Interview with trainer: Christine Mahaney, Part 2

July 6, 11:35 AMShowbiz Pets ExaminerLorraine Goodman

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Toula on the set of "Public Enemies"

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Related Articles

• Part 1 of my interview
  
• Toula & "Public Enemies"
  
• Tiger's interview with Toula
  
• Christine Mahaney's website
  
• Part 3 of my interview

Christine Mahaney was working part-time as a paralegal when she and her rescued Border Collie, Toula, won Petco's America's Most Talented Pet contest. Since then, Christine has become one of the most sought-after on-set trainers in the Mid-west and Toula is currently featured alongside Johnny Depp in Michael Mann's "Public Enemies."

L: How is training for TV or commercials differ from everyday training or obedience?

C: It is different. The biggest difference,: training a dog for a movie is scripted. Real life doesn’t come with a script. Unless you have a crystal ball, you don’t know who’s showing up at your door, or when. So, as a private dog, you have to deal with real life situations. Training for movies, you have a very good idea of what the environment is going to be, so you know what you have to get the dog used to.

For private home training, I’m not really training the dog, it’s more that I’m training the person. When I work on a movie, I’m working with that dog. And you’re making the director happy.

L: Do you ever “train” any of the actors involved?

C: Absolutely! You have to. For example, in “Public Enemies,” Stephen Spencer [who plays Emil Wanatka] plays the owner of the dog. Toula had develop a relationship with this complete stranger to make it look like she was his dog. Now, that doesn’t happen just by sticking a dog— any dog -- with an actor 2 minutes before you start rolling. You wanna make it believable. ‘Yeah! That was his dog! Look at the way she looked at him!’ So you do want to prep the actors: 'this is cue you need you to give her' or 'this I the way you need to hold your hand. This is her release word.'

I’m getting ready to work on a movie with chickens. A 13-year old girl has to pick up a chicken. I’m going to have to work with that 13-year-old to teach her how to properly pick up the chicken so she’s comfortable with it.

L: How often have you worked with chickens?

C: Ironically, I seem to have been working with chickens often in this past year. It’s amazing. I wasn’t raised on a farm, but I like animals. Every animal you work with – it’s a learning experience. With chickens – you have to know how to make them settle more quickly – so their wings aren’t out. Those are other things I’ll have to go over with this girl.

L: What other exotic animals have you worked with?

C: Goats. If you consider that exotic. Deer. Squirrels….

L: Are squirrels trainable?

C: It was a trained squirrel, if you can believe it. A pet squirrel. He worked with audio and hand signals. The squirrel was trained to go to a buzzer: when it hits the buzzer, food comes out. Somewhat like clicker training.

I haven’t had the opportunity to work with reptiles. But, quite frankly, I’m OK with that.

L: What tricks and traits or behaviors are most important to train for camera / performing work?

C: For me, FOCUS work is key. If you can take your dog and walk down the street and you say “LOOK” and he looks right up at you no matter what’s going on around him, that’s HUGE. And that’s how I train, even when I train privately. With private pets, it’s a safety factor. If they have a desire to chase a squirrel or deer, and you see it before they do, and you can have them look at you, well -- you just saved them from chasing that animal.

As for a studio dog, or someone looking for movie work, FOCUS work is really key. When you’re on the set, there’s a lot going on. There are a LOT of distractions. Rarely are you in a studio that’s self contained and there are one or two people. So it’s FOCUS work.

The other key is to have a dog that’s really happy. And what I mean by that is: when you have a dog that’s really happy, that dog is happy in any environment. He’s happy meeting anyone - has no fears with strangers – a man, a woman, a child, infants, somebody wearing snowmobile suit with a helmet or a baseball cap. Every person is great to that dog. He’s happy to meet everybody. I think that’s huge.

L: Do you believe in coercive methods or positive methods?

C: I am a firm believer that you get a lot more mileage out of making a dog do what you want them to do from marking the positive and not focusing on the negative. Now when you work with positive-based training, it takes a lot more patience. So, when teaching a dog go into a tunnel, for instance, you’re luring that dog, making it positive for them to stick their head down there. But that dog might stand there for what seems like forever, even when it’s only 10 seconds. ‘Do I stick my head in? Do I? Don’t I?’ But eventually when the dog finally does it and they get that reward it’s like: Boom. He’s got it! ‘Nobody shoved me in there. Nobody had to pull me or push me in; I did it on my own.’ It’s a positive experience. But it takes a lot of patience.

L: What was the most difficult thing on “Public Enemies” you had to train Toula to do?

C: The most difficult thing on that set was to get Toula to walk outside the lodge with this actor she just met not even 2 hours before while I walked away into another room where she could not see me. It was shot on a wide angle, so I had to stay hidden inside. Meanwhile, she is walking out with this actor, it’s night, they’re out in the woods, there are cars pulling in, she’s off-leash, there are 100 some odd people around, cameras overhead, camera on-track, and she’s out there all by herself. I couldn’t give her any hand signals, verbals, or anything.

L: Did you get to rehearse beforehand?

C: I did. When we got there, we did some pattern training. And Stephen Spencer was willing and kind enough to work with us and do some prep – cause you do want it to come off as if they do have a relationship. And it was great – cause I was peeking through the window, and he stops at the end of the walk to meet Johnny Depp and the other gangsters, and Toula stops and sits down and looks up at him as if to say, ‘What’re we doing, Dad?’ It was perfect.

L: How did you do the pattern training?

C: Well, we did have a script, and I knew she would be exiting, but I didn’t know if the door would open in or open out -- something you never really think about – but it affects how you set your dog up. So, we went to a lot of different businesses with a lot of different people and traffic and I had her on a long lead -- with doors that opened in and doors that opened out -- and then we only had three days to do this.

And then when we got on set I did a lot more pattern-training -- Cheese wiz is a beautiful thing.

L: Did you work with target training?[Where you teach the dog to hit a target or ‘mark’]

C: I didn’t on this. I could have used a mark – but I didn’t want her to get down there and start looking for the mark. Even though it was outside – I have different marks: rocks, etc. But, again, it was dark – I didn’t want her searching with head dropped looking for a mark. I wanted her head focused on ‘oh, there’s people coming, I’m supposed to look alert, and I’m next to my owner.’

 For more information: read PART 3 of my interview

Interview w/ Christine Mahaney, Hollywood trainer for Paws for Effect
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3


Interview w/ Joel Silverman, Animal Planet star, former Hollywood trainer and author of,
“What Color is Your Dog?”
Part 1
Part 2

Interview w/ Peg Munves, New York based trainer for commercials, TV, etc
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3