Training dogs for movies, TV & commercials

My mistake. I was talking about a cat trained for films and commercials. I am sure your cat will work great for you for affection in your home or for your friends, but I am talking about bringing your cat to the set to Stage 27 at Universal Studios at 10:00 at night, and doing a scene 20 times. If you can do that with your cat for affection and no treats, you are a far better cat trainer than me or any other trainer in Hollywood.

Hmmm ...don't recall mentioning what her training was specifically for .... you have no knowledge that it's just "at home or for friends".
You seem to make a lot of assumptions.

Pardon me, but why is it you seem to get so very offended when anyone disagrees with you .... even on very minor points? Such people are usually quite difficult to work with, and get themselves ::ahem:: a "certain" reputation.

I'm in California too ... howdy neighbor.

I am not offended at all. I was totally serious. You might be just an awesome cat trainer! Since this thread is about training animals for movies and commercials, I am assuming when I am talking about cat training, it relates to training them on the set. I do have a question though. Have you ever worked a cat on the set before? If you have not, how can you say that a cat does not need to work a treat? Don't you agree it might be a little different if you have not done it? Where are you in So. Cal.?

Well, speaking of Bart..."The Edge" is on right now and he just made his appearance! I'm not sure, but I think that was his last film. Anthony Hopkins also worked with both Brad Pitt and Bart in "Legends of the Fall". The special I saw on Bart and Doug was hosted by Brad. It was a great show. Wasn't his first major film "The Bear"? We'll miss you, Bart!

I was watching "Underdog" earlier. Pretty good mix of real life and CGI in that one.

Interesting note on Flipper's original trainer, I believe he's now very anti-captive, since Flipper's death. I still remember the day the orca, Lolitta, was captured in our waters.

Cats! Especially big cats, would seem to be a real challenge. Especially on an open set with a lot of distractions. Oh, remember Clarence the Crosseyed Lion on "Daktari"?

Are cheetahs the easiest (in general) of the big cats to train?

Joel, thanks for coming on here and sharing your expertise!

I always thought it would be really interesting to train animals for movies, etc. I have been training/showing in performance events for about 20 years now and really enjoy finding ways to teach my dogs new behaviors. A couple of my dogs made it on "America's Funniest Home Videos" awhile back (they actually filmed in Alaska one year!) and another of my dogs was in a TV commercial filmed by an Anchorage company. It was more stressful than I had realized it would be - we had to boat over to a small island, wait for everything to be "just right", and then my dog had to sit between a couple of strangers (very close) for a campfire scene, with the smoke and sparks flying around. She was very well behaved and put up with it so well, but I could tell she was tired when we finally went home at 1 a.m.

I do have a question for you. When it comes to dogs, do you find that mixed breeds or purebreds are more popular for movies, commercials, etc? Do you find that certain breeds have a stigma against them (due to beliefs about aggression or some other "bad" reputation) and are unlikely to be used?

I have German shepherds and chows. I'm not trying to get them into any sort of media at this point so my question is purely curiousity. I marketed a training book a number of years ago and had a picture of one of my chows on it and was told that a chow wasn't a good choice because of their reputation. I kind of figured that if my book showed you could train a chow, it should be a plus not a negative! *L*

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

^ good questions!

I'm curious as well

In the past I always wanted to get my dogs into print or TV. Not so much anymore (I don't need to live vicariously through my dogs, my reasons for wanting them "out there" was purely selfish), but I've always noticed that the Dobermans in print/tv/movies are... well... hideous. Horrible ear crops, fat or poorly muscled... really don't paint the picture of an elegant bodyguard.

For once I'd like to see a visually pleasing Doberman in advertising:

Such a stunning dog. *drools*

I have to post a picture of one of the 3 dobie pups in my classes right now. This dog was purchased from an irresponsible breeder as a first dog for a family without a clue. They bought him for protection though they have never owned a dog before in their lives. They have left him alone on their farm since the age of 10 weeks with access into AND OUT OF his enclosure.

They asked me where to get his ears cropped because they (exact words) wanted him to look mean. I told them that there are no Vets. here that do a proper crop and that if they did find a Vet. to make sure that he is experienced with cropping their breed. They found one, he did a lazer crop at over 4 months of age and you won't believe what he did to that beautiful dog.
His ears are about 1/3 the crop length they're supposed to be. The owners are thrilled, they again..have no idea what has been done to their dog.

Seeing your beautiful dog just amplifies what that Vet. did to Rocky. There is just no comparison...

I'll post pictures next week.

dr2 - actually the first is Ronin, the second is Ilsa.

Ooops...Dog(s) Stunning times 2!

Bad ear crops tick me off so much - if you can't have it done right, don't have it done at all. And one of the only ways to get a good crop is to go with a good breeder. People ask where my dogs' ears were cropped... I tell them the cropper was flown in from Montana by the breeder.

I know a few dogs with crops that aren't horrible, but IMO nothing comes close to a cropping job done by a cropping vet who works with show dogs.

But, I think a lot of these casting agencies don't know what to look for in a good Doberman - or any dog, for that matter. Seems that some are well bred, but a lot are nothing better than you'd find in a pet shop. This in turn makes the public think, 'oh, my lab Max looks just like that dog on XYZ tv show, he *must* be purty enough to breed!' (o a side note - CM seems to like to breed his pit bull Daddy - does that dog have any titles whatsoever?)

It scares me when I see the ads for Cottonelle - how many yellow lab litters must be produced to keep peoples' brains focused on toilet paper.... eesh.

I know, right?

At least Disney made a good move by promoting the idea of adoption versus buying in that last movie. I haven't seen it, but apparently they added a public service announcement at the end of that chihuahua movie... which is god since movies like that seem to create a boom of whatever breed is portrayed.