Karl and I grew up in the same generation of Hollywood dog trainers. In fact, we occasionally reciprocated with animals and jobs, such as the time that Karl used my white German Shepherd as a body double in They Only Kill Their Masters. We first met in 1962 on the set of the Daniel Boone television series, starring Fess Parker. Karl worked with his dog, Bearheart.
Karl apprenticed under Frank Inn, who had apprenticed under my father, Rudd Weatherwax. During the Lassie series hiatus that year, Frank called Dad and told him that he had a young trainer who needed help with a dog. Dad gave the job to me, and the two of us young’uns hit it off. Dad saw Karl’s potential and knew he had the right stuff to become an excellent trainer. Over the years, Karl and I worked together on some projects, including a few Lassie episodes, the television series Run Joe Run, and the movie Return from Witch Mountain.
Karl’s forte was action-packed movies with macho dogs. He liked those breeds and those stories. Typical of this kind of credit were They Only Kill Their Masters, The Doberman Gang, Cujo, Cat’s Eye, The Amityville Horror, and Miller’s Crossing. But Karl’s strengths weren’t only displayed in blood-and-guts suspenseful films. He enjoyed family action films as well and brought joy and laughter as well as sympathetic tears through his work on WonTonTon: The Dog That Saved Hollywood, Stand By Me, the first Beethoven, and the two Babe movies.
Karl’s kennel set-up was similar to many of the well-respected Hollywood dog trainers. The kennel was on home turf. There may have been plenty of dogs outside, but there were always a fair number in the house with Karl’s family. Karl prided himself on being a good family man – a good husband to his wife Eileen for 40-some years and a good father to his son Karl Jr. and daughter Theresa. Just as with my family, dogs were the Miller family business for generations. Karl’s daughter has the same kind of golden touch with animals. Theresa has been in Europe for more than a decade working with German Shepherds on television.
Karl’s favorite dog was “Scruffy”. He was a natural, like my “O.J.”, who had the kind of look that producers and directors liked as well as the attitude and intelligence that made canine acting look simple, even at its most complicated. Before Karl became ill with the cancer that took his life, he and I were interviewed extensively for the documentary Hollywood’s Top Dogs, which was recently aired on Animal Planet.
Karl and I were good friends throughout our adult years and professional careers. We traded stories, talked about our dogs, and shared memories of the great ones in our line of work. I spoke at Karl’s memorial service, eulogizing him as always giving 100% to every dog and every job. He also gave 100% to his friendships, and I can attest to that.
