant trainers included Gerry Warshauer and Karl Miller. As an actor, he first came to national attention as the uncredited dog who played the character of "Dog" in the television sitcom Petticoat Junction for six of the show's seven seasons, from 1964 to 1970 appearing in 163 episodes. He guest-appeared on the television sitcom Green Acres with Eva Gabor in 1965 and also made a guest appearance on the television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies.
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The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr. The series is about a poor backwoods family transplanted to Beverly Hills, California, after striking oil on their land. A Filmways production created by writer Paul Henning, it is the first in a genre of "fish out of water" themed television shows, and was... followed by other Henning-inspired country-cousin series on CBS. In 1963, Henning introduced Petticoat Junction, and in 1965 he reversed the rags to riches model for Green Acres. The show paved the way for later culture-conflict programs such as McCloud, The Nanny, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Doc. Panned by many entertainment critics of its time, it quickly became a huge ratings success for most of its nine-year run on CBS. The Beverly Hillbillies ranked among the top twenty most watched programs on television for eight of its nine seasons, twice ranking as the number one series of the year, with a number of episodes that remain among the most watched television episodes of all time.
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Green Acres is an American sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a rural country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to Petticoat Junction, the series was broadcast on CBS September 15, 1965 – April 27, 1971. Receiving solid ratings during its six-year-run, Green Acres was cancelled in 1971, due to the famous "rural purge" decision by CBS. The sitcom has grown in popularity during... decades of syndication and DVD and VHS releases. In 1997, the two-part episode "A Star Named Arnold is Born" was ranked #59 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. With the success of The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction, CBS offered producer Paul Henning another half-hour on the schedule — with no pilot required . Lacking the time, he encouraged colleague Jay Sommers to create the series. Sommers used his 1950 radio series, Granby's Green Acres, as the basis for the new series. The 13-episode radio series had starred Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet as a big-city family who move to the country.
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