Bob Weatherwax, noted trainer of Lassie and other celebrity dogs, dies at 83
Bob Weatherwax, a Hollywood dog trainer who carried on his father’s legacy of breeding and coaching collies to play Lassie, the resourceful and heroic canine who crossed flooded rivers, faced down bears and leaped into the hearts of countless children, died Aug. 15 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was 83.
His family said his death, at a Department of Veterans Affairs facility, was caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Weatherwax took over as Lassie’s primary trainer in 1985 after the death of his father, Rudd, whose collie Pal starred alongside Elizabeth Taylor and Roddy Mcdowall in the hit 1943 film “Lassie Come Home,” as well as several other movies and the “Lassie” television show, seen on CBS and in syndication from 1954 to 1973.
As his father’s apprentice, Weatherwax learned the interdisciplinary roles — talent agent, pooch geneticist and acting coach — that were necessary for managing the Lassie brand.
Treating Lassie, a rough collie, as a genuine Hollywood star was a high priority. That standard was originally set by Louis B. Mayer, co-founder of Metro-goldwyn-mayer, the studio that released “Lassie Come Home.” After the film’s premiere, Mayer called his friend Howard Hughes, who owned Trans World Airlines, to request that Lassie be permitted to fly with passengers, not in the cargo section. Lassie flew in first class.
Weatherwax embraced his talent-manager role. He also embraced the perks of traveling with a celebrity.
On a trip to Philadelphia to promote the 1994 movie “Lassie,” a successful attempt to revive the franchise, he and the film’s star stayed at the luxurious Rittenhouse Hotel, where the celebrity collie dined on boiled chicken that was prepared by a chef, delivered by room service and washed down with distilled water.
Lassie usually traveled with Mel, a Jack Russell terrier. The two dogs watched “Lassie” reruns on Nickelodeon in between promotional appearances.
“The hotels say they wish they had more guests like Lassie,” Weatherwax told the Los Angeles Times in 1994. “They don’t have to deal with cigarette holes in the carpet or spilled drinks.”
Breeding was key to the whole operation.
Lassie’s admirable traits — loyalty, bravery, a rich coat — did not include immortality, but the Weatherwaxes wanted the public to perceive each Lassie as the only Lassie. (All of them were male, although they were portrayed as female on screen.)
To accomplish this, they bred thousands of collies to produce Lassies, each with a distinctive white blaze down the snout. But only one Lassie at a time appeared on screen or at public events.
“The public doesn’t want four Robert Redfords or four Lassies,” Weatherwax told the Los Angeles Times. “What ruined Santa Claus is you’d see one on every corner.”
Weatherwax followed his father’s dictum that the dogs’ training should be positive and rewarding, filled with praise and yummy treats.
Like his father, Weatherwax taught his Lassies to understand hand signals so he could silently direct them to perform whatever was written in the script — tilting their heads with curiosity, twirling in excitement, backing away in fear.
“Due to my father’s genius, we transformed the training of dogs from simple props on a movie set into actors who seemed to behave with humanlike emotions,” Weatherwax wrote in an autobiographical essay on IMDB.
Robert Walter Weatherwax was born June 4, 1941, in Burbank, California. His mother, Mae (Hawksworth) Weatherwax, was a pianist who gave up a scholarship to The Juilliard School to marry his father.
Their son was practically bred to become a dog trainer.
In addition to Lassie, his father trained Asta, the wire fox terrier in “The Thin Man” (1934), and Daisy, the mutt in “Blondie” (1938). One of his uncles trained Toto for “The Wizard of Oz” (1939). Another trained Spike, seen in “Old Yeller” (1957).