Tuffy was born in 1930 in a hole in a haystack in the Cheyenne Indian Reservation on what they called Red Coat Creek, near Faith, South Dakota. A chance meeting between his Cowboy-owner Ger Orvedahl and veteran actor Tully Marshall led to parts for Tuffy in the 1930s. After seeing Tuffy in "Nevada" and "Drift Fence", producer Walter Wanger had a part for a dog added to the script of "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine", written specially for Tuffy.