Carl Spitz

Carl Spitz (August 26, 1894 – September 15, 1976) was a Hollywood dog trainer, most famous for owning and training the female Cairn Terrier Terry, who portrayed Toto in the 1939 MGM fantasy film The Wizard of Oz. Spitz developed the method of using silent hand signals to direct an animal.[1]

Carl Spitz
Carl Spitz at his kennel the Hollywood Dog Training School
Born(1894-08-26)August 26, 1894
Germany
DiedSeptember 15, 1976(1976-09-15) (aged 82)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Burial placeForest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery
OccupationDog trainer
Years active1926–1976

Career

Spitz was born in Germany where he trained military and police dogs in WW1.[2] He trained under Konrad Most, a pioneer of dog training.[3][4] Spitz emigrated to the United States in 1926 and opened the Hollywood Dog Training School.[1][5] According to screenwriter Jane Hall, Spitz went through the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, “picking out whatever tricks or mannerisms Toto was supposed to have” and trained Terry accordingly.[2] Spitz also trained Buck, the St. Bernard from the movie Call of the Wild, starring Clark Gable.[1][6] Spitz would later go on to become the man responsible for setting up America's WWII War-Dog Program. He appeared on You Bet Your Life on 22nd February 1950, where he states that he was from "near Heidelberg".

He died in 1976, in Los Angeles County, California at the age of 82 and was buried in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in the Great Mausoleum in the Iris Columbarium section.

References
  1. Daryl Chen, "56 Weird and Wonderful Facts about ‘The Wizard of Oz’", Reader's Digest, accessed July 12, 2018.
  2. Robin R. Cutler, "Scholarly Munchkins, an Encounter with Clark Gable, and More Surprises from the Set of The Wizard of Oz", Vanity Fair, September 12, 2016.
  3. Burch, Mary R; Duane Pickel (1990). "A toast to Most: Konrad Most, a 1910 pioneer in animal training". Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 23 (2): 263–4. doi:10.1901/jaba.1990.23-263. PMC 1286234. PMID 16795731.
  4. Gail Fisher, "A Brief History of Dog Training - 70 years of Clicker Training", AllDogsGym.com, retrieved July 12, 2018.
  5. "Three Keys in Dogdom," | Archived via the TimesMachine,The New York Times, November 13, 1958.
  6. "Kings of the Cinema Kennels," | Archived via the TimesMachine,The New York Times, May 11, 1952.


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