When James Bond commanded a tiger to “sit!” in the film, “Octopussy,” he was parodying Barbara Woodhouse.
Some elements of “Training Dogs the Woodhouse Way” in the video below might might make you wince. At the time, however, “Training…..” wasn’t just a British TV series in the late 70s and early 80s, it was a cult. Woodhouse, described as a cross between a drill sergeant and Dr. Doolittle, was notorious for issuing abrupt commands to hapless owners who looked more terrified than their dogs. Her phrase, “walkies,” became a cultural buzz word. Thirty years ago, however, she was already advocating for better-designed crates, and insisting that there’s no such thing as a bad dog, just inadequate owners.
Woodhouse got her first dog when she was 2, and later trained dogs as her three children were growing up. She made her first dog training film, “Love Me, Love My Dog,” in 1955 using her Great Dane, Juno. Woodhouse passed away in 1988.
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The thumbnail image is from an article about Barbara Woodhouse that appeared in the Telegraph