Lincoln

During the first two seasons of Due South, Diefenbaker was played by three Huskies (none of whom were deaf). Lincoln was the 'actor,' who emoted those pitiful whines for donuts, or assisted Fraser and Ray in their crime-stopping. Two other dogs -- Chinook and Kerri-Ann -- were used for stuntwork. As an interesting side note, Kerry-Ann's puppies were seen as Dief's progeny in the first season episode, "The Wild Bunch."

Lincoln lives on a seven-acre farm in London, Ontario, with Ted Haggis (father of creator Paul) and daughter Joey Young, Lincoln's 'wrangler'. The story goes that when Paul Haggis got the green light for Due South he looked all over Canada for a trained white Siberian husky that could pass for a wolf. Alas, they weren't that easy to come by. He eventually found an 8-month-old puppy which he purchased for $3-400.

Puppies are a handful, and Siberian huskys are even worse. They're bred to work, such as pulling sleds for long durations of time. Lincoln was purchased on April 1, 1994 with an August 1st camera-ready deadline. That meant five hours a day, five days a week, of intensive obedience work.

Both Lincoln and his original standby, Chinook, worked early on in the series, but it was Lincoln who showed adeptness at performing. When they were on the set, Lincoln hung out in a $50,000 six-meter heated trailer that contained three separate kennels, each which had their own separate bed and meter-long exercise run.

At one point, the dog actually received more fan mail than the human performers. Children were especially enamored of this furry 'wolf' with a mind of its own.

Alas, Lincoln is not back for the third season of Due South. Instead, another dog (Draco) was chosen to fill this role. Lincoln was retired, and enjoyed the good life running around at home until he passed away in September 2007.

Due South Cast Information | William & Elyse's Due South Page