Albert Payson Terhune was an American novelist and journalist best known for his stories about collies, especially Lad: A Dog. His animal tales celebrate courage, intelligence, loyalty, and the close relationships between dogs and their human companions. Many draw their atmosphere from Sunnybank, the New Jersey estate that became closely associated with his writing.

Born in Newark, Terhune grew up in a literary household; his mother wrote under the name Marion Harland. After graduating from Columbia University, he worked for the Evening World in New York. Journalism helped support a wide-ranging writing career before the popularity of his dog stories made them his most recognizable work.

Originally appearing in magazines, the Lad stories were collected in book form in 1919. Terhune followed them with other canine adventures, including Bruce, Buff: A Collie, and Further Adventures of Lad. His own collies and the landscape around Pompton Lake supplied recurring inspiration. Through dramatic rescues, rivalries, and acts of devotion, he helped make the collie a familiar figure in popular American fiction.