Career
He also trained the dog, Lightning, for the movie A Dog of Flanders, 1935 version. Weatherwax was born in Camp Palomas, New Mexico Territory, the son of Anna Elisa (née Wallis) and Walter Smiley Weatherwax. Weatherwax trained the original Asta for The Thin Manitoba, a film produced in 1934.
This movie had five sequels and an accompanying television show.
Weatherwax"s Asta was not believed to star in any of these. He also trained Spike, who appeared in Disney"s Old Yeller and in other film and television programs.
Weatherwax played a bully in Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1921 with Mary Pickford. In 1920 he appeared in the silent film version of Heidi and in The Jucklins.
