This turned out to be rougher to answer than I had imagined, fitting as Lassie is classified as a "Rough Collie". After visits to a buncha sites I got answers of "six," "over a half dozen," "nine," "ten", 'eleven," 'a dozen,' 'several,' and "many." But comparing all the sites the best answer seems to be six different dogs "starred" as Lassie in the original television show (CBS Sept 12, 1954 until Sept 12, 1971.) There were also stand ins, stunt doubles, and other dogs used for a particular purpose that aren't counted as official Lassies. The official Lassies are all descendents of the original Lassie, from the 1943 movie, "Lassie Come Home". That Lassie was actually named "Pal." Counting from Pal, thru a few movies ( there are six 'official' Lassie movies and one dreadful movie starring Lassie as "Shep" before the TV show started,) to the end of the television show there were probably 9 or 10 official Lassies. From 1963 to 1994 there were four more movies, the 1963 one being a paste up of several "Timmy" era TV episodes. There was a Lassie movie set to be released in Dec. 2005 but I haven't seen a thing about it ( Maybe King Kong stomped him er her?) Best info on total Lassies to date is 12. Or maybe 13 or it could be just 11. Even the official Weatherwax kennel page isn't definate. And there apparently were and are some official "public appearance" Lassies as well, trained to remain calm in crowds and appear photogenic rather than act in movies. Now if you'd just asked how many wells Timmy fell down, I coulda answered that.

There were actually about 5 lassies from the 50s to the 70s. There were two more later on, one in the late 80s and one in the late 90s. The Weatherwax family is currently on their ninth Lassie.

one. Lassie lives forever. Like the voice of Charlie Brown.

My father grew up in Redford, Missouri. On a trip to the Ozark Mountains, he told me that his father sold 6 male Collie dogs to the Lassie Show way back when...