Animal trainer Robert Weatherwax, 83, died on August 15. He was the son of famed animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax, who trained the original Lassie (as well as Toto and Asta); he was also the grandson of an actor and animal trainer, and the cousin of Ken “Pugsley Addams” Weatherwax (Robert’s son, also Robert, carries on the family profession). Weatherwax was schooled as a child as an animal trainer, working on such films and TV shows as Lassie, Big Jake, Nickelodeon, Moment by Moment, The Thing, and Back to the Future. He wrote, “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 human-like emotions. Dad was a transitional figure in Hollywood animal training, and my experiences with him from childhood to adulthood have transformed my life and made me who I am today.”
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