The dog, Old Yeller, although described in the dialogue as a mongrel, is portrayed by a 170-pound Yellow Mastador (Labrador Retriever/English Mastiff cross) and, in the book by Fred Gipson, is a Black-Mouthed Cur, a similar looking but less bulky breed.
Was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, who deemed it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 2019. It was the first live action Disney film with no animated sequences to be preserved.
More than 60 years after its original release, Disney continues to license the name "Disney's Old Yeller" to a dog food manufacturer who uses that as the brand name for their product.
Although the movie is based in Texas, it was filmed in California.
In the film, the words "rabies" and "rabid" are never used. They refer to the disease as "hydrophobia" and call afflicted animals "mad" instead, which was common at the time.