Frank Inn

Frank Inn dog trainer

(taken from 'How to get your Pet into Show Business' by Captain Arthur Haggerty)

In the mid-1930s a car came sailing across the highway and smashed into Frank Inn. He was rushed to a hospital in Culver City, California, where he was pronounced dead by Dr. George Ham and sent to the morgue. A group of student morticians were waiting for their instructor to appear. They were learning embalming, and their project lay in front of them-Frank Inn. Thank God, the instructor was late! One observant student determined that Frank was still alive. It was not to be the end of Frank Inn but rather the beginning. If it weren't for that sharp-eyed student there would be no Cleo, no Benji, at least not in the form that we know them.

Frank had an enormous hospital bill staring him in the face, and no hospitalization. A friend, Art Close, took Frank under his roof and started the long nursing process to bring Frank back to health. Frank, confined to a wheelchair, was housebound. Art's son, Bobbie, had a dog that "followed me home." Bobbie's mother tried unsuccessfully to find the owner of the stray, much to the joy of her son. The stray's owner probably knew the dog was in a family way and wanted to avoid the responsibility. Shortly thereafter the stray presented a litter of pups to the family. The dogs were placed, except for Bobbie's favorite. The boy explained to Frank that if Frank told the family he'd like the dog for company the pup could stay. The Closes gave permission, and Frank had company when the family went to work and school. Both he and the pup learned from one another.

Frank's companion, 'Jeep'-named after a dog cartoon character, preceding the fabled American military vehicle by a number of years-managed to take a dump in his room and nearly wound up at the pound. Frank, wheelchair bound, couldn't walk Jeep and had to learn about housebreaking. Fast! The solution was to cut a hole in the door. There were no doggy doors then but the family made one. Thin slices of sausage were what Frank used to motivate Jeep. One day the paperboy arrived and Jeep put his mouth on the paper. Frank threw a sausage to stop Jeep from slobbering on the paper. The ritual continued every day. Frank knew how to stop Jeep from slobbering on the paper and Jeep learned how to get sausages. The movement of one arm and one leg was all Frank could manage at the time, but Jeep picked up on those cues. They taught one another how to teach Jeep to retrieve and hold the paper. When asked today about food reward, Frank says, "I use whatever is necessary to do what needs to be done." Frank is not a "foodie." He is a trainer.

One day, when Frank was encouraging Jeep to come closer, he reached over the side of his wheelchair. Frank tumbled over and the chair landed on Jeep, who let out a ghostly series of howls. Jeep was pinned under the wheelchair. A neighbor, hearing the howling, came rushing in and righted Frank while releasing Jeep. The neighbor told Frank if he needed any help at all to let him know. Now Jeep was afraid of the wheelchair. Frank encouraged him to come closer with the ever-present sausage. It was slow work, but Frank had time and was making progress. One day Frank was again leaning over the side of the wheelchair and, again, it nearly tipped over. This time Frank righted himself before falling, but not before Jeep started to bark. Frank learned that he could get Jeep to bark with a wiggling movement of the wheelchair. He could also get the neighbor to come in and help him reach something by getting Jeep to bark. Frank, Jeep and the neighbor were well on their way. They were all learning about training. "Training is nothing more than common sense" explains Frank, "which few people have." He is quick to add, "including politicians." When Frank was back in one piece, or in a series of semi-mended pieces, he returned to work at MGM. The people at the studio liked Frank, and knowing of the accident, gave him some light work sweeping up cigarette butts. One day on the set he watched Henry East the grand old man of film training, handle a dog for a film on the sound stage he was sweeping. Frank spotted the error that East was making in his handling of the dog. The dog was supposed to climb up a flight of stairs, enter a bedroom, jump into bed, crawl under the covers, and stick his head from the other end of the covers and bark. The dog was not working because East put the food reward he was using under the covers. The dog smelled the food, and rather than climbing under the covers, he bit at the blanket where the food was located. Frank told Henry he had a dog that could perform the routine. The skeptical East said, "Oh, yeah. I'd like to see that." The cast and crew broke for lunch, and Henry continued practicing to get his dog to perform. Frank went and got Jeep. He showed up and repeated his statement to Henry East. Frank took a ball and used it to lure Jeep up the stairs into the bedroom and onto the bed, and gradually he got Jeep further and further under the covers. Frank tricked Jeep into thinking the ball was under the covers and the dog worked his way down under the covers and out the other side. By this time Frank had replaced the rocking, tilting chair with a finger signal, which he gave to Jeep. Voila' Jeep barked! Henry East was impressed. He offered Frank fifty cents a day and a place to sleep if Frank would come to work for him. Frank explained he was making $29.10 a week. East said that, in addition to the fifty cents, he would give him $5.00 a day for each day at the studio. Frank accepted. East putting a roof over his head was worth money, and what Frank didn't tell East was that his salary was garnisheed because of his hospital bill. After the $15.00 for that was deducted, he netted $11.00 a week after taxes. At fifty cents a day Frank was on his way!

Rennie Renfro, another well-known trainer ne' prop man, saw Inn working and wanted to know what Last was paying him. He told him fifty cents a day, and Renfro offered him a dollar a day. But Frank added he was getting $5.00 a day for studio work. Renfro offered him $7.50 a day for studio work. Next Frank Weatherwax (the brother of Rudd, who was Lassie's trainer) let Inn watch him work with Toto on The Wizard of Oz. The Weatherwax brothers recognized Frank's talent and offered him $5.00 a day and $10.00 a day for studio work. They decided, as insurance against being outbid by another trainer, to raise him to $10.00 a day and $25.00 a day for studio work, an unheard-of sum at that time. Frank was moving onward and upward. He had the opportunity to work with the greatest of trainers at an ever-increasing salary. Carl Spitz supplied trained dogs to other trainers for film work, and Frank had the chance to use a number of his dogs over the years. "Papa" Spitz looked like the old German trainer that he was. He didn't have long conversations with Frank, but one day when Frank was returning a dog after a day's work on the set, Papa presented him with a bottle of whiskey. The surprised Frank wanted to know why. Carl answered in his German-accented English that the dogs did not charge the water bucket when he returned them. It went without saying that Frank would keep his dogs comfortable and well watered, unlike many other handler/trainers in the business.

Frank found a champion in Carl Spitz. The ring came full circle when years later Carl's son, with a couple of partners, took over Frank Inn's animal rental business. With over a half-century of training movie animals under his belt, Frank is very selective about the jobs he takes. And it is a very large belt that he wears. Frank is a big man physically. He is also a big-hearted man. He is continually financing his private charities to help those less fortunate than himself. For example, he supplies a van, complete with the insurance, to transport the elderly in his church group. Frank is also a big man in animal training. He has trained some of the world's best-known animals, such as Cleo, the Basset Hound, and Arnold, the pig from "Green Acres." Today, his best-known animal is Benji. Benji Climbs the Laddder! If you have an opportunity to watch a Benji film, notice the genius in filmmaking. Joe Camp produced a script that, with as few words as possible, tells a complete story. Great for children-and international sales, because it requires a minimum amount of dubbing. Even D. W. Griffith could have taken lessons from Camp on how to put out a silent film with as few title cards as possible. We, however, are interested in the animal work, and it is a sight to behold. Even Joe Camp doesn't realize what a genius he has working for him. Benji is never looking off-camera at the trainer, Frank. He is constantly looking exactly where he should be looking. There is not a false frame in the film. Frank's a little older now and has to take things easier. He gets around in an electric golf cart. It is ironic that Frank started training dogs in a wheelchair and has reverted back to that device. You can't keep a good man down, and Frank is the best.

The International Association of Canine Professionals is Proud to honor Frank Inn as their first inductee into the IACP Hall of Fame.

Last Updated: Sunday, July 19, 2009