Stunt Dog Trainer Shares What It’s Like To Prepare Dogs For Blockbuster Roles

When we watch a movie, we often don’t take the time to appreciate all the effort and nuance that went into creating it. It’s easy to just sit back and enjoy the show, without thinking about what it took to make.

Beyond setting up the film crew and finding locations to shoot, scripts have to be fine-tuned and actors have to get into character. But when animals are involved, things get even more challenging.

Animals can be unpredictable, and to be on a movie set, they need to be well-trained and comfortable working with hundreds of people in a variety of environments.

It’s a lot to ask of an animal, and anytime you see a real dog, cat, duck, or other animal featured in a film, it likely took a lot of planning, training, and patience to get the shot.

Famous stunt dog trainer Gill Raddings of Stunt Dogs & Animals knows what it takes to prepare dogs and other animals for blockbuster roles and she’s been doing it for over 25 years!

Raddings’ animals have been featured in movies like Kingsman, Justice League, Spider-man Far From Home, and Beauty & the Beast among others.

60 Second Dogs went to Raddings training center in Oxfordshire, Englandto learn more about what it takes to get a dog ready for the big screen.

In the interview, Raddings explained: “All my training is based on a positive food reward system which is one of the reasons the dogs love it so much …The best advice I’ve got is being a positive confident person with them. They know when you’re nervous. If they were dumb we couldn’t train them to do all the things they do. They know.”

Check out the video below:

You can learn more about Raddings and her work on her website here!