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Our research revealed that there were in fact TWO
"Mutts" featured in Thomas and the Magic Railroad. The first canine co-star came from England and
was featured in the scenes shot on the Isle of Man. You'll find out that this "Mutt" is actually female! The second
canine, a male, was US-born and starred in the Harrisburg Amtrak Station scenes filmed in Pennsylvania, and also
the movie's climax scenes filmed in Toronto.
Our first spotlight will shine on our English canine
co-star - DITA. Her breed can be described as a Bearded Collie Cross. We've
been fortunate in that her owner/trainer Gill Raddings was more than happy
to share additional background details about Dita with the fans. Gill is the founder and owner of Gill Raddings Stunt Dogs and Animals, who offers the services of professionally-trained animals to film and television. Here then, is her story,
as told by Gill in a reply received 24 September, 2008...
Hi James,
Dita is about 12 years old. I got Dita from rescue at about 8 months old.
She had been in for a while as she was so hyper they were concerned an ordinary pet home wouldn't be able to cope with her.
She was still very thin and kept getting raw sore spots on her skin. She wasn't used to a car and not house trained. I decided
to take her on - even then she had that spark and I felt that there was a lot of potential there. It turned out to be a very
good decision, she is one of my best dogs and still works now. She is on my website www.stuntdogs.net .
She is pet passported and has worked in Germany (feature film
"Creep"), Amsterdam (feature film "Enigma Files", Corfu (TV film "My Family and Other Animals")
and America (Stratford Theatre tour).
She has been in many feature films including 102 Dalmatians,
Gladiator, Children of Men, Sweeny Todd, Wolfman etc.
She has done many commercials and TV work including The Bill, EastEnders,
Dalziel and Pascoe, Casualty, Touch of Frost, Who Gets the Dog etc.
She enjoyed working on Thomas
as she does on all her roles.
Attached are some photos and a list of what she is trained to do. She is a loving
family pet when not working enjoying her walks and particularly swimming.
She has done so much it is a job to
remember everything! The trouble is replacing her with the right look, temperament and working / training ability!
Regards,
Gill
Gill has provided us with a list of Dita's repertoire of acting
skills which includes the following...
- Go to a mark
- Sit, down, stand, walk backwards
- Speak
- Play dead
- Crawl on stomach
- Puts feet up where told
- Go with an actor off lead on command
- Hold a paw up and limp
- Roll over
- Sit up and beg, stand on back legs
- Hide eyes with paws
Gill also confirmed that Dita did not star in Cbeebies' 'Come Outside'
as 'Pippin' (as mistakenly claimed by Wikipedia)
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We've also heard from Julie
Tottman, credited in the film as the Dog Trainer for the Isle of Man. Julie is affiliated with
Birds and Animals Unlimited's UK Branch, and worked with Dita through
her scenes during the Isle of Man filming. Julie provides us with some additional insight about Dita...
Hi James,
I provided the dog for Thomas in the UK. We had to double the dog in the
USA as back then the pet passport scheme was not up and running, so we could not travel Dita to the US as it would mean quarantine
when she returned to the UK.
Dita was a rescue dog found running the streets very under-weight. The
rescue centre contacted a trainer and she was taken on as a movies star!
We start by getting the dogs healthy, happy spending time with them so
they learn to trust. Then we start the basic obedience sit, stay lye down etc….. Then the fun begins- all the tricks!
Dita learnt to hide her eyes, run in circles, hit a mark, limp, shake her head, play dead, beg and much more. We do this using
positive reinforcement. This may be a treat or a toy or just simple hugs. She is a very bright dog and very grateful for her
new life.
When training we speak to them constantly as well as put a hand signal
to what we are asking them to do. We then stop speaking and they understand the hand signal alone.
They do love filming as they love to work and get more attention than you
can imagine. Dita has gone on to do lots more adverts and TV shows.
Best wishes
Julie Tottman.
On behalf of SiF and the fans, we offer Gill Raddings our many thanks
and appreciation for providing us with information and photographs of Dita. We wish to extend the same to Julie Tottman. We
wish them both continued success with their work, and to Dita, all the best roles for many years
to come!
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| The American double of "Mutt" - Bentley |
The 2nd "Mutt" featured in the Harrisburg/Strasburg
Pennsylvania and Toronto shoots has been positively identified as "Bentley", a male Terrier-mix who was about 8
years old at the time of filming (1999).
Bentley, owned and trained by Ray Beal of Los Angeles, California for
Birds and Animals Unlimited, was handled primarily by Stacy Basil, Dawn Barkan and Brian Gibbs .
Thanks to the L.A. office of Birds & Animals, we've managed to
contact Ray who has graciously provided us with some additional information about Bentley.
in a reply received by J. Gratton, 31 January, 2009
Bentley is a terrier mutt that our California company received
from our Florida company back in 1991. He was acquired to play the role of "Benji" in our live show at Universal Studios. He
was the first dog I ever trained for our company.
He was a very challenging, but fun dog to train. I believe
he trained me as much as I trained him. He was deathly afraid of people and noises which made training him for a live show
very difficult. We spent the first six month of training walking around the park and asking every patron we could if they
would feed him a treat and pet or stroke him. Then we would do short little training session on the stage until he had the
entire routine down.
The first show he did was a disaster because we did all the
training without people in the audience. If they clapped, shifted in their seats, or walked in late he would freeze. So a
few more months of training out in the park and on stage as people filed out of the previous show. Finally he became confident
and really put on great shows. He was a dog who actually looked like he was having fun out there on stage.
His favorite behavior was jumping into my arms at the end
of the routine. He worked in a few films and TV shows but was mostly a live show dog. In fact he became so in tune with live
shows that we sent him to Japan to help start the live show at Universal Studios Japan. He helped with the transition from
American trainers to Japanese trainers and was loved by all. He wowed the audiences for years until he sadly passed.
Bentley is missed on a daily basis but the memories of him
will be preserved forever in our hearts and on film. Thank you for your inquiries it brought back many memories.
Ray Beal
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| Equine star of TATMR trained by Tony Smart |
We hope to hear more about the horse
ridden by Cody McMains (Patch) and Mara Wilson (Lily) during the Isle of Man filming. The horse is
owned and trained by Tony Smart, renown horse trainer and handler in
movies and television who lives in Berkshire, UK.
When we last contacted him, Tony was involved with a movie-shoot,
but promises to tell us more about his work on TATMR.
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