Carl Spitz and the Hollywood Dog Training School

By Langley Cornwell

The Hollywood Dog Training School, currently owned and operated by Richard Karl, was once a hotel and training ground for the Hollywood elite. The fancy four pawed “actors and actresses” were brought in to learn to hit their acting cues. The Hollywood superstars also brought their canines to set up house in their own little personal hotel of sorts. The rich and famous regularly lavished their canines with a visit to the hottest spot in the doggie world at that time. Carl Spitz, the owner and trainer at this Hollywood hotspot, knew how to make dogs feel like a million dollars.

Carl Spitz, Sr. was the original owner and brains behind the initial Hollywood Dog Training School. Originally from Germany, Spitz got his start working with dogs for movie roles. He learned about dog training from the man that many consider the greatest dog trainer of all time...Colonel Konrad Most. Clearly he learned his lessons well, because he went on to be among the greatest in his own right.

Most everyone knows the dog Toto from the movie The Wizard of Oz. Toto was actually Carl’s family dog and was trained under his watchful eye. Toto’s real name was Terry, and the dog became one of Spitz’s most famous clients. Starring alongside Judy Garland, that cute little canine actor was so much fun to watch. Although he was one of Spitz’s most popular clients, he was far from the only one.

Back when Spitz first started the school in 1927, the Hollywood elite would bring him their dogs to be pampered and trained. The accommodations were right out of a Hollywood fantasy, with extravagant playgrounds and beautiful views. The dogs would also have private baths and dryers, and custom menu items made by special cooks. How many dogs do you know that are bathed in porcelain bathtubs? Spitz made sure they had the best of everything for his visitors.

During World War II there was an initiative for a canine corps to help fight the war. Spitz was one of many trainers that helped prepare the dogs for their roles in the initiative. His training skills were highly valued and almost certainly helped keep soldiers safer through that program.

The original Hollywood Dog Training School was located near Laurel Canyon but was later moved when the Ventura Freeway was cut through. They ended up in North Hollywood on Vanowen Street. Lassie was trained at this kennel location. In fact, the place was owned by Rudd Weatherwax, the original trainer for Lassie.  The school is still located there to this day.

Carl Spitz, for his part, became one of the most influential dog trainers in history. His book, Training Your Dog, is one of the first manuals on dog training to be created. That book is now a rare find and would be considered a top addition to any book collection on the subject. Spitz trained dogs throughout his entire life and is considered one of the innovators of some of the dog training skills and tricks that are still being used today.

Richard Karl bought the place in 1978 and has since turned it into a training ground for dogs and cats of all economic backgrounds. Although many of the famous Hollywood stars still bring their dogs and cats to the school, the primary function of the place now is to train family pets. Although the school was originally only for dogs, Karl has added a cat building to the premises so that felines would not be left out. The cat building offers kitties their own areas for sleeping and eating, as well as ample room to play and socialize.

Although the Hollywood Dog Training School started as a place to nurture the Hollywood Elite and train the next canine actors and actresses, the school has now become a place where your dog or cat can go and be the star.

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Frank Inn, Hollywood Animal Trainer Extraordinaire

By Langley Cornwell

This guy is such an inspiration to me! I’d love to have a chat with him, but since he died in 2002 at the age of 86, I’ll have to settle for reading and writing about him. To catch you up, here are a few facts about Frank Inn:

He was a pioneering animal trainer who turned shelter pets into movie stars.

The animals that Frank Inn trained won 40 PATSY Awards, which is the animal kingdom's equivalent of the Oscar. Three of the animals he trained won the award multiple times.

This legendary animal trainer was the first inductee into the International Association of Canine Professionals' Hall of Fame.

One of the most recognized 4-legged movie stars that Inn created was Higgins, of Petticoat Junction and Benji fame. Other animals he trained included:

• Francis the Talking Mule

• Orangey the Cat (Rhubarb in Rhubarb, and Cat in Breakfast at Tiffany's

• Bernadette the Dog (Cleopatra on Jackie Cooper's TV series The People's Choice

• Arnold Ziffel, the pig on Green Acres 

• All of Elly Mae Clampett's animals on The Beverly Hillbillies

• The chimpanzees that starred in the children's TV show Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp

Frank Inn was known to visit animal shelters and take home healthy pets to keep them from being euthanized. There was a time when Inn and his assistants had over 1,000 animals in their care. The feeding bills alone came to more than $400 per day.

Although Inn is most known for the amazing things he could train animals to do, his own life story is incredible in itself. He knew from an early age that he wanted to be involved in show business. When he was just a teenager, he hitchhiked from his hometown of Mooresville, Indiana to Los Angeles. He quickly found a job at MGM studios as a maintenance man but soon after he started working, Inn was hit by a drunk driver. He was pronounced dead and transported to the morgue.

It just so happens that students were at the morgue learning embalming techniques. Fortunately, one of the students noticed that Frank Inn’s “corpse” was still warm. He was not dead!

Inn was seriously injured and had a long recovery time. To help him pass the time, a friend gave him a puppy named Jeep. Because Inn was in a wheelchair, he trained Jeep to do everyday chores for him like get the newspaper and find his slippers. Dog training came naturally to Inn, and his friends believed that Inn could talk to the dog and Jeep literally understood.

When he was fully recovered, Inn went back to his job as a maintenance man. Like all good Hollywood scripts, one day Inn was sweeping the floors of the MGM studio when he noticed a dog trainer who couldn't get a dog to perform a trick. So the next day he brought Jeep to work with him and showed how easily it was to teach a dog to do tricks. The story goes that Inn held up a ball and said “speak” and when Jeep barked, the trainer asked Inn if he wanted a job.

According to a story NPR ran about Frank Inn, Joe Camp (writer and director of the 1974 film Benji) recollects that Jeep was the first animal Frank Inn ever trained. That one incident led to an animal-training career that lasted over 50 years. During that time, Inn trained not only domesticated animals but also pigs, snakes, camels, monkeys and more. He had a way of getting animals to do things that most people couldn’t believe – like training a pig to play the piano or a dog to climb a ladder. His daughter believed he had a telepathic communication with animals and could get them to do things just by talking to them.

Throughout his long and successful career, Frank Inn knew how to forge remarkable connections with animals. He also taught his assistants how to empathetically communicate with animals instead of just making them perform stunts. Most of the working animal trainers today either worked for Inn himself or were trained by people who worked for him. What a legacy!

Photo courtesy of Kathleen Copson

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